Messy rear ends?

[Barredhen]

Over the past few weeks I've had girls getting messier and messier, what would cause this?
No food change, no one seems to feel off but they've got some gross butts!

 

[1goose2ducks]

Have you checked them for lice. That could be it if not I would give them a bath in warm water with dawn dish soap.

 

[Barredhen]

Could I see lice?
I haven't seen anything. Why does that cause this, just curious! thanks

 

[kristinemarie]

Some of mine get that every now and then. I just trim their butt feathers and they’re good to go for another 6 months.

 

[MissChick@dee]

Definitely would clean them up. Scissors work easy. Yes you can see lice. Take a white sheet of paper & ruffle the feathers easy way to see. I’m assuming they have access to dust bathe. In summer they drink more water could be as simple as that (more water=watery poo’s). Clean em up and check that that is all it is.

 

[MissChick@dee]

Your second pic looks like it’s all over her vent. Not a good thing esp. with all the fly’s this summer.

 

[ChickenyChickeny]

could be:

• vent gleet
• worms
• lice

 

[MissChick@dee]

Look up vent fleet. There’s some easy to do suggestions.

 

[Barredhen]

The paper towel/lice check sounds brilliant. Thx!
While they look nowhere near as horrifying as some of the photos of vent gleet I just looked up, I washed two hen butts and then it was dark so I just trimmed a 3rd ones feathers..the third one had some white mucus looking substance around her vent - so maybe that is what this is?

The coop is picked up and where they roost cleaned and new bedding if needed, every day. They're high and dry, fresh water with 2 TBS ACV daily, they get probiotics out of the tube (the horse tubes, I just offer a pea sized amount) occasionally, they love that, I saw to give yogurt and garlic but I know already they won't eat yogurt or garlic. They were dewormed this spring. Their food isn't moldy, stored in a bin in the barn.
They DO get a lot of garden scraps. In fact they had a half a water melon this afternoon. I can stop that. They're in a large pasture with very tall grass, I saw something about sometimes it's from eating grass but I can't really stop that.

Anything else I should do besides clean them off if it's vent gleet?

 

[MissChick@dee]

There’s information about adding “the mother” vinegar to their water as well. I’m amazed they don’t LOVE yogurt. Mine do crazy for it. At first they did not sometimes you have to introduce new foods a couple of times. A trick I found for my hens to make yogurt more appealing was to use a low sided dish (ceramic bottom from my house plant) I smear the yogurt about 1/2 inch high in the very middle of the dish. They really took to it for some reason chickens don’t like messy food. Well mine don’t. And they don’t fling it everywhere. They put their beaks in and lap it up!
Good luck in clearing up your girls with gleet.