WEIRDEST POOP EVER

[MarieOmelette]

My 20 week old Marans pullet expelled this monster about an hour ago and I have no clue what it is. Here's a bit of background on the pullet:

I got her from a trusted breeder who was keeping her and her sisters confined. I allowed her to free range a few days ago and also gave her quite a few prunes, because she seemed to like them and I want to start taming her as soon as possible. Yesterday morning she had sour crop. I emptied it three or four times throughout the day and last night I flushed her crop with saline solution, then gave her bicarbonate of soda to balance the acidity. This morning she was still sick, so I got her to vomit again. Twice today I gave her bicarbonate of soda and small amounts of yoghurt. This evening she still wasn't eating or drinking on her own and since she's quite thin, I decided to tube feed her. I forced a small amount of yoghurt, vegetable oil and bicarbonate of soda directly into her crop. She perked up a LITTLE bit after this (she'd been lethargic for almost 48 hours), then, 30 minutes later, pooped out this long, stringy mess. It's not worms, looks more like grass. Any idea about what happened/what this poop is??
Any insight into this mystery would be appreciated

 

[KayTee]

It looks reasonably normal, in that it's solid and the right colours (dark for the faeces and white for the urates) and my girls sometimes poop out long bits rather than the typical round droppings, so the shape is not completely unusual.

However, I am wondering what the long stringy bit at the top end is. It's hard to see on the photo, but it looks dark red in colour, and a bit flat. Gruesome question, I know, but did you dissect it a bit / pull at the stringy bit to see what it was like? (Us chicken owners do weird things in the pursuit of healthy birds!)

It could be that a combination of free ranging that she's not used to (especially if she had access to long grass that she didn't break off into smaller bits), plus a sudden influx of prunes has caused a bit of a blockage - hence the sour crop.

How is she looking now - perky or lethargic? Is she willing to eat or drink on her own? And has she pooped again since this photo?

 

[dawg53]

I've seen poop like that, I wouldnt worry about it.

 

[MarieOmelette]

Quote:
yes, I did dissect it . It had a tiny bit of pinkish stuff in it that looked more like intestinal lining than blood, but it mostly looked like clumpy, pooped out rotten grass. This morning she ate, drank and walked around her small pen, clucking, so things seem to be back to normal. Her poops, however, are very dark and sticky-looking, so I think there might still be some prunes in her digestive system

 

[MarieOmelette]

I've seen poop like that, I wouldnt worry about it.

I'm very relieved to hear that

 

[KayTee]

I think you're probably right - a mix of grass and prunes, but nothing major going on. However, I would be inclined to keep the prunes for an occasional treat. If you want to use them to train her then cut one prune up into the smallest pieces you can, and give her one piece each time she does what you want. My husband trained one of my girls using tinned sweetcorn - one kernel at a time - it kept her attention for ages!