4 New RIR with crusting on vent feathers?

[spencereb]

My neighbor has a dozen or more free range birds. The owners are moving out of state, and posted a "Free Chickens" sign. I picked up several RIR and a Wyandotte. All these hens are perfectly normal in every observable respect, except, each bird has a trace of (white) urea/diarrhea marking on their vent feathers. My existing flock of six birds has never exhibited this, so it is new to me. Cause for concern, or just wait till they settle in to my Layena pellets and oyster shells? Also, the poo seems to have a much stronger and worst odor.

Thanks for any feedback.
-Spence

 

[speckledhen]

Could be they are just fluffier back there. My fluffier breeds always have that. The stronger smell your other birds manure has may just be what they've been eating.

 

[greginshasta]

If it starts to accumulate, be sure to pull it off.

One of our chicks, formerly known as "poopy butt" and now called "angel" is the runt of the group of 10 we purchased 6 weeks ago. She had large turd accumulations which I had to pluck off (much to her dismay) during the first couple weeks.

If allowed to accumulate and block the vent this can become a problem.

 

[spencereb]

There is really not an accumulation problem of any kind at this point, on any of the birds. It's just that there is a distinctly noticable "skid mark" or highlight at the vent, and, it is equally noticably on each of the birds. At this point, a sort of a trademark, if you will, for all the new birds. My hope is that this curiosity will go away on all these new birds with a change in diet. My fear is that my existing flock birds will develope this undesirable feature, and that the fault will be mine for not quaranteening them.
It is good to know that certain other breeds (with fluffier hinnies) have been known to have this curiosity, without complications.
-Spence

 

[speckledhen]

It can't be feed in my case. They have very high quality feeds. I just have birds with extremely fluffy butts, LOL. A good point was made, however, that you should check to be sure it isnt accumulating. My Barred Rocks and Orpingtons, especially, are the worst for this.

 

[SpottedCrow]

It's probably what they were eating...if they're getting juicy fruits or veggies or drinking lots of water, their ploop will be juicier, and more likely to stick to their bum feathers. If it looks like it's sticking, you can trim the feathers a bit.

 

[sunnychooks]

This sounds like something I'm dealing with now with one of my Rocks. After much internet surfing and asking loads of questions I think what my hen has is "vent gleet". Also called "thrush" or "candidiasis". I'm treating her with a natural remedy of 1 Tbsp of yogurt per day (must have active cultures) and ACV with "mother" (2-4 Tbsp per gallon of water as sole water source for one week). This is a yeast infection that may affect the chicken internally as well. If you google it, there are MANY treatments. I chose this one because I think it's the least invasive, as far as the use of chemical medications. If I have no luck with this treatment I'll go to something a little more aggressive. It may be worth you investigating. Good Luck!