Adult chickens with "pasty butt"??

@sdaikus - I'm hoping for the best. How did this turn out?

I have an old RIR that has had this issue for the last couple of years. Her vent looks similar to your photo but worse - more white/yellow stuff around the vent. There is also some blood from time to time? She was treated for a respiratory infection in 2014 and since then she has to have a monthly bath to get rid of the poop buildup. I think the strong antibiotics messed up her system. Her poop is just a real runny consistency and I think that is part of the issue. She has been treated for worms and I've even taken her poop to the vet to check for parasites. Nothing. I've even tried Diflucan because I thought the issue was vent gleet. Last summer I failed to bath her frequently enough and she did attract flies and had maggots!! It was awful. Anyway, she is healthy in every other way so we just deal with it. I soak her bottom, remove the poop and then apply iodine or gentian violet. Seems to help with irritation around the vent.

I also want to add that I have Mareks in my flock. Some of the chickens display paralysis but others just waste away and have runny messy bottoms. So in some cases I think it's a symptom of something much more serious.

It seems that my fat girls are the only ones with fluff poop...too fat to squat! The others who are slimmer have no issues.

My Rhode Island Red has been less active today and not moving too much. Checked her out and noticed she had serve poop on the back of her. Her vent looked clear tho, wondering what's going on? What can I do to help her?

speckledhen said:

Adults do not get actual pasty butt. If they do, something is terribly, terribly wrong. Pasty butt is where the vent is actually blocked with poop so no more poop can come out. What you're talking about is probably just poop sticking in the butt fluff. Some of my hens have what I call "velcro fluff" and are prone to it, some are not. Seems the larger breeder type Orps are more prone, my RIR is prone and a couple of the BRs. Why some have the issue and some don't is a mystery to me.

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I just spent about 20 minutes in my tub (gross) cleaning my 6-year old Buff Orp's backside. Hardened poo. Prior to cleaning, I observed an add posture, almost like she was constipated. I picked her up and noticed the crud. Cleaned her up and blew dry her behind. She's as good as new. First time occurrence.