Backside blues 😜

[roxanne]

Good morning!
I have a flock of 13 and within the past week, four of my ladies backsides look like they are plugged up with poop. From a birds-eye view, it doesn’t look like “gleek” the clog is not white or green in color, it’s dark. I am going to get my oldest son to help me catch them this afternoon and soak each of them in some epsom salt to loosen up the mess, clip off affected feathers and get all three of them cleaned up, BUT I am not sure what it is, what caused it or what to do besides the epsom salt soak to hopefully prevent it again. Does anyone have any thoughts.

 

[Wyorp Rock]

Welcome To BYC
Do you have photos?

Could be they just have poop stuck to their feathers?

 

[roxanne]

UPDATE:
We sequestered the four in a smaller coop for the night and this morning, after my husband left for work at 4:45am, I just could not go back to sleep thinking about the morning process to figure out what was going on with these lady’s backsides … so I got out of bed at 5am and proceeded to take on the task. Thankfully, the weather was not too bad. I soaked each of them in warm water with epsom salt and clipped away all the matted feathers. None of their lady parts looked abnormal (thank goodness!!!). I even blow dried their backsides and their feet to get as much of the moisture off of them as possible before putting them back in with the flock. What a morning.

 

[Auntiejessi3]

UPDATE:
We sequestered the four in a smaller coop for the night and this morning, after my husband left for work at 4:45am, I just could not go back to sleep thinking about the morning process to figure out what was going on with these lady’s backsides … so I got out of bed at 5am and proceeded to take on the task. Thankfully, the weather was not too bad. I soaked each of them in warm water with epsom salt and clipped away all the matted feathers. None of their lady parts looked abnormal (thank goodness!!!). I even blow dried their backsides and their feet to get as much of the moisture off of them as possible before putting them back in with the flock. What a morning.

I have a few ladies are have extreme fluffy butts, I trim their bum feathers every spring to avoid the dirty bums. Did your give them a good looking over for mites?

 

[roxanne]

I have a few ladies are have extreme fluffy butt, I trim their bum feathers every spring to avoid the dirty bums. Did your give them a good looking over for mites?

It was so early and still dark outside … I should have, but I didn’t do a thorough look over. . I am a terrible person

 

[Auntiejessi3]

It was so early and still dark outside … I should have, but I didn’t do a thorough look over. . I am a terrible person

No ma'am you're not. When you're worried or concerned sometimes things just go unchecked, no biggie. Easiest way to check is when they go to roost and it's dark, use a flashlight or the light on your phone, check their bum area, under their wings and around their neck.

 

[roxanne]

No ma'am you're not. When you're worried or concerned sometimes things just go unchecked, no biggie. Easiest way to check is when they go to roost and it's dark, use a flashlight or the light on your phone, check their bum area, under their wings and around their neck.

I will Google what mites look like, because I have never dealt with mites on my chickens before …

 

[Auntiejessi3]

I will Google what mites look like, because I have never dealt with mites on my chickens before …

To the naked eye sometimes they just look like dirt, that's why I say check at night, they will most likely be moving about.