Huge clump of chicken poop stuck on her but with something frozen on stop

[Noah Porter Md]

As im writing this i feel like im a bad chicken keeper but i have to non the less so anyway its winter where i live and i went out to the hen house to bring the water feeder in to thaw it out and to feed them when i notice something was hanging from my hen's but, it was a piece of straw on further inspection i noticed that she had a HUGE pile of chicken poop stuck on and something frozen on top now my first though was she had a shelless egg and it drizzled down and froze and thats why its not falling off so i was going to put her under a electric heater is this appropiate for the situation or will it fall off on my own and im just being a over reactive person?

P.S. Is this common when the highs of tempature reaches the mid minus 20's?

 

[SterlingSilver]

Don't worry, you're not a bad chicken keeper! I'd keep her in a heated area then give her a bath in a tote with warm water and get a closer look at it, be careful when you try to pick it off do it slowly and if she shows signs of discomfort give her a break. I had a prolapse and poop froze to it too but if she doesn't have a prolapse then she'll hopefully be fine.

 

[Noah Porter Md]

ok thank you for your response so quickly but for warming her up i cant bring her in my house because i have dogs and my mother has had a liver transplant so her imune system is vary low so would you have other ideas on how i could give her a bath and keep her warm?

 

[staceyj]

I would soak her in a sink of tepid/warm water to speed up the process. (+/- 30minutes) most chickens don't mind it.
If she has a prolapse or a Broken egg inside her you'll need to address that problem ASAP.
Be sure to blow dry her with a hairdryer and keep her in a warm place until she's good and dry.

 

[staceyj]

Noah, just saw your response.
Do you have a garage?

 

[staceyj]

A warm wet compress might work. But not out in the 20 degree weather.

 

[happyfrenchman]

I usually just get a scissor and cut the offending mass out. I hate looking at that kind of thing.... It happens though. I would get a good scissor. You could pull the feathers also but that would hurt. I wouldn't do it in this cold. In this cold weather, you don't want to be fooling around with water and washing (IMO)... just scissor it out and keep an eye on it in case it starts reforming. Sometimes they never have a problem again... sometimes they do.

 

[Noah Porter Md]

yeah i have a garage with a electric space heater in it but im not sure if shes got a prolapse because i couldint see anything other then the poop

 

[Noah Porter Md]

and shes not acting to lethargic

 

[staceyj]

I'd just be careful as all getout if you go the scissors route!!

They can walk around with a prolapse like they don't have a care in the world.