Is my pekin bantam male or female?

[mullethunter]

I'm not sure whether I should be worried about Margot. She's one of my new (ish) araucana bantams. She came into lay last month and when reading this bear in mind she's laying 2 perfect little blue eggs every 3 days.

 

In addition to her excellent egg laying, she's very feisty and active, always first to muscle her saying for treats, and has cemented her position as third in the pecking order (of 6).

 

However I think there must be something wrong with her digestive system. Her poo although occasionally normal, is usually either very watery, or soft, and sometimes partially dark green. Her fluffy feathers around her vent are always mucky. She's been like this for a few weeks now.

 

Oh - and all the others are fine and they were all wormed with flubenvet about 3 weeks ago.

 

Should I be worried and what would you do?

[Beantree]

Dark green occasionally in the poo can be simply something she has eaten. If it was always dark green it would be an internal infection or something causing extreme discomfort. It may be however her digestive enzymes have been disrupted by something she has eaten and I would advise a dose of some Avipro Avian anyway. I have made the assumption that she has been wormed with Flubenvet recently of course.

[mullethunter]

Thanks Beantree - that's what I was going to try so maybe it will help

[mullethunter]

Well, Margot still goes on the same. Very bright, still laying her 2 eggs every 3 days, always first to food and to try to escape, but her digestive system is clearly not working properly.

 

Her poo is all over the place. Sometimes watery, sometimes slimy and a bit green, sometimes all white. So bad that I had to wash her feathers because they were all caked in it (and I never thought I'd wash a chicken - considering she doesn't really like being handled she was surprisingly well behaved and seemed to quite enjoy the hair dryer!).

 

This has been going on for months now, and although she doesn't seem to be losing condition she's definitely not right.

 

All the others are fine, they've all been wormed with flubenvet within the last 3 months and even during that pellet only time her droppings still weren't right, and I've tried avipro avian in the water a couple of time but it made no difference, so does anyone have any ideas? I'm wondering if she has some sort of intestinal infection and needs antibiotics?

 

Thanks.

[Luvachicken]

I suppose you could gather a selection of her poop and send it away to be tested.

That way you would find out if she has something or not.

I don't know how expensive poo testing is or if they even look for that kind of thing.

 

I was also wondering if chickens could suffer from IBS ?

That could explain why she poops better sometimes than others.

 

It sounds like she is fine otherwise - laying eggs and doing chicken things - but they do make us worry.

 

I hope you get her sorted soon

[mullethunter]

Thanks luvachicken. I might try sending a sample away - I think it's about £15 and they check for worms(which I'm fairly sure she doesn't have, and coccidia which I think is a possibility.

 

Has anyone used one of these services?

[Luvachicken]

£15 sounds like a good investment if it rules out/confirms if she might have anything.

I know I would pay it for mine and any results could be useful for a trip to the vets.

 

I think someone on here has used them - I think they are called Retfords or something similar - not sure if it was Gavclojak or Redsunset or someone else.

I was hoping they might be able to do tests other than for worms but don't actually know.

 

Hopefully they might spot this and tell you.