dirty butt

[trudyg]

Hi. Henny Penny has a dirty butt. It's not pasty,but dirty looking. I see a smear of feces on the wall of the nest box, but only that. None of her poops look abnormal. I dosed them all with wazine and plan to do safeguard in case it's a kind of worm. Could it be lice? I don't see the q-tip thing at all, just looks like that area got wet and is now dirty. She eats layer pellets and is out free ranging all day. Sorry to say, I haven't been attentive the last month or so, DH was in hospital & I pretty much came home to do basics and went back to stay with him. I will do a thorough cleaning/sanitizing of the coop this weekend and probably sevin dust the crevices. Anything else I should do? Thanks.

 

[WthrLady]

I have to trim my orpingtons. They don't arch their butts enough to clear the poop chute, so I trim their feathers.

 

[TheRoyals]

One of my girls had this problem, I thought it would sort its self out, then she started falling over and went pale combed. She is now in segregation for vent gleet- the poor thing. I have started today, to bath her with disinfectant and remove the poo With a glove on gently.i wish i had done this before she got worse

 

[trudyg]

Okay, Henny Penny's butt looked better today--I said turn around so I can look at your butt and she did! No clumps or dirtiness, but I almost think there are missing feathers (just first thing this morning, not light enough to see very well and now I'm at work til 5). I know that Jewel was pecking at the dirtiness last night, so wonder if maybe feathers came out. But, at any rate, the skin was not red or raw, just normal flesh pale skin looking and I smelled nothing out of the ordinary. I can't find my tube of safeguard, so will drop ivermectin on them tonight. I won't be able to do a thorough cleaning until Saturday afternoon. (DH is home from hospital but very weak and so I have to do all his chores as well as mine, then all my normal stuff, too-amazing how much time he spent on the yard without me knowing!) I usually use a scrub brush inside the coop and pinesol, then a final spray of liquid sevin all over, let dry and replace bedding/roosts/etc. What should I do that I'm not thinking of? I don't want to get all done and then remember to dust the crevices or something. Entire thing needs a good coat of paint, but that's for a long weekend. It's a chicken tractor, so I'll move it to a clear spot, then clean & dust, then move it more so any washed off yuck isn't where they'll be living in it. Also, can the pine needles cause problems? I have their coop in about 1 acre of yard that I keep mowed, but there are pines along the fence and they love burrowing into the pine straw. I have a metal canister that I burn wood scraps so then put the ash into their dust bath spot(s). I wonder if I shouldn't put peat moss/sand/de/sevin dust into a cat pan and leave it in the coop with them so they'd be dusting in it for sure? I am watching for vent gleet, but I really don't think that's it.