Adult hen pasting? HELP! Please...

[My11BabyChicks]

Yesterday I noticed that my best egg laying hen and my favorite hen had a bit of a messy back end.... Today we were about to clean it and we heard a rather odd screaming noise coming from the chicken coop... We went over and sure enough it was her, Little Lady. We picked her up and she was rather comfortable with the fact of us about to do some major cleaning... It was the consistancy of spackle and actually formed around, in her feathers and inside her "area". After spraying her down with a bottle of warm water and some Basic H we were able to loosen up and remove all of it. Now, my question still remains... 1. How does this occur? 2. Did I do the right thing? 3. Could this have killed my girl? and 4. Is this something I should be checking with all of my hens and rooster? I appreciate your help in advance...

-The worried chicken mom

 

[justbugged]

It is probably no big deal, but yes it could have killed her if you hadn't cleaned her up, and the pooped had dried pasting over her vent, so that she couldn't poop anymore. This is much more usual in the first 2 weeks of a chicks life. That that stage it's call pasty butt. On the the other hand with an adult hen they rarely succumb because of getting their pooper packed off. An adult hen will try to keep her self fairly clean. You did the best thing you could have for her. Hens will often enjoy a warm bath. You can put them in a warn tub of water and let them soak the poop off.

I would keep a eye on her over the next few days, just to be sure she's fine. You may also think about worming her and the other hens, more as a precaution. Given that chicken will eat anything, and things like Salmonella and other bacteria are common in a chickens environment, I would just put it down to a passing thing. Now if she has blood in her poop, you may need to use some antibiotic for a few days. You should be able to get a broad spectrum antibiotic at most feed stores for just a few dollars.

As far as how does it occur, with chickens it seems like things like this just happen without any good explanation, and that there is little more you can do but make sure that things in the coop are reasonably clean. That doesn't mean that a coop need to be sterile or even super sanitary. In fact I am fairly sure that a sterile coop is next to impossible and could be as bad as a extremely dirty coop.

I have found that avoiding extremes with care seems to be the best bet.

 

[My11BabyChicks]

Wow! Thank you! I was aware of this being a normal thing to have happen with small chicks that's why I wanted to ask my questions. She is just about 9 months so I found it being a little odd.. Your help and tips are GREATLY appreciated! I will keep them in mind in case this ever happens again.