Hen with poopy butt

[holisticliving]

So, I have a hen (just turned 1 year old) with runny poop, and I'm not sure what's causing it, but wondering if I should trim off her poopy butt feathers?

It first started happening last fall after I gave the chickens some apple pulp from my juicer, and then happened intermittently throughout the winter whenever I gave them high-fiber treats like apple peelings or squash - even just in small amounts. Since spring hit and they are out on pasture every day, it has been constant, and her fluffy butt feathers are now a big mess.

She otherwise seems quite healthy - eats and drinks normally, runs around and forages with the other hens, and lays every single day. The poop doesn't look weird - it's the normal brown color - except for being somewhat runny, so it gets all over her feathers when she poops. I'm assuming it's not a parasite since all the other hens are fine and they would have it by now if she had something. Maybe she just has trouble digesting fiber?? They all eat the same diet, and she's the only one who has ever had an issue.

Since it's summer, I'm worried about her getting fly struck with all that poop back there just hanging out, so thinking I should trim off the feathers under her vent? (By the way, her vent is totally clean and normal looking - it's just the feathers underneath that are caked with poop.) Is this the best solution, or any other suggestions that may help?

Thanks!
Rose.

 

[KaseySnow]

Poopy butt/diarrhea can be a sign of many things, some of which you have already postulated. Could very well just be a sensitive gut and she may need some probiotics to help balance her out. You can never go wrong with some probiotic yogurt. You might also try feeding her some carrot soup as that is known to help with diarrhea.

To truly eliminate the possibility of it being worms, I would call your local vet and see if they will do a fecal test for you. These are usually pretty cheap, $15-$20, a small price to pay for peace of mind.

The best method to collect fecal samples is to go in the morning and gather as many fresh poops from as many birds as possible (but especially from the one with diarrhea, if possible) into a ziploc baggie and stir them together well. You do this because the worms can be in a variety of stages in their 3 week life cycle and some may not currently be shedding segments or laying eggs. So the more poop you get and the more you combine it, the more accurate the results.

If the fecal test comes back negative, you can try another one a week later just to be sure in case the ones that were collected before were not in a shedding stage of their life cycle.

Or you can just skip that and treat for worms anyway if you know you haven't treated in a while. Some people treat every 6 months, but it's a good idea to de-worm once a year.

Once you have eliminated worms you might have to consult a vet. We had one with poopy butt who was eating and seemed normal, but the vet told us she likely had some kind of organ failure. Picking her up you could definitely tell she wasn't putting on any weight at all and the poopy butt had gone on for weeks and weeks without stop.

Your bird seems a bit young for organ failure though, so I'd start with feeding probiotics and checking for worms to eliminate that as a possibility.

 

[holisticliving]

Thanks for the tips! We trimmed her butt feathers very short (poor thing - it was even worse than I thought - she had so many layers of dried poo clumps on there - it had to have been uncomfortable!), and I've kept an eye on her for a few weeks and her poop now seems to look totally normal. It must have just been building up over time on her bottom feathers. I will keep an eye out and do the worm check if it gets runny again.

She does get probiotics as I feed a small ration of fermented feed almost daily, and they also get old SCOBYs from my kombucha sometimes (which they LOVE!), but just seems to have trouble with certain foods (i.e. fruit mostly). She is otherwise healthy and eats and forages and lays normally (she's actually one of our most prolific layers).

Thanks for the tip on getting a fecal test! I will keep that in my back pocket for the future!

 

[Debbie292d]

We have 3 particular silkie hen sisters out our small flock that are a couple of years old. One got this poopy butt thing. We did the wash method and got her all cleaned up. Then about a month later we notice one of her sisters was getting it. I think these three are actually part something else because they are larger than the rest of the Silkies, but still that doesn't explain it. I think I'll try the clipping feathers idea on this one. And, thank you for the tip on probiotics. They have been sometimes getting in on the baby chick food I feed to the little ones, but suppose I should start giving them yogurt now and then too.