-29F Cold Weather concerns - frozen clump of poo on hen's butt

[gtaus]

We are in the middle of an Artic cold snap, and we don't expect any "warmer" weather until this coming Monday. It was -29F this morning, but I don't think we have been above -12F this week. It's bitter cold even for us.

This morning when I went out to feed the chickens, I noticed one of the hens had a big clump of frozen poo attached to her butt. My concern is that we still have another 4 days of this extreme cold to survive and I am wondering if this frozen mass of poo on her butt is going to be life threatening? I am hesitant to bring her inside the house because at 70F inside, it is almost 100F degree difference from the outside and I am concerned that putting her back outside in the cold might shock her. However, since the outside temps have no chance of getting above 32F for the next 6 weeks, I cannot see this frozen clump of poo melt off so she can clean herself, So what to do?

On the positive side, she is still eating and otherwise appears to be doing well. I don't mind if she has a big clump of poo on her butt if it is not affecting her overall health. Any advice apprecitated.

 

[LizzzyJo]

In this case, I would trim the clump off with scissors. Get it off and away from the vent to prevent issues. You're correct in your avoidance of water and heat.

 

[Eggcessive]

Pull off as much as you can and then trim any excess feathers. If left, the clump with catch further droppings and become larger. Poop is very irritating to the skin.

 

[gtaus]

Thanks for the responses.

As I said, it was -29F this morning and it hit the high today at -9F. I ended up getting my pet carrier out of storage in the old car, then I caught the hen and put her in it. I took her inside the house and let her sit in the carrier for just over 30 minutes. There was no way I could do anything outside as it just hurts the lungs to breathe in that cold air, and, there is no way to perform any scissors cutting in that cold with bare hands at my age. Just not going to happen.

So, after about 30 minutes or so, I attempted to take the hen out of the carrier to cut away the big lump of poo on her butt. As expected, she flopped around in the carrier not wanting to be held. Fortunately for me, while she was flopping around in the carrier, the big lump of poo fell off all by itself. So I just checked her butt and everything looked OK. The lump of poo was about 2X the size of a large egg. Smelled pretty bad in the house too - but Dear Wife is at work so I dodged that bullet. Also, the lump of poo fell off in the pet carrier, so no mess in the house to clean up.

Anyway, I took the hen back out to the coop, opened the door of the pet carrier, and she jumped out of it to join her flock mates. I'll keep an eye her, but I think she is in much better shape now.

 

[LizzzyJo]

Thanks for the responses.

As I said, it was -29F this morning and it hit the high today at -9F. I ended up getting my pet carrier out of storage in the old car, then I caught the hen and put her in it. I took her inside the house and let her sit in the carrier for just over 30 minutes. There was no way I could do anything outside as it just hurts the lungs to breathe in that cold air, and, there is no way to perform any scissors cutting in that cold with bare hands at my age. Just not going to happen.

So, after about 30 minutes or so, I attempted to take the hen out of the carrier to cut away the big lump of poo on her butt. As expected, she flopped around in the carrier not wanting to be held. Fortunately for me, while she was flopping around in the carrier, the big lump of poo fell off all by itself. So I just checked her butt and everything looked OK. The lump of poo was about 2X the size of a large egg. Smelled pretty bad in the house too - but Dear Wife is at work so I dodged that bullet. Also, the lump of poo fell off in the pet carrier, so no mess in the house to clean up.

Anyway, I took the hen back out to the coop, opened the door of the pet carrier, and she jumped out of it to join her flock mates. I'll keep an eye her, but I think she is in much better shape now.

Awesome! I am so glad it worked out!

 

[MissE]

What part of northern MN are you at? I'm by Ely. We had -36 at 7am. Looks like Friday night/Saturday morning is going to be especially stupid.

 

[gtaus]

What part of northern MN are you at? I'm by Ely. We had -36 at 7am. Looks like Friday night/Saturday morning is going to be especially stupid.

I prefer not to get more specific on my location other than northern Minnesota, but yes, it looks like the next day or two is going to be even colder. Hope my chickens make it through this cold spell and I hope the rest of the winter will be better. Until this week, I have nothing much to complain about because it has not been very bad this year.

 

[Cathy L]

My 1 yo chicken had such a large frozen poop on her butt, I had to do something. She looked uncomfortable. I kept cutting around it, and it was very close to the skin. So most of the feathers had to be cut as the frozen poop was stuck to them. Now there is a large almost bald looking area below the vent. I sprayed some Vetericyn Foam shampoo on the area and dried it off. Should I clean her off tomorrow in a tub with the medicated shampoo and dry her off. Then put either Vetericyn plus, carmex cream or ,NuStock on her and put her back outside.?

 

[gtaus]

My 1 yo chicken had such a large frozen poop on her butt, I had to do something. She looked uncomfortable. I kept cutting around it, and it was very close to the skin. So most of the feathers had to be cut as the frozen poop was stuck to them. Now there is a large almost bald looking area below the vent. I sprayed some Vetericyn Foam shampoo on the area and dried it off. Should I clean her off tomorrow in a tub with the medicated shampoo and dry her off. Then put either Vetericyn plus, carmex cream or ,NuStock on her and put her back outside.?

I really don't have an answer for you. I took my chicken inside the house, in a pet carrier, and after 30 minutes the frozen clump of poo fell off on its own. There were a few feathers pulled when the clump fell off, but not many. So I did not have to cut any feathers or even clean her up. I just put her back out with the other birds and she seems to have recovered without incident.

Where are you living that you are so concerned about her bald area under the vent? I live in northern Minnesota and our days are reaching 40F now. So our cold spell is behind us and nights only get down to the low 20F's. I would not be too concerned about a bald spot in our current temps. Also, I would think that the hen has plenty of other feathers around her vent that she could fluff up and provide protection to the bald area.

I have never used any of the creams you have asked about, so I am unable to answer your concerns. Maybe someone else will offer some good advice. Hope you hen recovers.