Bare Butt Hen

[CBW0225]

I’m curious why my hens butt is bare?? She’s been laying about a year now and she’s ALWAYS had poopy butt. When she first started laying, I tried giving baths/soaking/cleaning hoping she’d stop, but she just kept getting poopy butt.

Fast forward to now, her butt is bald. Nothing else is wrong, she lays fine, acts fine etc. Nothing else wrong in my flock I’m aware of. They eat like Queens.

Is this just how she is or is there something I should do? Thanks for coming to my Hen Talk

 

[alinas2010]

Some hens just have a messier bottom than others; could be she had a fluffier butt or she just doesn’t shoot poop out far enough. Could also be diet, what do they eat?

The main concern is that sometimes mites can cause a dirty, poopy bottom. With her feather loss, be sure to check her and the others over very well for mites and lice. Near their vents and under their wings are good places to look because they’re warm.

I think she may have others plucking at her feathers based on this one, it’s hard to say, though.

To me it looks like it might have been chomped on and ripped. But again, I can’t tell for sure. Look for other feathers to see if they have little beak chomp marks in them. This could be the reason why her butt is bare. Sometimes flock mates over groom or get into the bad habit of yanking feathers out, especially at roost time. It is worth observing your flock and seeing if anyone is pulling on her feathers. A camera in the coop at night can help identify if someone is doing this at roost time.