Hen's rear end all covered with poop - New at this.

Today, one of my hens did not leave the run to free range after I let her out of her coop. I noticed that it looks like her rear end is all covered with poop. Do I catch her and wash it off? She looks like she is always grunting, but I also saw her poop. She is active, but not as active as the other hens.

New at this so any advice is greatly appreciated.

Mark

Sounds like worms.

Yes, catch her and wash her in warm water and make sure she stays warm to dry. Some folks use a blow dryer on low setting to help it along. Have you wormed your chickens lately? That might be what is causing the diarrhea. I would bring her in and separate her somehow to get an idea of how she is doing and make sure she is eating and all that. Good luck!

What do I worm her with?

i never wormed my chickens but they sell dewormer medicine in feed stores.

its your personal choice if you give medicine to your chickens or not, but i prefer not.

i am also new at this

What do I use if I don't use dewormer? If you do use dewormer can you still eat the eggs or do you have to wait a few days?

I think you should wait but i dont know for how long.

If the feeder store says 1 week, i would wait 2 weeks at least, if the instructions say 1 week, same.

There are several ways to try to control the worms naturally but there is no natural way the birds can get completely clean. Some people use those remedies in between the dewormings that are suggested to be made every 6 months no matter if you see worms or any reasons to deworm them. Thats what i have read in here, make a search there is plenty of information here.

Some of those remedies are:

Raw garlic cut in pieces and fed to the chickens or keep it in water overnight and give the water to the chickens, some people always give garlic water.

Hot cayen peper seems to mess with the worms house and makes it uncomfortable and some may get out of the bird.

Some specific seeds that i cannot recall right now are also crushed and given to the chickens, i am sure somebody else will tell you more.

But keep in mind that those ways will not clean an infected bird, they will just control the population of the worms.

If you MUST use a dewormer, then use it to save the bird...i hope i will never have to use dewormer but i will propably have to do it eventually sometime....

Little advice: isolate the bird for few hours or overnight, then set it free and watch the poop very closely, get a small stick and mess with them, if you see a worm (they look white, i think, and not too much like worms) that will mean your bird has a big infection and the worms are so many that some come out.

Thats all the advice i could give as a fellow newbie

Worms can kill chickens and if they are acting sick, I don't think i would risk less potent natural remedies. Natural cures may help to prevent, but they are not going to kill a large worm infestation. Valbazen can be ordered online, marketed as a goat wormer and it will kill all types of worms that chickens can get. Farm stores do sell wazine and others, but they can miss some species of worms. This wormer does not tend to overwhelm the bird with the dead worms either. There is a 3 week egg withdrawal time. No need to waste them though, you can cook them and feed them back to the flock. Good protein and vitamins in there for the birds. I would worm the entire flock, since they all likely have them. Good luck!

Also, if you see a worm in the poop, the bird is REALLY loaded with them. They don't let go until there is no more room. It's pumpkin seeds, but the bird would have to eat a dump truck load for it to have much effect on a large worm load.