I feel terrible

[Coopcheney]

Hi everyone,
I am a new to having chickens. My first flock. 4 ladies. I noticed when I got them a few months ago and my one girl seemed to never really get feathers on her bum. It’s always been a sort of skin patch on her bum and I have made sure no mites or any issues have arose and she eats and is doing great. But sometimes she gets poo on her bum and I fee so terrible because it sticks to her feathers that have not seemed to fully become feathers so they are more like hard sticks (if that makes sense) and it gets a bit dirty from time to time. I wash it off usually but today it was sticky and it had dried so I was sort of tugging on it to remove the dry poop. I was reading that you should not pull it off and now I almost want to take her out of her coop and hug her …I feel like I hurt her and I am super upset about it.

 

[nuthatched]

She'll be fine, she may avoid you for a few days but she'll get over it. Wet paper towels are wonderful things for poopy messes.
Chronic poops but is often a sign of crop, diet or worm issues.

 

[townchicks]

Pulling it off can sometimes be a problem because you can damage the skin. I'm sure if you had hurt her she would have let you know. You are not a bad chicken mom, you saw her problem and addressed it.

 

[rosemarythyme]

A better option than pulling is trimming it off (this is strictly for the feathered parts of course). You can do it solo or with someone holding the bird for you. If solo, I catch the bird, put it on a platform so I don't have to bend down too much, and tuck it under my armpit while using that same hand to grab and pull up at the tail. Using sharp scissors, cut soiled feathers down to about 1/2" (when you get more comfortable with it you can cut a lot closer). The results will last a lot longer than trying to bathe her or wipe it off.

Some birds are just messy poopers but it might be a good idea to get a fecal sample to a vet to check for worms, in case that's the cause.

 

[Mason Farm and Ranch]

I had a bird with a similar issue. I gave her a soak, cleaned her bum good, and applied a spray on oil. Blow dried her bum and sprayed with oil again. Rubbed a beeswax based ointment on it.

After that I checked her bum once or twice a week. Cleaning with a warm damp cloth and reapplied the spray oil and ointment.

It didn't fix the problem, but it was much easier to clean.