Most poultry farmers get worried on sighting green poop in the chicken pen or coop. Well, you shouldn’t get worried in some cases. Diarrhea in chickens and other poultry birds is nothing to take for granted because it is usually a sign that something is not right with the birds. The color or texture of chicken poops gives a lot of information about the health or general wellbeing of chickens.
Some of these colors are:
- Green poop
- Greenish white poop
- Bright green poop
- Deep green poop
- Yellow green poop
- Brown poop
- White poop
- Black poop
- Red or pink poop
This is why it is important for you as a farmer to pay attention to the texture and color of the feces of your birds since depending on the color of the chicken poop will help you diagnose diseases easily.
Diarrhea in chickens such as broilers or layers has many causes and depending on the problem, poop or feces could appear in different forms. Therefore, in this article, we will talk about what are the possible causes of green diarrhea or green poop in chickens and what you should do about it.
Causes of Green Chicken Poop
Before proceeding to the causes of green diarrhea in chickens, let us highlight some causes of green poo excluding disease reasons.
- When a chicken is not eating and drinking well or has no access to feed, it may start to pass out green feces. This is because the bile secreted to digest feed has no feed to work on and it is passed out together with the feces.
- When chickens feed on green vegetables, leaves or seeds, they are bound to excrete green poo. So if your birds are on free range and you discovered they are passing out green poo, it might be due to the greens they consumed some hours ago.
- There are some diseases that cause chickens to excrete green poop or diarrhea. If you are engaged in raising chickens and are currently facing this problem, pay attention to the following, as we will mention the most common diseases that cause green chicken poop.
Newcastle Disease
Newcastle disease is caused by a paramyxovirus and is quite contagious. The most common form of transmission is through feces or poop from infected birds or nasal discharges. The main symptoms of chickens with Newcastle disease are as follows:
- Green or greenish white diarrhea in broilers and layers
- Coughing and ratling
- Lack of coordination
- Partial or complete paralysis
- Trembling and gasping
- Sharp fall in egg production
- Body or head tremor and abnormal movements
- Birds usually place their heads between the legs or back between the shoulders.
- The mortality risk is 50% in young birds
- In laying chickens, the egg production declines or even ceases. Although the egg production resumes after six weeks, the eggs laid will have a very thin and deformed shell and in some cases have no shell.
Fowl Cholera
Fowl Cholera is a disease caused by a bacterium called Pasteurella multocida. The disease is also referred to as Pasteurellosis. It is highly contagious and can cause very high mortality in chickens. The most common form of transmission is through the feces of diseased birds that contaminate water and feed. Birds can also become infected when healthy ones peck at the carcass of another bird affected by fowl cholera.
The main symptoms of fowl cholera include:
- Green watery diarrhea
- Breathing difficulty
- Swelling of the wattle
- Loss of appetite
- Rapid weight loss
- Low egg production
- Paralysis due to inflammation of the toes and legs
- Ruffled feathers
This disease causes the sudden death of birds that appear to be healthy. Due to the speed of the infection, it is difficult to treat it in time, with green diarrhea being the earliest symptom of the disease to be able to intervene.
How to Treat Green Poop in Chickens
Some of the treatments to be performed in order to fight the above diseases are explained below.
For Fowl Cholera (Pasteurellosis)
If you detect that a chicken is suffering from avian cholera, immediately use sulfaquinoxaline, sulfamethazine or sulfamerazine. You can also use enrofloxacin and fosfomycin to treat the disease. Administer the drugs to the whole flock for five days.
It is imperative to disinfect the pen or house where the birds live in order to prevent reinfection. After disinfecting the pen, you should give the birds a fowl cholera vaccine. The vaccine should be administered every four months.
For Newcastle Disease
At present, Newcastle Disease has no treatment or cure. Therefore, it is best to vaccinate the chickens to prevent the disease. The vaccine should be repeated several times during the life of the animal.
The first vaccination is recommended during the first seven days of the chick with the right strain (depending on location). The next vaccination is performed between four and twelve weeks of the life of the chicken. During this period onwards, the chickens should be vaccinated with the La Sota strain every three months.
FAQs about Green Poop or Diarrhea in Chickens
a. What does green chicken poop mean?
Green chicken poop could mean that such chicken is not eating (or underfed), fed on green vegetables, leaves or seeds or the chicken is sick. Either bright green or dark green, the best way is to examine both the feces and chicken critically to know the cause of the green dropping.
b. What does it mean when a chicken has green poop?
It is a sign of being underfed, not eating, green veggie diet or sickness.
c. Is chicken poop green or brown compost?
Despite what you may have heard, the color and texture of chicken poop do not stay consistent. The color and consistency of a healthy chicken poop will change depending on diet, season, climate, or even state of health. That said, an unhealthy chicken poop will not look healthy for a long time, so if your chicken poop is not indicative of a healthy chicken, there is likely something wrong with it.
d. What are the causes of greenish diarrhoea in poultry?
The causes of greenish diarrhoea in poultry are generally due to feeding deprivation or starvation, feeding on green vegetables, grasses, seeds or leaves, or signs of diseases or sickness such as Newcastle disease or fowl cholera.
e. What is the best green diarrhea in chicken treatment method?
If you discover green poop or dropping in broilers or layers, look for the major cause. If it is due to disease, you should contact a poultry veterinary doctor for proper diagnosis and treatment.
Closing
As highlighted in this article, green diarrhea in chickens is usually a sign that the birds have a health problem that could threaten their lives and performance. Thus, if you observe that your birds are excreting green poop, you should seek the service of a veterinarian to ascertain the cause and arrest the situation as soon as possible.
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