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.

 

[CBW0225]

Follow up- she has a bald patch on her back and has for a while. It’s more than rooster damage because none of the others look like this. I also noticed a feather pin growing in dark. Any ideas what’s causing this?

 

[nuthatched]

She's being picked.
This is caused by any of the following:
Low nutrition diet.
Boredom.
Tight areas.
Mites or lice.

 

[Wyorp Rock]

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.

Nothing else is wrong

Follow up- she has a bald patch on her back and has for a while. It’s more than rooster damage because none of the others look like this. I also noticed a feather pin growing in dark.

The damage on her back is from being mounted and plucked. The loss of feathers below the vent is due to being plucked and likely from always having a poop butt (poop burns).

Apply some NuStock Cream to the skin below the vent to help sooth the skin and keep the poop from burning the skin. The cream may also help deter some plucking at the vent.

Damage to the back, the feathers are rubbed off, broken and worn, those will be replaced when she molts. You can put a saddle on her if the rooster is overmating her, the feathers will grow back underneath during molt. It's extremely important to monitor skin under a saddle (and saddle fit) several times a week to make sure that there's no abrasions or cause for concern.

As for having a poopy butt all the time, some hens seem to have that issue if they are prolific layers, but it's worth a try to give probiotics and deworm her to see if this helps with the issue.

For deworming, you can use Safeguard Liquid Goat Dewormer (10%) at a rate of 0.23ml per pound of weight given once daily for 5 days in a row.

Alternatively, you can use Albendazole at a rate of 0.08ml per pound of weight given orally once, then repeated in 10days.

Here's how to give oral medications:
https://www.backyardchickens.com/ar...dications-to-all-poultry-and-waterfowl.73335/