Cleaning a dirty butt.....

[Minky]

My very fluffy Buff Orpington has a bit of mess on her butt.....

Is there some way she will be able to clean it? Or do I need to do something about it. I'd rather not get involved. Water bath is out of the question for another 2 months (we have snow).

Thanks

 

[IdyllwildAcres]

My very fluffy Buff Orpington has a bit of mess on her butt.....

Is there some way she will be able to clean it? Or do I need to do something about it. I'd rather not get involved. Water bath is out of the question for another 2 months (we have snow).

Thanks

Haha me either, I have not touched a chicken butt to date but I will be soon, I have one with a gross poopy but I am planning to trim feathers until no poop left. Tomorrow... yes tomorrow sounds better than today.

Gary

 

[Suzi18]

I have given my Orpington several baths due to a very poopy butt. I live in Ohio and it's been very cold so I bring her in and give her butt a nice warm soak then dry her with the hairdryer. She doesn't mind at all. I'm sure she is grateful to not walk around with poop stuck to her feathers.

 

[aart]

My very fluffy Buff Orpington has a bit of mess on her butt.....

Is there some way she will be able to clean it? Or do I need to do something about it. I'd rather not get involved. Water bath is out of the question for another 2 months (we have snow).

Thanks

She should be able to preen it off, but sometimes they won't or can't.
It's important to take a look and maybe trim the feathers that have poop stuck to them, cut them carefully with sharp scissors to about a 1/2" away from the skin.

The fluffier butted birds often have more of problem with this, I've had to trim several. Yeah, it's gross, butt(haha!) you'll be glad to have taken care of the problem. The sooner you do it, the better, it'll just keep accumulating making the job harder the longer you wait.

If she has constantly loose poops(more likely to 'stick'), there may be another issue at hand.

 

[azygous]

Older hens start accumulating fat below the vent, creating a shelf effect which prevents the poop from shooting clear of the feathers. I have a handful of retired hens in this category.

In spite of snow and below freezing temps, they get regular butt baths to avoid the skin inflammation accumulated poop can cause. The procedure is relatively simple.

A warm basin of water, some baby shampoo and a hair conditioner are the supplies you will need. Some hand towels to pat dry the feathers, then a blow dryer to finish drying the hen are also necessary.

I back the hen up to the basin of water. Squirt a dab of shampoo onto the crust after splashing some water on the crust to soften it. Work the shampoo into the dried poop until it loosens, pulling it off the feathers. Rinse well. Then massage some conditioner into the wet feathers and rinse again. I've only recently discovered that the hair conditioner helps to restore feather quality after the shampoo removes critical oils.

Then pat dry and blow dry until the butt is nice and fluffy. Good as new and ready to go back outdoors into the cruel, frozen winter.

 

[Suzi18]

Older hens start accumulating fat below the vent, creating a shelf effect which prevents the poop from shooting clear of the feathers. I have a handful of retired hens in this category.

In spite of snow and below freezing temps, they get regular butt baths to avoid the skin inflammation accumulated poop can cause. The procedure is relatively simple.

A warm basin of water, some baby shampoo and a hair conditioner are the supplies you will need. Some hand towels to pat dry the feathers, then a blow dryer to finish drying the hen are also necessary.

I back the hen up to the basin of water. Squirt a dab of shampoo onto the crust after splashing some water on the crust to soften it. Work the shampoo into the dried poop until it loosens, pulling it off the feathers. Rinse well. Then massage some conditioner into the wet feathers and rinse again. I've only recently discovered that the hair conditioner helps to restore feather quality after the shampoo removes critical oils.

Then pat dry and blow dry until the butt is nice and fluffy. Good as new and ready to go back outdoors into the cruel, frozen winter.

X2

 

[RUNuts]

Haha me either, I have not touched a chicken butt to date but I will be soon, I have one with a gross poopy but I am planning to trim feathers until no poop left. Tomorrow... yes tomorrow sounds better than today.

Gary

Do it Gary! It's for the children! I mean, chickens! Latex gloves can help. So would someone willing to do it for you. @aart ... We need some hands on instruction here.

 

[aart]

Do it Gary! It's for the children! I mean, chickens! Latex gloves can help. So would someone willing to do it for you. @aart ... We need some hands on instruction here.

He wanted me to facetime it ....but he just needs to get over his...aversion.
Wonders if showing him some fly struck butts(deep oozing wounds crawling with maggots) would make poops seem like nothing. Sorry to all, especially the OP @Minky for the graphic thread semi-drift.

 

[RUNuts]

Thanks for sharing???? I thought this was a visual thing, not health related. I'm still in it for the clean eggs.

Blow drying a bird butt. Interesting visual... @IdyllwildAcres - take pictures so we can be sure you did it right.

 

[Chickassan]

Not going to help with anyone's first poop removal but a little tip to make future removals easier. Dry shampoo, yep after you clean the poo dry shampoo the butt and nothing or nearly nothing sticks. Also if you can't do a full water bath you can use a spray bottle to cleanse the offending orifice. Get in there! Its just poop!