What causes droppings like these?

[Goosebaby]

I'm not suggesting this is related, but there's some debate about how safe pine shavings are for all poultry. I'm not sure why he'd be the only one effected though. Maybe his sex or maybe he's eating it? Just to show it relates to your 32 day cycle how often do you change the bedding and how often do you open a new bag?

For further reading
https://www.thefeatherbrain.com/blog/toxic-chicken-coop-pine-shavings

Their bedding gets raked out every week to two weeks, I add a fresh layer to the top once a day, twice in the winter, I’d say I open a new bag maybe every two/three days.

 

[Sierra G]

I'm stumped. Just looking at the pictures I'd say some type of toxin is involved, probably hardware, but you've already eliminated that. And since it's been going on for months if it is a toxin it has to be lower levels of one. If you post pictures of the enclosure there might be something to see in them. But I'd imagine you've already looked your setup over multiple times.

 

[casportpony]

I’m using the powder, I’m adding a 1tbs each to a 5 gallon bucket

Not nearly enough. The minimum dose is 1.5 teaspoons per gallon.
1.5 x 5 gallons = 7.5 teaspoons
7.5 teaspoons = 2.5 tablespoons

 

[Goosebaby]

Not nearly enough. The minimum dose is 1.5 teaspoons per gallon.
1.5 x 5 gallons = 7.5 teaspoons
7.5 teaspoons = 2.5 tablespoons

Thank you!

 

[Goosebaby]

I'm stumped. Just looking at the pictures I'd say some type of toxin is involved, probably hardware, but you've already eliminated that. And since it's been going on for months if it is a toxin it has to be lower levels of one. If you post pictures of the enclosure there might be something to see in them. But I'd imagine you've already looked your setup over multiple times.

Yeah I’ve looked and found nothing, I can’t figure it out either, my firs theory was that he has inflamation around the spine, the first round of antibiotics either weren’t enough, or what he had wasn’t very sensitive to them, and the infection resurfaced or that he had a cyst rupture near his spine post treatment. I guess that could still be a possibility but it’s impossible to say.
My second is that he’s being reinfected with something. But other than his mom no one else has been ill.
I did have a duck die last week suddenly, they are kept in separate areas, I don’t even let them share pool water. I don’t think his condition was at all related because he was a 10 year old pekin and he’d been slowing down and was excercise intolerant for the last year and finally his heart just gave out while I was getting him breakfast last week. I suppose it could be related but I doubt it. Old age is old age and he was otherwise looking healthy.

 

[Goosebaby]

I'm not suggesting this is related, but there's some debate about how safe pine shavings are for all poultry. I'm not sure why he'd be the only one effected though. Maybe his sex or maybe he's eating it? Just to show it relates to your 32 day cycle how often do you change the bedding and how often do you open a new bag?

For further reading
https://www.thefeatherbrain.com/blog/toxic-chicken-coop-pine-shavings

Reading through the article you shared just now, I can’t say it’s causing any issues or not with my birds really but I wonder if certain pine species are worse than others, they don’t exactly tell you what species was used.
I assume shavings are byproducts from the mills, tractor supply “where I get mine” doesn’t exactly say however and most likely it’s sourced from numerous species. It’s off subject but I wonder if some species wood is better/worse in toxicity. I know ponderosa and Monterey pine needles are more toxic than some other species, maybe the wood is also.

 

[Sierra G]

Reading through the article you shared just now, I can’t say it’s causing any issues or not with my birds really but I wonder if certain pine species are worse than others, they don’t exactly tell you what species was used.
I assume shavings are byproducts from the mills, tractor supply “where I get mine” doesn’t exactly say however and most likely it’s sourced from numerous species. It’s off subject but I wonder if some species wood is better/worse in toxicity. I know ponderosa and Monterey pine needles are more toxic than some other species, maybe the wood is also.

I know cedar is bad. Perhaps the aromatics are irritants. I'm sure that genetics must play some role. I suppose the takeaway is not to make assumptions. Just because something is sold as bedding may not mean it's safe for all birds. The same probably holds true for food and other products as well. But if the bedding were the underlying problem it's difficult to diagnose but easy to test.

 

[Goosebaby]

I know cedar is bad. Perhaps the aromatics are irritants. I'm sure that genetics must play some role. I suppose the takeaway is not to make assumptions. Just because something is sold as bedding may not mean it's safe for all birds. The same probably holds true for food and other products as well. But if the bedding were the underlying problem it's difficult to diagnose but easy to test.

My hunch is it isn’t bedding related because he lives inside without the chips when he’s down for 21 days and absense of them hasn’t seemed to make a difference.

 

[Sierra G]

Would it be a problem to keep him inside when he's up for 11 to see if that extends the 11 days? It wouldn't implicate the bedding, but it would strongly suggest it's environmental.

 

[Goosebaby]

Would it be a problem to keep him inside when he's up for 11 to see if that extends the 11 days? It wouldn't implicate the bedding, but it would strongly suggest it's environmental.

I could, to be honest though he has very little contact with it, he doesn’t eat it and he’s only on it for an hour or two a day, the rest of his time is spent out on the lawn.