Does anyone know why a chicken would have diarhea in the middle of winter? My neighbor has only a couple of birds to give her eggs, they are allowed to go into her back yard when the weather is fine, and it seems strange it would get sick when most of the wild birds have migrated south. She says the diarhea is mostly white with a little green and very watery and the bird is passing very large amounts. She is starting it on sulfa but since she doesn't know what it is she doesn't know if it is the right treatment or not.

-- Terri (hooperterri@prodigy.net), January 24, 2002

Answers

if you check further down the list,, chcikens dont have bladders,, hence they dont pee,, so everything is mixed together,,so,,sometimes it will be "watery"

-- Stan (sopal@net-port.com), January 24, 2002.

Well Stan I have been raising chixs for years and didn't know that. I have always wondered too when I would see the watery poop. Thanks, I am glad I read the post. Can't believe I didn't read that in a book before.

-- debbie (bwolcott@cwis.net), January 24, 2002.

Watery droppings is also a sign of worms. If the sulfa doesn't clear up the problem and if the chickens have never before been wormed, give them a dose of Piperazine.

-- buk (noaddy@tiredofspam.com), January 24, 2002.

Also check the amount of salt intake. Have they been fed very salty scraps like ham fat or did the mill add too much salt when mixing (if they're being fed locally produced mash and not crumbles). Salt can lead to watery diarrhea. Also coccidia. If the sulfa(and I am assuming the sulfa being given is sulfadimethoxine) doesn't help and the salt intake is ok, you may want to try a course of corid (amprolium) in case the coccidia are resistant to the sulfa.

-- Sandra Nelson (Magin@starband.net), January 25, 2002.

Well Terri, i have a very quick solution for your problem. All you have to do is go to Eckerd and buy a very large pink bottle of a medicine that helps with any stomache problem. (or the squirts in your case)This magic medicine is called Pepto Bismal, and you may find it very useful. Please feel free to call me if your problem continues and i will reccomend you to a good psyciatrist for not having the brains to figure out that HAVING CHICKENS IS A BAD IDEA IF YOU DO NOT KNOW WHAT IS COMING OUT OF THEIR BUTTS!! thank you very much for your unbelievably stupid problem.

-- Neil & Bob (RRmanPA@AOL.com), February 22, 2002.