What Is Your Chicken’s Poop Telling You?

Most backyard chicken owners spend plenty of time watching their chickens. But how often do you pay attention to what’s coming out of them?

Chicken droppings can provide useful clues about flock health. Here are a few things to watch for:

• 🟤 Brown or grayish droppings with white caps: Generally normal. The white material is urates, which are how chickens eliminate much of their nitrogen waste.
• 🤎 Dark brown, sticky, unusually smelly droppings: Often normal cecal droppings. Chickens produce these periodically.
• 💚 Green droppings: Sometimes associated with eating lots of greens, but can also occur when chickens aren’t eating enough or are sick.
• 💧 Watery droppings: Can happen during hot weather or after consuming watery foods. Persistent diarrhea deserves closer attention.
• 🩸 Bloody droppings: A potential warning sign of intestinal disease, including coccidiosis, and a reason to contact a veterinarian promptly.

One unusual dropping doesn’t necessarily mean your chicken is sick. Look for patterns and changes in behavior, appetite, and energy. Appearance alone cannot diagnose a disease.

A clean coop makes it easier to spot unusual droppings before they become a bigger problem.