[ck2day]

After seeing the "lovely" photos of Richys chicken pooh, I have to ask if anyone has any advice on my chickens poo.  

Some seems to be normal, some light brown and very sticky and some looks like guineau pig pooh in water.


They havent been overdosing on worms or bugs, have had no major changes to their diet (just pellets, the odd bit of left over cooked veg and a handful or two of corn) and have access to plenty of fresh water. They are free range as well but I havent found any poisonous plants that they could have got access to.

Will post pics tonight after I have been home and taken the pics.

Would be grateful for any thoughts.

Claire

[babe]

hi claire, if you put a picture up, im sure aunt sally will take a look. and no one knows poop better than aunty  

[Aunt Sally]

I'm getting an article on poo ready so any pictures are most welcome  :shock:

[ck2day]

Will take some piccies and post them tonight just for you Aunty    

[Aunt Sally]

Ooooo...  thank you dear  

[ck2day]

Here you go Aunty and other poo orientated people...not too brilliant i'm afraid as it has been raining most of the afternoon

Exhibit no 1..


Exhibit no 2.. this is the one that i said looked like guineau pig pooh in water


Exhibit no 3.. looks the most normal to me


Can't find any pooh that was brown and sticky.. it looked like chewy toffee    


Ps My Oh says I need to get a life for putting piccis of chicken pooh on the internet

Any advice/suggestions gratefully received

Claire

[Vember]

Exhibit no 2.. this is the one that i said looked like guineau pig pooh in water


I agree Guinea pig poop
or dare I say rat poop  :?

[ck2day]

Looks like rat poo but I definately saw it come out of a hens bum  :oops:

[Vember]

wow  :shock:
best wait an see what Auntie thinks then  :?

[Aunt Sally]

I'm no expert on poo, just take an interest in it  :shock:

All of these poos look normal to me, no 1 is a bit bubbly but I'd not worry about any of them unless they were continually like it.  There's not much mterial there though.  Are they eating enough ?

[ck2day]

I put out plenty of layers pellets out for them in the morning, they have corn in the afternoon and are free range so their poo goes along way, so to speak.  They also get any left over cooked veg and bits of left over fruit, cake etc.  Not that they get much of that with my kids.

Is there a certain amount they should be having each day?  They seem to have a bit of a feeding frenzy in the mornings when I let them out and feed them and they always come up to me, and follow me, when I am outside. I thought I was overfeeding them as they don't lay as well as they used to and read somewhere that overfeeding them and making them fat can cause them to stop laying (as well as having the life s*****d out of them by Colin!), but maybe I havent been feeding them enough.

Would be grateful for any advice

Claire

[Aunt Sally]

What do you mean by "Plenty" of layers pellets.  Most keepers give ad lib pellets, that is they are aways available in a big feeder and just topped up when it begins to get a bit low.

[ck2day]

I have a large roasting dish that i half fill and then another smaller one that I again half fill and put both of these out for them.  I read in one of my chicken books that they need approx 40g per hen each day, more if free range and i duly weighed this out and it comes to more than 40g each.

Am now wondering if I have been underfeeding them.......

[Aunt Sally]

Hens really need more feed than that, 100g per day each minimum is probably a better guide, bantams of cause need proportionally less.

http://www.eden-livestock.co.uk/feed.html

They will probably eat less if free ranging but free ranging while great for the hens pleasure does not always give adequate nutrition for egg laying.

[ck2day]

My God, no wonder the poor little dears aren't laying as well as they were and here I was thinking I was doing the right thing for them and not letting them get fat and blaming Colin on the lack of eggs.  Will up their feed ration straight away.

Thanks very much for the info Aunty