watery stools

[clairemma]

Ok so out of 6 eggs we had one half hatch and die, 2 hatch but one died after a day and we were left with one chick. because mum gave up on them after the chick that half hatched dies we were forced to bring "Charlie" inside and we have become rather attached to him! He seems to be growing well and is almost ready to go back outside as he has little down left on him.

The main reason we still have him inside is that we haven't got round to building a separate enclosure away from the cock and hen we have outside and have been warned that they may peck at him. (well they did kind of abandon him and leave him shivering close to death - his sibling dies after 1 day with these parents!)

The other reason I am a little reluctant is that over the past 3 days his stools have been very watery. The started off just being a little runny and brown sludgy. Now they are almost the consistency of water with the occassional "rabbit poop" lumps in it. (sorry I know this is disgusting!) We had him out of his cage to socialise and play and he pooped on the paper on the floor and it actually soaked right through it like a puddle. I've heard of runny stools but this is like water,

He was on non medicated chick grain up until last week when we decided to put him on the same food we feed our grown up silkies. Charlie is a wee Brahma so is considerably bigger than your average chick and has a huge appetite so we thought at 5 weeks old he should be ok with this. It is just your standard laying pellets. We have given him no treats or goodies whatsoever and he has fresh water to take whenever he wants daily. Any advice on what to do or is it normal and we should we just let it run it's course?

 

[esme13]

Mine poop like that at the moment. However I did see them drinking a lot of water. I think it is due to them over drinking due to the heat lamp. They do also poop normal and everyone is growing and healthy. My concern would be for bloody stool which no one has. So I would say as long as he/she is drinking, eating and growing everything should be ok. That disgusting brown globe is also normal. For me I always thought pullet chicks did a lot of those.

It's not to say yours may or not have a problem just keep a close eye on it. I would give probiotics and some electrolytes in the water to help with any digestion issue. For mine the liquid poop is almost back to normal after I lifted the heat lamp.