Crud on butt feathers questions

[stavo]

Hello,

I'm sure the answers to my questions are in here, but I scrolled through a few pages and was unable to find specifically what I needed. Can someone kindly refer me to a thread that explains how to best wash a hen's backside?

Also, my hens have varying degrees of dirty backsides (vents?). How can I tell when it's normal and when I should intervene?

The worst of them is now showing changes in her behavior. She seems much more lethargic. Here is some other information about her and her symptoms:

* 15 month old silver Wyandotte
* feed is layer pellets, with some scratch, kitchen scraps (fruit and veggies), and green weeds thrown in
* she was very active, now she just sits around all day
* she hasn't laid an egg in over a month
* whether has been hot and dry
* she is in a mixed flock of 17 chickens. 10 of them are pullets that were added over the past month, although I think her condition had started before then. We also expanded their run so they have more access to dig in the dirt and dust bathe.
* it's difficult to isolate her poop as there are other hens. The one time I saw it, it was a clear liquid.

The stuff on her feathers looks like vent gleet. Should I simply wash it and see if her condition improves? Or quarantine her? Or give her some type of supplement or medication?

This is our first set of chickens and our first health issue, so any pointing me in the right direction would be really appreciated.

 

[stavo]

 

[Trimurtisan]

I don't know how to answer your question, but it does not look right to me.
@casportpony is the best "poopologist" I've met. Hopefully she can help you out.

quarantine her?

Personally, I would quarantine her till you know what's going in.

Best of luck.
Chris.

 

[Eggcessive]

You can wash off a hen’s behind in a bucket of lukewarm water with a small squirt of dishwashing liquid, rubbing away the soiled feathers, or use a water hose with a sprayer. When they are having runny poops it may be helpful to trim some of the excess fluff. Inspect for lice or mites under the vent while you are looking, and make sure the vent looks normal. Since you have added new birds, you may want to check if your local vet will do a fecal float on some combined samples of droppings. You can collect some by placing a piece of card board under your roost, or confine a chicken overnight on some paper towel or puupy pads. Coccidiosis and worms will be checked for, and thise can be a common cause of diarrhea. I would cut out all of the extras, and five them only a good layer feed. Try some probiotics if their usual feed doesn’t contain them.

Vent gleet is a fungal infection which causes the skin around the vent to be red, raw, and there may be bare white or yellow patches of skin. It smells bad, and should be treated with antifungal medicines orally, such as Nystatin, and Nustock cream on the skin. Just having a messy bum does not mean that she has vent gleet.

 

[stavo]

You can wash off a hen’s behind in a bucket of lukewarm water with a small squirt of dishwashing liquid, rubbing away the soiled feathers, or use a water hose with a sprayer. When they are having runny poops it may be helpful to trim some of the excess fluff. Inspect for lice or mites under the vent while you are looking, and make sure the vent looks normal. Since you have added new birds, you may want to check if your local vet will do a fecal float on some combined samples of droppings. You can collect some by placing a piece of card board under your roost, or confine a chicken overnight on some paper towel or puupy pads. Coccidiosis and worms will be checked for, and thise can be a common cause of diarrhea. I would cut out all of the extras, and five them only a good layer feed. Try some probiotics if their usual feed doesn’t contain them.

Vent gleet is a fungal infection which causes the skin around the vent to be red, raw, and there may be bare white or yellow patches of skin. It smells bad, and should be treated with antifungal medicines orally, such as Nystatin, and Nustock cream on the skin. Just having a messy bum does not mean that she has vent gleet.

Thank you. I'll start with that course of action.

 

[stavo]

You can wash off a hen’s behind in a bucket of lukewarm water with a small squirt of dishwashing liquid, rubbing away the soiled feathers, or use a water hose with a sprayer. When they are having runny poops it may be helpful to trim some of the excess fluff. Inspect for lice or mites under the vent while you are looking, and make sure the vent looks normal. Since you have added new birds, you may want to check if your local vet will do a fecal float on some combined samples of droppings. You can collect some by placing a piece of card board under your roost, or confine a chicken overnight on some paper towel or puupy pads. Coccidiosis and worms will be checked for, and thise can be a common cause of diarrhea. I would cut out all of the extras, and five them only a good layer feed. Try some probiotics if their usual feed doesn’t contain them.

Vent gleet is a fungal infection which causes the skin around the vent to be red, raw, and there may be bare white or yellow patches of skin. It smells bad, and should be treated with antifungal medicines orally, such as Nystatin, and Nustock cream on the skin. Just having a messy bum does not mean that she has vent gleet.

Eggcessive, thanks again - that was very helpful. Here's my update. We cleaned her the best that we could for a first attempt using a bin of warm water with a little dish soap. The crud was really caked on. There was no abnormal odor, which I expect is a good sign. Also, even though I wouldn't know exactly what color is normal, it didn't seem abnormally red, raw, or with white and yellow patches as you mentioned. What was odd is that it was very bare and it seemed swollen beneath the vent, kind of like there was a baseball inside her. The other thing that I don't know if is normal, is that her "sphincter(?)" kept continuously "puckering," like she was trying to poop. At one point she did poop out a yellow liquid that quickly disappeared in the bath water.

Afterwards, I quarantined her with water containing electrolytes and probiotics, layer feed, and grit. She spent some time trying to groom herself as far behind as she could reach. The puckering continued. But otherwise she didn't move much. There's still something definitely bothering her. She did climb to roost at night.

Any ideas about the swelling and lack of energy?