Favorite Methods For Cleaning a Dirty Bum

[rosemarythyme]

Be careful trimming back too much fluff and feathers. Urates in feces will scald the skin causing redness and inflammation.

I only trim the parts that are actually dirty - no reason to trim off anything past that. I have a couple that are close to bare bottomed year round, but I keep an eye on that and so far they haven't had issues (just not very attractive!)

 

[K0k0shka]

I have English Orpingtons with ridiculously fluffy butts, and there’s just no physical way they can squat deep enough to avoid pooping their pants. So I give them the occasional bath in warm water (I use a retired baby bathtub), followed by a trim, to about half the length of the butt fluff in the worst places. Seems to work well enough.

My chickens refuse to dust bathe in sand. They prefer peat moss or just digging a hole in the run and doing it there. But it’s not enough. My modestly-butted Barnevelders never have poopy butts, it’s just the Orps with the long underpants that do.

 

[Dulce Mama]

My favorite method is doing nothing. I don't clean bums and I don't de-worm (unless I see signs of something wrong.) Instead I make sure they have TONS of sand for dust baths. I mean tons! They have their favorite spots but they also have a "hill," of sand. I noticed a few days ago that one of my OE's had messy butt from drinking so much water in our heatwave. But then this morning I saw that she dug out a huge, deep new dust bath in sand hill and poop bum is clean!

What kind of sand do you use?

 

[SandyRiverChick]

What kind of sand do you use?

River Sand. I use sand that is actual sediment from the Sandy River, a tributary of the Columbia. But you can get "River Sand," from landscaping places. On one hand for Chickening, I'm super lucky to have this natural resource. On the other hand, not so great for gardening, I had to amend it with compost continuously.

 

[JacinLarkwell]

I just cut the affected feathers off. My araucana have a hard time with poop because if their lack of tail bones, which makes the feathers lay different