Adult chicken with pasty butt

[chicken fan]

I have 6 chickens in a house with a yard that we move so they have fresh ground every few days. I have been feeding them a lot of garden vegetables over the summer. They regularly get layer crumbles and oyster shells free choice. Lately one of the hens was feeling off for a few days, continued to lay eggs. She laid an egg or two that was slightly bloody on the outside but not too bad. Now she acts fine, eats well and is active but has wet feathers around her vent and manure sticking to her butt. Yesterday I washed her butt off with warm water and dishwashing soap and gave her a little yogut which she ate freely.

Today, her butt is the same. I am not sure what is causing this. Does anyone have any ideas?

 

[Back2MyRoots]

I have 6 chickens in a house with a yard that we move so they have fresh ground every few days. I have been feeding them a lot of garden vegetables over the summer. They regularly get layer crumbles and oyster shells free choice. Lately one of the hens was feeling off for a few days, continued to lay eggs. She laid an egg or two that was slightly bloody on the outside but not too bad. Now she acts fine, eats well and is active but has wet feathers around her vent and manure sticking to her butt. Yesterday I washed her butt off with warm water and dishwashing soap and gave her a little yogut which she ate freely.

Today, her butt is the same. I am not sure what is causing this. Does anyone have any ideas?

We had this happen when we first got our girls because I was feeding a lot of fruit/mellon. One of our girls had very wattery poop that was caking up her feathers. I soaked her hiney in warm water and used baby shampoo to clean her. I separated her out and put her in a smaller cage we have for ailing chickies. I gave her elecrolyte water mixed to half strength. I stopped all fruit and veg and fed cottage cheese and scrambled eggs with her layer crumbles and after 3 days, her poop was back to normal.

 

[Back2MyRoots]

I did have to wash her hiney 3 times because of repeated icky-ness..... Twice in one day because it was that bad!

 

[chicken fan]

I am thinking that I will continue to give her some yogurt and not so much vegetables for a few days and wash her to see how she does. She doesn't act sick so I am thinking it can't be anything too serious. Thanks for your reply.

 

[chicken fan]

It has been almost a week now and I have given all of the 6 hens about 1/2 cup of yogurt each day and they all love it. The hen with the dirty butt acts fine and eats well but still has a dirty butt. I washed it for several days but then gave up. Her feces look normal, hard with some white in it. I can't figure out why her butt is so dirty and the other hens are fine. They all eat the same things.

Any ideas out there?

 

[Back2MyRoots]

Are you sure it's poop in her feathers? Sometimes our girls bury themselves so much in the garden that any moist part of their little bodies gets fully gunked up with mud.

 

[chicken fan]

This is definitely poop. I have cleaned it off of her a few times. I haven't cleaned it off in the last few days and she seems to be doing fine. I am pretty sure she laid an egg today because I had one quite dirty one with a little blood on it. She may have some sort of internal problem if there is blood on the egg. None of the other hens seem to be affected. I am tempted to cut the feathers on her butt so they don't accumulate the dirt. I have raised quite a few chickens in the past, but I have never had anything just like this. I guess if she acts OK I shouldn't worry about it, but I don't like the dirty butt on her.

 

[terryg]

It might be vent gleet, which is a yeast infection. It can be alleviated with a bath and providone. I've written about that here (along with other messy butt issues.)

http://hencam.com/faq/Yuck-My-Chickens-Have-Messy-Bottoms/