weight loss, watery poops during molt?

[poonam]

hey folks

do your hens tend to lose a lot of weight, like a LOT, and have watery poops during their molt?

if so, how long does their molt last?

my molting hen *seems* happy and healthy for the most part, except for the watery poops (For a few weeks now) and weight loss that would scare any chicken person.

i have read that at least one person has had the same experience, let me know.

 

[Steadfast]

I have the same thing happening to my red hen...
This is my first year owning chickens and I have never seen a chicken "molt" before...
I don't know what it looks like...or should look like....

Soooo, What is the answer you guys?

I wll take some photos and post them here soon.

 

[ChickensAreSweet]

Sounds like worms to me.

 

[poonam]

i have given her the first dose of worming last monday (valbazen). no change yet. if it were worms, how long does it take to see change?

 

[elmo]

What do you mean, exactly, by "a lot?"

I weigh my chickens regularly. During molting, I'm noticing about weight losses in the 50 - 100 gram range in birds that weigh from 400 - 800 grams. I am not noticing anything unusual about their droppings, however.

When you say your chickens have watery droppings, do you mean all of them? Of course it's normal for every chicken to have cecal droppings, one in every ten or so. They're very liquidy and also smelly.

 

[ChickensAreSweet]

Quote:
In my experience, it can take some time to get the poops back to not being watery. Dawg53 says to use buttermilk in the diet to reestablish gut flora.

https://www.backyardchickens.com/se...ens.com/forum/post.php?tid=598258&qid=7853645
there are lots of threads where buttermilk is recommended

 

[poonam]

Quote:
hi — i don't have a weighing machine, but my hen has become pretty skinny. very little weight on her. but she is not acting sick at all. and it's only her (the molting one) with this issue. it's not ceacal poo, just very watery poo with a little bit of solid in it.

 

[Oso Flaco]

Decided to revive this thread...I have a red hen experiencing the same symptoms. Losing feathers, weight loss, and diarrhea for about 5 days. Any thoughts on this? I think it could be Clostridium perfringens or some cause of enteritis that is also stressing her and causing feather loss. Any thoughts or suggestions would be much appreciated. Thank you! (Additional search words: molt, watery, runny, poo, stool, dropping )