Dirty bottoms

[tlagnhoj]

That's as delicate as I could be

I noticed this afternoon that t least two of my hens have a nasty accumulation of poop dried to their feathers. It is not blocking the vent, but it looks awful and probably isn't all that sanitary. Is there a best way to clean it up? I realize it could be due to their diet, but I don't know what the critical factor would be? Too much of something? Not enough? Fillers in the commercial feed? I use Dumor (I think that's the brand name) crumbles for layers. They have access to clean water all day.

 

[mandelyn]

I have one hen that's chronic with it, her fluff is longer than the rest and I think that's "catching" it on the way out. So I trimmed her fluff. Made it worse.

We are now committed to butt washing every 2 weeks or so until those feathers fall out and grow back.

I bring her to a sink, spray her tush, lather in dish soap, work in it, pull off the chunk, rinse, air dry. We only do it weather permitting, warmer than 60. She stands there like a champ, as if she likes the relief afterwards or something. Don't even have to restrain her.

Then I bleach the heck out of that sink. I tried to yank a feather out, to see if I could just pluck the excess. That was a resounding NO from the chicken.

 

[PinkHairGirl]

I also have one who's butt does not look so great, they free range all day and the others seem fine

 

[tlagnhoj]

I have one hen that's chronic with it, her fluff is longer than the rest and I think that's "catching" it on the way out. So I trimmed her fluff. Made it worse.

We are now committed to butt washing every 2 weeks or so until those feathers fall out and grow back.

I bring her to a sink, spray her tush, lather in dish soap, work in it, pull off the chunk, rinse, air dry. We only do it weather permitting, warmer than 60. She stands there like a champ, as if she likes the relief afterwards or something. Don't even have to restrain her.

Then I bleach the heck out of that sink. I tried to yank a feather out, to see if I could just pluck the excess. That was a resounding NO from the chicken.

Just regular dish soap?

I have a stand-up shower where we wash the dog. I'd probably just use that. Still the whole idea of bringing them into the house makes me ill. I just *know* one is going to poop on the carpet (and my arm) on the way in.

 

[mandelyn]

Yep, regular dish doap, lavender scented. I checked for a skin irritation after the first time, nothing.

Don't worry, it'll be gross.

 

[N. Virginia]

Just wear gloves. Bathtub comes to mind if you don't have a scrub sink. Have fun!

Or, you could wash outside. Use an immersion heater (at a horse store or catalog), heat up a big tub of water (assuming you don't have hot water near the coop), and give her a bath in a smaller tub. Tractor Supply or Southern States have tubs (or the good old Salvation Army or discount store).

Let us know how it goes.
Cheers,
N. VA

 

[ivan3]

If it is nothing but rock hard cwapola, it can be crushed in place with good pair of pliers, into powder (don't pull - just crush). We tried soaking once, but stressed the hen worse than us. If wet and `ammoniacal' then soap and water is required.

 

[BuffOrpington88]

One of my chickens had this, I just trimmed her feathers back and haven't had a problem.
Good luck!

 

[RedDrgn]

4 our of our 5 have the same problem and it's because they have epically fluffy butt fuzz. The one who doesn't (our EE) has no problems at all. All I did was take a sharp pair of scissors and trimmed the fluff down. That solved the issue for 3 of the 4, and the 4th just needed a second trimming. Now, they're all good. I'll just redo it all when they molt.

 

[azygous]

Try children's liquid bubble bath. I pick a warm day, even in winter, fill a small tub with warm water and bubble bath liquid, and round up the dirty butts one at a time for "tune-ups".

Back the chicken up to the tub, splash warm sudsy water on the crust to soften it, then use a wash cloth or finger anil brush to scrub the feathers clean. There's no need to rinse as you would need to do with dish liquid.

However, recently I wanted to scrub a hen's neck that I had applied greasy "pick-no-more" to. I used Dawn liquid for that job and rinsed.