Worming and Poop questions

[AKnewbie]

Hello all,
I'm new to caring for chickens and therefore have a few questions. I have 9 6+month old AUstralorps

Poop
What's the range of normal for poop?
I've noticed lately that my chickens' poop have changed from a more solid light green to a more watery dark brown. They look fine to me and are still laying (an average of 7eggs/day between the nine of them).
The only thing that may be different is that the ground is covered in snow now so they can't really get anything much when free ranging so I'm assuming that most of their nutrition is from the layer feed.

Worming
Do I need to be worming them at this point? I haven't noticed any visible worms in their poop. I live in a somewhat colder environment (our summers get to be on the low 70s and it's winter now). If I need to be worming them, what medication and what protocol should I be adopting?

Thank you.

 

[buckabucka]

If you do a search for the "poop page" there are photos of what the range of normal is (and it is a fairly wide range). Not the most pleasant viewing, but it is informative.

As far as worming goes, some people worm theirs on a regular schedule, some never worm them, and some try to use natural worming remedies. You will find a lot of different opinions on this. I've only wormed mine once, when they were just over 2 years old. A friend bought a lot of warmer and offered to share, which is what finally prompted me to do mine.
Enjoy your chickens!

 

[dawg53]

Here's the poop chart for you:
http://chat.allotment.org.uk/index.php?topic=17568.0

Since you live in Alaska, it might only be necessary to worm your birds once a year, perhaps later. Valbazen liquid cattle/sheep wormer or safeguard liquid goat wormer would be your best choices.

 

[AKnewbie]

Thank you.