Does egg-laying cause dirty butt feathers?

[tiny529]

Just wondering since I now have 3 confirmed layers and all 3 have dirty (not super dirty, but not pristine either) butts. My 2 non-laying pullets are clean as a whistle.

 

[TwoCrows]

No, the egg laying does not cause dirty butts. Worms, too many veggies or berries, wet foods or even ill birds get dirty butts. Keep them wormed and you can offer them some probiotics in their water occasionally for good health. Yogurt is good for the digestion.

 

[tiny529]

How much is too many veggies? I do give them veggies about 5 days a week.

Is there a safe dewormer? The worming medicine at Tractor Supply says not for use with egg laying hens.

I do have them on tetracycline right now since my Dom was sneezing and some clear stuff shot out onto my hand. She already had a little smudge of poop on her butt feathers when I started that (three days ago) while the others didn't have any until today. Could the antibiotics be giving the others dirty butts?

Everyone seems happy and they are eating. My Dom just laid her first egg today that I'm aware of... My one EE's first egg was a rubber shelled thing which someone gobbled up.

No, the egg laying does not cause dirty butts. Worms, too many veggies or berries, wet foods or even ill birds get dirty butts. Keep them wormed and you can offer them some probiotics in their water occasionally for good health. Yogurt is good for the digestion.

 

[TwoCrows]

How much is too many veggies? I do give them veggies about 5 days a week.

Is there a safe dewormer? The worming medicine at Tractor Supply says not for use with egg laying hens.

I do have them on tetracycline right now since my Dom was sneezing and some clear stuff shot out onto my hand. She already had a little smudge of poop on her butt feathers when I started that (three days ago) while the others didn't have any until today. Could the antibiotics be giving the others dirty butts?

Everyone seems happy and they are eating. My Dom just laid her first egg today that I'm aware of... My one EE's first egg was a rubber shelled thing which someone gobbled up.

Every chicken is different when it comes to digesting veggies and things. I try to limit the veggies as to what they will clean up, once a day, in 5 mins. I have found with my girls that too much greens and melons, berries, and they get the runs.

As far as antibiotics, they can give them dirty butts and it is not only killing off the bad bacteria but the good stuff too. So make sure once they are all off the antibiotics, to put some probiotics in their water for one week. Or you can give them a good dose of yogurt every day. If they won't readily eat the yogurt, you can drench hard boiled eggs in yogurt. They will dive into that. Not only will the probios help replentish the good bacterias in the intestinal tract, but will combat any upset in the crop, as many birds turn up with sour crop after antibiotics.

As for wormers, they will all tell you "Not for laying hens" as you can not eat the eggs after worming. For first time wormings on a new flock, I usually start with Wazine. It only kills the round worms in the intestines, however these worms are the most common of worms. 2 weeks later, I follow up with equine safeguard. That will take care of the rest of the worms. Don't use the Safeguard first, as the killing off of all the worms at once and be hard on the chickens system and can make them sick. You can not eat your eggs for 28 days on this system, but generally worming is done during the fall molt when they stop laying anyway.

I wouldn't worry too much about the dirty butts unless their poops are really diarrhea like. All my girls have something "back there" as the cecal poop sometimes does not make it out cleanly. As long as everybody seems in good health, I would leave it at that. But keep them wormed at least once a year as worms will eventually kill them. Good luck!

 

[tiny529]

Thanks for the info! It's kind of disappointing not to be able to eat these eggs. They all just started laying! So now we are using them for homeschooling science and craft experiments.

I did give everyone some warm oatmeal with some probiotics that I use to make my own yogurt. They gobbled that right up! I guess it's not going to do them any good while on the antibiotics but I don't figure it can hurt them any.

Still 3 dirty butts today, though not horribly dirty. No sneezing though so I guess the antibiotics are doing their job.