Grey foamy balls at base of chicken tail feathers

[Clayre66]

We have recently noticed some grey balls growing at the base of our chickens’ tail feathers. They do not wash off/out like solids balls of poo do - they take a lot of pulling off.

We recently bathed our chicken and pulled off a lot of these balls, which on closer inspection are a bit like natural sponge in consistency, and seem to be made up of lots of little balls. We wonder if they are collections of some parasite’s eggs.

We cannot seem to find anything like it in pictures online, so don’t know where to start to treat it. And there are no vets around here that deal with chickens - which are considered ‘exotic birds’ apparently!

So we’d be very grateful for help to understand what it is and how to treat/eradicate it.

In case it’s relevant, we live in SE England. And the 2 affected chickens are a ?Bluebell and a Sussex.

 

[JacinLarkwell]

Look like mite/lice eggs

 

[Eggcessive]

Lice eggs can appear at the base of feathers under the vent or on other parts of the body, and can be white to gray. A product with permethrin, dust or spray is good to treat at 10 day intervals at least twice to get rid of lice. The newly hatched ones can be treated within 10 days. In the UK, you may need to get something from your vet, since permethrin is not available there. Pyrethrums from plants can be used, and sulfur powder will also treat mites and lice if dusted on the chicken and to treat the facilities. All bedding needs to be removed and the coop treated while treating the chick. New bedding can then be replaced.