What does this poop indicate?

[Lesserevil]

Sorry still learning, I found a couple of these poops after my chickens ate watermelon. Idk if it’s related or if this is something else. Yesterday they ate some tomatoes but I doubt that’s what it is. They’re only 4 months old and eating crumbles

 

[Eggcessive]

It looks like a cecal poop, the fermented poop from the two ceca between the small and large intestines. They can be any color. Most are brown or darker. Are they acting normal and eating well? Here is the digestive system including the ceca:

 

[Lesserevil]

It looks like a cecal poop, the fermented poop from the two ceca between the small and large intestines. They can be any color. Most are brown or darker. Are they acting normal and eating well? Here is the digestive system including the ceca:

View attachment 3879821

Ty! Sorry I lost my phone and couldn’t reply. That’s exactly what it was thank you so much

 

[BigBlueHen53]

@Eggcessive, I'm still learning about the digestive system. What is the advantage of poop fermenting, how does this benefit the chicken? Is this an ongoing process? So the food detours up into the ceca, ferments and then goes back down into the large intestine, to be excreted? Do other critters have ceca or just chickens (birds)? Thanks.

 

[Eggcessive]

Humans and many animals and birds have ceca. We have one cecum at the end of our small intestines as it connects to the large intestine. It absorbs liquid. In chickens the 2 cecal pouches absorb liquid and ferment some of the digestive contents from the small intestine before moving on to the large intestines. They produce fatty acids which are why they appear different from regular poops. Those occur a couple of times a day. Here is a better explanation of each of the parts of digestion:
https://poultry.extension.org/articles/poultry-anatomy/avian-digestive-system/

 

[Perris]

I'm still learning about the digestive system. What is the advantage of poop fermenting, how does this benefit the chicken? Is this an ongoing process? So the food detours up into the ceca, ferments and then goes back down into the large intestine, to be excreted?

The microbiome that lives in the caeca digests the part of the food that the chicken's gut can't (e.g. fibre) and in the process produces metabolites that the chicken can then absorb. This includes important nutrients (and can create things like the fishy odour that some people mistakenly attribute to adding fish to the diet).

See e.g. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.aninu.2019.11.004 and
https://doi.org/10.1016/j.psj.2022.102008 both open access.

 

[Saaniya]

Sorry still learning, I found a couple of these poops after my chickens ate watermelon. Idk if it’s related or if this is something else. Yesterday they ate some tomatoes but I doubt that’s what it is. They’re only 4 months old and eating crumblesView attachment 3879797

looks cecal to me
they poop it 2 times or 3 times a day which is a very important thing in a chickens life

cecal poops expel is indication that chicken digestion is working fantastic the more the odor and quantity the more the better for the health

i’ve seen in my chickens they poop 2 times sometimes 3 times once in morning once in evening and sometimes suddenly in the night

 

[Altairsky]

they poop it 2 times or 3 times a day

From the amount of cecal poop they leave on my sidewalks, they either do it all the time or wait to be on good looking floors before dropping the bomb.

 

[Squawkers]

From the amount of cecal poop they leave on my sidewalks, they either do it all the time or wait to be on good looking floors before dropping the bomb.

Agreed. Mine like to do it on the porch… right on the welcome mat.

 

[Eggcessive]

Aside from our regular large flock of chickens, we had a small flock of chickens who we kept in a smaller coop in our yard. They free ranged our yard all day. They only pooped on the sidewalks, patio, and porch/rugs. I guess they were just proud of them.