Abnormal Droppings and/or Diarrhoea

Monitoring your chicken’s droppings on a daily basis can give you some important insights into their general health. While you may occasionally see an abnormal droppings if your birds have eaten something unusual,  if it’s happening consistently or your birds are showing other signs of being sick, then further investigation is needed. 

In this section, we will review what is normal for your birds’ droppings in terms of frequency, consistency, and colour.  We will then cover some of the most common changes you may see and what they might mean in terms of your birds’ health.

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When to See a Vet

Your birds need to see a vet if you see any of the following signs:

These may be signs that your flock has an infectious disease or is experiencing severe problems with internal parasites that will need medical treatment.

Normal Droppings

In healthy backyard chickens, the normal faecal component of the droppings should be firm and either brown or green depending on how much plant material they are foraging during the day. It might be much more colourful if they have been fed strongly pigmented fruits like blueberries or vegetables like beetroot.

The urates will appear as the white cap covering about 30% to 50% of the faeces.  Sometimes you may also see a small amount of clear fluid which is liquid urine.  A healthy chicken will pass droppings about 12 to 15 times per day including at night.

Caecal droppings are produced about 2 to 3 times per day. They are usually light brown to mustard coloured with a particularly bad smell. In terms of volume, caecal droppings make up about 1/3 of all droppings produced by your birds in a given day.

Check out our Digestion & Excretion section for more information.

Abnormal Droppings

The main signs of abnormal droppings in chickens are:

  • Droppings that are very loose, watery, and runny
  • Droppings that are an unusual colour (red, bright green, clear, light brown)
  • Visible worms in the the droppings

You may also notice droppings pasted around the vent, which can lead to a condition called vent gleet when the underlying skin becomes irritated and infected.

Blood on Surface

If you see a small amount of slimy red to orange coating on the surface of otherwise normal looking droppings from otherwise healthy looking birds, this may just be some of the intestinal lining that is being shed.  This happens normally every so often and is not a cause for concern unless it is happening multiple times for multiple birds.

Bloody Droppings

If the droppings are runny with bright red blood, this is most likely a sign of coccidia. This requires immediate treatment and we recommend checking a faecal sample to confirm the diagnosis.  Review your parasite management plan to prevent this from happening again in the future.

Clear and Watery Droppings

This is most likely to occur in hot weather when chickens are drinking a lot of water to cool off or eating a lot of fruits and vegetables with high water content.

This can also be a sign of kidney disease which needs blood tests to diagnose. If your birds are respiratory signs, it could be signs of more serious infectious disease like Infectious Bronchitis.

Yellow and Foamy Droppings

If the droppings are yellow and faomay, this is most likely a sign of coccidia. This requires immediate treatment to prevent your birds from becoming clinically ill and we recommend checking a faecal sample to confirm the diagnosis.  Review your parasite management plan to prevent this from happening again in the future.

White and Milky Droppings

The most common causes of white and milky droppings are intestinal worms, coccidia, and Infectious Bursal Disease (not currently present in New Zealand). We recommend checking a faecal sample to confirm the diagnosis. 

Brown and Watery Droppings

Brown and watery droppings may be a sign of an Escherichia coli (E. coli) infection. These birds will often have other clinical signs of being sick like poor appetite, ruffled feathers, and low energy.

Bright Green Droppings

The most common cause of bright green droppings is high dietary intake of green plants or vegetables.  It can also sometimes be seen when birds are very severely affected with intestinal worms or are experiencing severe starvation. Occasionally, green droppings can be seen with Newcastle Disease (not currently present in New zealand) or Marek’s Disease.