Transparent liquid poo

bloo74

bloo74

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Hi there
My hen has began pooing water since yesterday, it's clear as water. I have been keeping her and her chick (who is now a teenager!) in a small area in the grass and at night I am bringing them indoors, they sleep in a large and comfy cage. The area where she is kept doesn't have a coop, It's covered so they are protected from sun and rain but maybe she is stressing because she can't find a place to lay her eggs? She laid her first egg after the chick hatched 3 days ago then nothing.
Let me know your thoughts...
Maybe she is not eating as much food too? I am giving them seeds and pellets mixed, have ordered dried worms and insects tonight to see if it helps.

Thanks!

Ren
 
Hi Bloo74. I'm sure she is stressing because she doesn't have anywhere secure to lay (try a box on it's side) but I don't think that is the problem. Two things spring to mind. Firstly is it poo or is it egg white. She may have burst an egg inside her and now the area is infected and she can't actually poo. How full is her crop? What does her abdomen feel like -swollen? Secondly, if she is pooing water is it because there is an obstruction in her crop -'crop bound'. The obstruction prevents any solids entering the digestive system but water can filter through. A single dose (1 ml or so) of cod liver oil and a gentle massage of the crop many times a day should clear that.

Seeds are too big for a young chick as are pellets -they will jam up its digestive system. The chick should be on chick crumb and mother will eat that as well. Chick crumb needs ACS additive as they are outside and the chick will be very suseptable to coccidiosis. Nothing larger until 6 weeks old for the chick. Can feed mum treats on the side.

I suggest a trip to the vet may be required for your hen as infection from a broken egg shell is serious and needs to be treated quickly.
 
Hi Chris

Thank you so much for all this info, I think she might be getting better because she started pooing half solid hald liquid now. I've been doing a bit of reading and it's likely she hasn't been eating enough food... I have given her boiled egg (found that strange, but someone recommended it), oats and a bit of rice yesterday and she seems a little better today, at least I could see more poos. I have made an appointment with the vet tomorrow, she is not swollen at all but she makes a noise that shows that she is slightly "uncomfortable" when I pick her up.

She is my last remaining hen until I get new ones, after a fox killed all the other 5 so I am a bit concerned... I've had her for 5 years.

The chick is now a 2 months old hen and is doing well. I'll let you know how things go and will follow your advice as well! I am taking them to the chicken run tomorrow where she has a lot more space and a coop in case she is feeling uncomfortable about not having a "less exposed" area to lay eggs in.I will keep bringing them indoors at night, though, just don't want to lose these to the fox too and the chicken run isn't fully secure yet, I am still working on it.

THANKS AGAIN!
 
Hi again,

All very strange so I hope you can help me with this. She started pooing normally again, big healthy poos.
But for the last 4 days she is pooing yolk, I can see yolk on the grass as well (fresh not hard so if it was one single egg cracked wouldn't it happen only once?) also, she has layed an egg during these 4 days and usually lays once or twice a week.

If there is an egg broken inside her or more than one, can they be removed?
And how could she be laying normal eggs still?
 
Very odd. There are at least 4 eggs in development at any one time in a hen. First the yolk is started which gradually gets larger. Finally the white, then membrane and then shell are added. If anything has gone wrong with the egg duct they could all arrive with the end processes missing. We've had two hens shed their entire egg duct system and never laid again (looks like a flesh encased egg - flesh sac full of yolk). This was probably due to them being hybrids 2 years old and their ovaries had run out of eggs, so the system was then redundant (they only have 600 eggs inside them maximum, but intensive breeding focusing on egg production for the first year only for commercial purposes may have reduced that number drastically). It may be an internal egg duct infection that has triggered the shedding of the incomplete eggs. Presumably she hasn't laid since you spotted the yolk? Is she laying eggs with no yolk in them?

Sounds like a trip to the vets for antibiotics.
 
Thank you so much for your reply again Chris, I took her to the vet today and we started the antibiotics for 10 days, fingers crossed it will work out.

Best wishes

Ren
 
Hi Chris, just to let you know the hen is doing great, she had antibiotics for 7 days and I was told to give her extra calcium (shells, boiled egg whites, egg shells), she is back to normal :-)

Just got a new rooster and 2 hens so back to a family of 5 :-)

Thank you

Ren
 
Hi Ren. Pleased she is well again. Don't overdo the extra calcium for too long as there should be enough in layers pellets and grit.
 
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