teaching a chicken to wipe it's own backside

One of my rescue chicks has come on a real treat, she was almost completely bald when I got her. I really didn't think she'd survive her first few weeks, she was scrawny, very thin and weak, had barely any strength in her legs and was scared as hell. She's been though a lot since coming home with me, she's the smallest and bottom of the pecking order and still has real deferential body language toward the other hens. She often wont even try eating with them, and grabs a mouthful and runs off instead so she wont get pecked. She had real problems when her strength came back to start laying again, and the first few eggs broke or were shell-less. One broke inside her and cut her wee bare bum to shreds. She needed loads of TLC, warm baths, purple spray and the odd bit of vaseline up in the bumhole. Every day she was coated in antiseptic and factor 50 suncream to protect her skin, and has had food supplements and extra calcium and vitamins daily.

Now she's blossomed, what a completely perfect little hen she is. Still a tiny thing but with a full set of bright orange feathers. She loves to be petted and cuddled and carried about. She even loves her bath time.

The issue I have with her is she clearly hasn't got the hang of having feathers. I'm not sure she'll ever have had proper feathers in her life on that awful overcrowded farm. She is a massive fan of green things, lettuce, cabbage, anything fresh and tasty. Maybe she never ate anything that yummy before. Unfortunately it often gives her a bit of runny poo, not a bad thing, just too much liquid in her diet, but in this heat wave I'm OK with that. She gets fine nutrition, loads of layers mash and supplements so she pops out a lovely white egg almost every day for me. She is the happiest little thing, purring and cooing. She just doesn't get that she isn't just wipe clean anymore. I don't want to have to bath her all the time but she isn't cleaning the poop from her back end properly and it's clagging up and getting matted and concretey. In this hot weather I'm worried about fly strike too. I had to wash her with baby shampoo this morning but by the time I put her to bed she looked as mucky as ever again. She has learned to dust bathe and preen by watching the other birds and copying them, but clearly she doesn't really understand what she's trying to achieve. Normally she comes out of the dust bath dirtier than she went in!.

How can I teach her that she has feathers now, and feathers get dirty, feathers need cleaning.

Lovely wee bird, but she's dumb. Good god she is dumb.

I think what you're dealing with is called "gleet" It's a yeast infection in the digestive tract. No amount of personal hygiene will fix her problem. But, you might try clipping the feathers below her vent. (Not too much, you don't want the other girls to see any bare skin!) You also might try limiting her snacks, though she loves them. An other thing you might do is try giving her some plain yogurt on a daily basis, as well as giving her fermented feed. If you don't do the fermented feed (which would be great for your whole flock. It will make their poops less stinky and make them much dryer, as well as cut your feed bill, cut down on the amount of wasted feed, and boost their nutrition due to the amount of probiotics packed in every serving! Super easy to do. Look for a fermented feed thread in the "feeding and watering your flock" section. If you don't do the fermented feed try adding some apple cider vinegar with the mother to her water. About a tablespoon/gallon. I'd offer them some water with and without ACV so they can choose. In this hot water, you don't want them avoiding water due to a preference. (I think my girls prefer the ACV, but i always give plain along side of the ACV.

thanks I had not heard of gleet before, though they have been getting yoghurt daily for the past few weeks as it's been very warm so frozen berry yoghurt from the fridge is a much loved treat. Never heard of fermented feed, wonder if you can get that in the UK, must look it up. The treats have been cut back anyway, except for the grass which they'd much all day long if they could.

Fermented feed is something you can make yourself from the feed you already have. It's super easy to do. Just do a fermented feed thread search, and you'll find all the info you need to get started.