Please help

P

Poppy7

New member
Joined
Jul 20, 2013
Messages
58
Reaction score
0
Since getting my new Pekin last weekend I have noticed bloody droppings. Not bright red, more shed intestinal looking. Today on my patio I counted 3 or 4. Bearing in mind I only have 4 birds does this sound right? Would they shed their intestinal living that frequently?

Of course I'm worried about Cocci. However, all birds are bright, eating and drinking. I don't know yet but I have my suspicions that these poops are coming from one bird....

I've looked at pics of Cocci poops and they look bright red. The poops I found aren't like that. They are more stringy...and tinged red.

Can anyone enlighten me? I'm really hoping its not Cocci. I should never have got this new bird :-)06 everything has gone wrong since then.
 
If its not bright red, but more of a mucous texture and looking like shed intestinal lining, then that's probably what it is. So long as all of them are, as you say, bright and eating and drinking normally, its likely to be just one aspect of her settling in. 3-4 droppings could easily have come from one bird, they do a much larger number than that each, per day, and do shed lining periodically. As the newcomer to the flock, and as you said previously, still rather an outsider to the group, she will still be under some stress, chickens do take quite a long time to be fully settled in a new home, and this may be affecting her gut.
I would be more worried if she had diarrhoea or green droppings, or other signs of a gut infection. I know its easy for me to say 'don't worry, just keep an eye on her,' but she's most probably OK.
 
Thanks for your help and reassurance :-)17

Today I am letting the Pekin free range the garden with full access to food and water whilst the Seramas are in the run. I am hoping that reduces the stress for her and also enables me to ascertain who is producing the poos (the Pekin is the most likely suspect).

The poos are definitely a mucousy, stringy texture. I did prod one poop with a stone (gross I know) and the red part was flesh like exactly as I've seen photos of intestinal lining.

I'll keep an eye on the little lady. My children are very, very fond of her as she comes running for a cuddle. Hopefully it's just the stress of setting in.

I'll update later.
 
When I came home from work there were no more nasty looking poops :-)17

I can only assume as you said Marigold that they are caused by stress to the little Pekin. She's been separate from the others all day so no bullying and doing as she pleases.

The question is what do I do now? The other 3 are still not showing any interest in letting her join the gang at all. I really can't get another chook as a friend for the Pekin as my OH would go crazy! I can't really re home her either as the children are extremely attached to her already :-)07
 
Have you been able to rig up a division within the run to separate her from the others but so she can still see them through the mesh? If you've only had her for a week, and she is a single bird, you can't really expect her to be a welcome member of the gang just yet. If you let her out in the garden on her own, yes she will like it, but it won't help her to integrate with the others, will it? In fact, it will strengthen the Seramas perception that the run is their territory, then it will be even harder to get her in there. If you can let them all out together, the integration will go better as they will have more room. they will be watching each other, even if this isn't apparent to you. If she gets chased, she will be able to get away. They need to be within sight of each other in the run for several more days. You can try adding her to the others in the coop when they have gone to roost and are sleepy. Then watch to see what happens when they emerge next day. There may well be some chasing, which is always difficult o watch, but has to be got though if she is to find her place within the hierarchy. If you feel she is in danger of actual injury, then separate her behind her mesh screen again. When in the run together, ensure they have several feed and water points, so she can't get bullied off from one single source. Scattering some corn or mealworms on the ground is a good idea as they will all come running and will have to feed together. (Feeding off the ground isn't a very good idea long-term as they may pick up worms, but for integration purposes it works.)
 
Thanks again Marigold. Every day they free range together and minimal arguments occur but enough to bother her obviously. She does follw them around so she is trying to integrate. I just felt she needed a total break today and a day of pleasing herself. I know its not ideal but it was also a good way of narrowing down the weird poop culprit! They are only confined to the coop/run in the early morning, late evening and over night.

My OH mentioned tonight that it looked like she was getting friendly with the Serama who was lowest down the pecking order of their "group" so maybe that is progress?

I don't like to confine them to the run as I don't feel it's big enough for all 4 girls and I know over crowding can cause bullying issues. However I'll see if I can rig something up for a few days as long as it leant looks humane.

Thanks for all of your advice, it's very helpful.
 
So long as the arguments are 'minimal,' that is completely normal, and if she is following them around without injury and may be making friends with one if them, I would just leave them to it. Chickens are like kids, one can only help organise their social life up to a point, and then you have to stand back and let them sort it out themselves.
 
Marigold said:
Chickens are like kids, one can only help organise their social life up to a point, and then you have to stand back and let them sort it out themselves.
Click to expand...

I like this :lol: a very good theory. I'll give it a go.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.

Latest posts

Back
Top