Hen's giant dingleberry! Did I do the right thing?!

[ghgirls]

Well this new hen keeping hobby is certainly an eye opener! This afternoon I picked up my lovely "sexy" (black sex link) only to notice that she had a HUGE dingleberry (lump of poop) stuck to her feathers. I really couldn't get it off so ended up soaking her bum in warm water and had to cut it out of her feathers as if it was a big dreadlock! But now her poor bum's looking very bare... have I done the right thing? Will it be a problem that she now has a bare arse?!! I know now that I need to check their bottoms more frequently, but they don't seem to tell you that kind of thing in the beginner's books!
So please ease my mind and tell me that her feathers will grow back in soon and it'll all be alright!

 

[Judy]

You certainly did the right thing! Might help to put a little Vaseline or other ointment or even oil on the bare skin, so if any more sticks, it will be easier to wash off.

 

[ghgirls]

Ooh, good idea! Thanks!

 

[JennsPeeps]

Yeah, I've gotta do this to my cochin and jsut haven't bee up to the icky task.

 

[speckledhen]

I call them "poop rocks" and I often have to do "poopectomies" on some of my ladies, especially my Speckled Sussex.

 

[trilyn]

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Nasty, but hysterical!! Fortunately, I haven't had to do that bit of nasty business yet, but this is all good info for when the day comes...

 

[JewellFarm]

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OMG, thank you for the laugh. I needed that, LOL.

 

[damselfish]

Have to laugh, we did this just this weekend for our fluffy-butt Buff Orpington.

DH & I declared it as "yet another homesteading milestone"! Glad we're not the only ones.

Seriously, here's what we did, in case somebody else reading this has to do it someday. Filled a shallow rubbermaid partway with warm water (maybe halfway up her legs), plus an old milk jug of clean water standing by.

DH held chicken in the water facing him, which means of course the business end was facing me. I found it easier to peel the feathers off the poop rather than pull the poop off the feathers. Got rid of the big pieces and then splashed and rinsed until everything was clean. I had some little utility brush that I used too, don't know where it came from. Final rinse with clean water from jug. Towel-dried so she wouldn't go sit in the dirt and get muddy.

She was very dirty & now she is very clean and looks quite pleased about it. Our theory is that her rear end is so wide she couldn't bend around to clean it, the rest of the birds are clean.

P.S. wear disposable gloves.

I can't believe I just wrote this. Leaving now to go contemplate my crazy-chicken-ladyness...

 

[momahenTN]

i had to do the same thing to some of our little guys. if ya let it soak for a second or two, it gets soft and you wont be pulling feathers out. babies get it and its called pasty butt.

 

[Fruit Juice]

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