dirty butt? should I be worried?

[Kait27]

One of my 10 month old buff orp's has had a dirty butt for a while...i didnt give it much thought because I could tell it was just in her feathers, and that her vent itself was clear. tonight though, i noticed it was getting quite nasty, and stood out against her yellow fluffy feathers. So I took her in the house, and used the sprayer attachment on our cellar sink to spray her bottom area clean. Everything pretty much came off with just the spray of warm water. I toweled her off as best I could, blow dried her a bit on low, but then i got worried that the noise of the blowdryer might be too stressing. I'm not terribly worried about her being cold, as it's still in the 60s and shes only a bit damp... but does this sound like a reasonable solution? Will those feathers fluff up as they dry? I assume she'll take care of preening them, right?

Why was her butt so dirty? She's been acting completely normal. Do sometimes chickens just get dirty butts that need to be cleaned off? I thought maybe she was getting some loose poops because they've been spending much more time outside the run with the nice weather- lots more "nature" to eat. Does anyone think I need to be concerned? I'm not entirely convinced what I cleaned off was poop, it seemed more like mud to me. It didn't smell when I washed it off, and when I tried wiping it with a wet paper towel, it came off like mud. None of my other 3 have any issues.

So...no big deal, right?

I can't tell if she hated the bath or liked it... but she did ask for a cigarette after...

 

[HorseFeatherz NV]

Sometimes a dirty bottom is the sign of lice (was a sign in mine - caught from wild birds). The lice can be very hard to see, tiny and move out of the light quickly. Next time you notice her bum being dirty look closely - the lice lay their eggs on the feather shaft, next to the skin - the egg clumps are white colored. The vent area is a bug favorite area. Some chickens also seem more prone to bugs - do not know why.