When left to free range in summer, our chickens always have more green droppings. This is because they eat green leaves and grass out in the fields.
Green chicken poop is normal if they are eating green leaves or grass. However, constant green chicken diarrhea indicates illnesses like Newcastle, Merek’s Disease, Avian Influenza, or internal worm infections.
Chickens can eat grass, green weeds or vegetation while out in the fields; if they do so, they will likely have a green shade on their droppings. You don’t need to worry if there are no other signs and symptoms like lethargy, watery eyes, or continuous watery stools.
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Causes of green chicken poop
The appearance of chickens’ dropping depends on what they have been eating and their environment. Therefore, you need to know what is normal and when to panic based on what they eat. Some of the causes of green droppings from chickens are:
- PREMIUM & SUSTAINABLE: At Eaton, we’re committed to producing the most premium products while also minimizing our impact on the environment. That’s why we use 100% sustainably harvested aspen excelsior to create our premium nesting pads. We understand the importance of sustainability in agriculture and the impact that it can have on the planet, which is why we have carefully selected materials that are both eco-friendly and of the highest quality.
- HAND-PACKED WITH LOVE: We believe that the quality of our product begins with the love and care we put into packaging it. That’s why each box of our nesting pads are hand packed with love and attention, ensuring that every pad is of the highest quality and ready for your hens to enjoy.
- THE BEST PLACE TO LAY: Your laying hens deserve the best, which is why we offer the softest and comfiest natural padding available on the market.
- COLLECT EGGS WITH EASE: Our nesting pads are designed to help minimize egg breakage and make egg-gathering easy and stress-free. With our nesting pads, you can enjoy a more efficient and streamlined process of collecting eggs.
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1. Newcastle disease
This highly infectious disease is a result of the para-myxo virus. Apart from attacking chickens, the disease attacks other domesticated birds like ducks, turkeys, and guineafowls.
The disease can be transmitted through sneezing or contact with the droppings of a sick bird. While humans may not normally be infected, handling ill chickens can trigger an infection of the eye, which takes a few days to heal.
Apart from the green poop, other symptoms that indicate your chicken has Newcastle disease include:
- Draping wings
- Coughing
- Positioning of the head between shoulders or legs
- Runny nose
- Difficulty in breathing
- The stopping or reduction of egg production. If the production stops and resumes in a month, the eggs produced have a thin shell and are not well shaped. Sometimes, the eggs may not even have a shell
- High mortality rate, particularly in young chickens
- Inflammation of the tissues adjacent to the neck and eyes
2. Fowl cholera
The disease is also highly infectious and results from a strain of Pasteurella multocida. Often, the bacteria is the leading trigger of soft tissue infection when you are mauled or scratched by a dog or a cat.
Fowl cholera can instantly cause high deaths of your birds even if they were perfectly healthy. A chicken can get an infection when it drinks water and eats feed contaminated by droppings of an unhealthy chicken. A healthy bird can also be infected when it pecks at the remains of an ill bird.
Other potential signs and symptoms of fowl cholera attack include:
- Difficulties in breathing
- Appetite loss
- Abnormal loss of weight
- Low production of eggs
- Inflammation of the comb, face, and wattle
- Loss of muscle function leads to the inability to move normally.
- Disarranged feathers
3. Marek’s Disease
The disease comes from the herpes virus and causes tumors in birds. Marek’s Disease mainly affects female and young chickens.
Passing the disease from one bird to another is so simple because it’s airborne. The result can always be terrifying to any poultry owner.
Potential signs and symptoms of the disease are:
- Weight change
- Heavy breathing
- Graying eyes that appear weird
- A falling-over comb
- Paralysis
- Sudden death without displaying other signs of illness. Since tumors often grow in a chicken’s body and most symptoms could remain internally, it is not easy to detect an issue.
- Diarrhea
4. Insufficient drinking water and high dietary feed
A chicken without constant water and feed supply could also produce green chicken poop. That is due to the bile, useful in food digestion, finding itself without work, triggering its release from the body via chicken droppings.
