I'm hoping someone can tell me what wrong with some chickens I am raising. Three of my mature hens have droppings sticking to their vent and the feathers below. (I have separated these birds from the others) The droppings are mostly whitish diarrhea (though not entirely, sometimes their greenish-brown) and are sometimes foamy. Other than the awful mess at their rear, these chickens look and act fine. I recently looked at a Chicken Health Book and found that the symptoms I have described could be caused by several things (worms, pasted vent syndrome, bluecomb, etc.). Unfortunately, no disease description seems to fit exactly. I'm wondering if anyone out there has had this problem and can give me some advise/ insight on how to proceed ie. should I cull these hens and sterilize the coop? Thanks in advance- Audrey

-- Audrey Eve Lehner (klehner@wytbear.com), May 22, 2001

Answers

The food they eat can change the color of the droppings, Audrey, but when they're foamy, they definitely need deworming:

http://archive.msstate.edu/dept/poultry/diagext.htm

-- ~Rogo (rogo2020@yahoo.com), May 22, 2001.