Do not leave your birds to access potentially toxic plants and vegetables like spinach. For instance, spinach contains oxalic acid that can prevent a chicken’s body from absorbing calcium normally. Without sufficient calcium absorption, your chicken could lay soft-shelled eggs, prone to breaking and or getting stuck.
Runny or watery green chicken waste
A continuous green liquid, runny, or watery chicken waste is a sign of illness. If a disease has attacked your bird, it should also exhibit other signs and symptoms apart from the watery green poop.
Chicken with bright green poop
Chicken with bright green poop normally results from eating plenty of greens. However, always look for other signs and symptoms of poor health, particularly when your bird has not been munching greens recently.
How to prevent and treat green chicken poop
To prevent sudden strong watery, or persistent chicken diarrhea, check what the chickens eat and their well-being. For treatment, you can use any popular medications like Sulfamerazine and Enrofloxacin. Medicate your ill chickens for about five days. However, you must consult a poultry veterinarian before using any of those.
1. Disinfect the chicken coop
Disinfect the chicken coop regularly, particularly if your chickens have recently suffered from a disease like fowl cholera. After hutch treatment, also vaccinate your poultry against viral diseases.
Carry out the vaccination after every few months. And, since Newcastle disease is not treatable, prevent its occurrence by giving your birds multivitamins and antibiotics regularly.
2. Hydration
Supply your chicken with plenty of water and feed it frequently. If you leave your poultry dehydrated and starved, do not be surprised when you eventually deal with green droppings.
3. Worming
For worm infection in chicken, use a remedy like Ivermectin. Give your chickens pawpaw seeds, chili peppers, garlic, mustard greens, or carrots for organic worm relief options. Know when to worm your chickens if you want them to be productive and give healthy eggs.
4. Apple cider vinegar
Use apple cider vinegar in your flock’s drinking water at least two times a week. The natural remedy assist with immune system strengthening. It also clears weak bacterial infections that cause runny green chicken poop.
To clear bacterial infections that cause green runny diarrhea in chickens, add 14 ml apple cider vinegar to 4 liters of water and let the chickens have it. Apple cider vinegar for chickens should be well diluted because if it is concentrated, the harsh smell irritates the chickens and give them stomach upsets.
5. Check your chickens’ overall well-being
Depending on the underlying condition, as a veterinarian advises, you give probiotics, essential for acidifying the gut and improving digestive health. Refer your chickens to a local vet often to check and monitor their health.
When you find abnormal-looking chicken poop, check for other signs and symptoms indicating a parasite attack or disease. Some reliable signs of an unhealthy chicken include thirst and laying small eggs, or a significant reduction in egg production.
Make sure that the feed given to your poultry has excellent dietary composition. And avoid providing excessive drinking water or a protein-rich diet since they may contribute to watery droppings. Let your vet take droppings samples regularly to examine what affects your birds.
- PREMIUM & SUSTAINABLE: At Eaton, we’re committed to producing the most premium products while also minimizing our impact on the environment. That’s why we use 100% sustainably harvested aspen excelsior to create our premium nesting pads. We understand the importance of sustainability in agriculture and the impact that it can have on the planet, which is why we have carefully selected materials that are both eco-friendly and of the highest quality.
- HAND-PACKED WITH LOVE: We believe that the quality of our product begins with the love and care we put into packaging it. That’s why each box of our nesting pads are hand packed with love and attention, ensuring that every pad is of the highest quality and ready for your hens to enjoy.
- THE BEST PLACE TO LAY: Your laying hens deserve the best, which is why we offer the softest and comfiest natural padding available on the market.
- COLLECT EGGS WITH EASE: Our nesting pads are designed to help minimize egg breakage and make egg-gathering easy and stress-free. With our nesting pads, you can enjoy a more efficient and streamlined process of collecting eggs.
As an Amazon Associate, we earn from qualifying purchases.
