My hen seems to be missing something in her diet, what could it be?

[Jazkabor]

I have tried asking for diarrhea. Someone mentioned the other day, since none of the great suggestions I received helped, that I think the opposite. Sticky poo like young chicks. Wow I though, that could just be it!



So what to feed to loosen her up? She has fresh water, lots of grass, no "bad" plants about, and free feeding 17% protien, plus some organic scratch as a treat most days. : )

Please let me know! : )

 

[PetRock]

She's laying now but has a dirty bottom? Maybe she just has a problem with getting the poop past her feathers. Half of my fluffy butt hens get dirty bums and I end up washing their hind ends every 3 weeks or so. I've read lots of posts about this and many people recommend trimming their feathers so the poop has less to stick to. I'm going to try that later this week after their bum bath. I also read that some people add a little olive oil to their daily treats and that helps slide things along!

 

[Jazkabor]

Quote:
Yes laying and healthy as a horse. : ) Just gets really yucky. Like poo/dirt dread locks.

At first it only gets yucky just out the vent so do you trim the feathers really short there?

Fluffy butt? What is and isn't a fluffy butt chicken,

I thought they were all fluffy. Is a Barred Plymouth Rock fluffy?
Thank you so much!

 

[PetRock]

Our 2 Barred Rocks are definitely fluffy butts! They have to have beauty treatments along with our Golden Sex Link.

Maybe our dirty butt girls are just lazy poopers?! Our big, fluffy butt BA hen hardly ever needs a sponge bath and neither does our little EE. It was on my list to do today but it was rainy & windy so put it off. It is not my favorite chicken chore, that's for sure! I'm not sure about the trimming because I have yet to do it. I sure am tired of the washing, though, so may get out the scissors this week and give it a try.

 

[Jazkabor]

Quote:

If we didn't love her so much I wouldn't be interested but my son is almost able to do it all himself. Now to find a way to wash her without using the bathtub! Luckily it is only my BR and not my wyandotte who has equally fluffyness(!?!) So what is that about. My easter eggers haven't started laying yet, I am happy to hear your ee's don't need it. My BR stopped this messy ness when she stopped laying in December and then molted. Back to laying, back to yucky bottom. Crazy. Do your girls do that too? (stay clean when they are not in laying season?)

What is BA? How do you keep up with washing in the winter/fall?

Kinda chilly here, I am nervous to do it on anything but a warm sunny day. And I would love to do it outside but all the info says warm bath. How/where do you do it?

 

[pharmchickrnmom]

Jaz--I have the same problem with one of my glwyandottes. She gets a really dirty butt and nasty poo and an occasional soft egg. I have determined that it is something internal going on with her specifically. I have bathed her twice in the last two month in a plastic basin just to get her cleaned up and help the egg move out. She gets heat stressed which adds to the problem. When she does lay eggs, they are nice ones. My barred rocks get really nasty butts from time to time but I havent had to wash them yet. Dustbathing usually takes care of that. I feed mine good quality feed and supplement with yogurt twice a week. IMO your issue is her physiology since none of your other cheeps are having said problem. I would just bath her from time to time to keep her relatively clean. Use a plastic wash basin like you would use in your kitchen sink for dishes. Works great for large fowl as you really only need to get their butts in the water. My Betty no longer fights me when I put her in. I think she secretly likes soaking her butt in the warm water and getting all cleaned up!

 

[PetRock]

BA = Black Australorp. I take a bucket of warm water outside, have my daughter hold the chicken on her lap butt facing out with a towel over her back, and use rags to clean off the junk in the trunk. I wear neoprene gloves while I do it so I am able to pull off any clumps of poo after softening them with warm water. Once clean, I dry with a towel rag and set the bird free! I try to pick a warm, sunny day to do this.

We only had one BR molt this year and fewer feathers meant no stuck on poo for her. Half of the other ones took a break from laying but our sex link still had a problem with some dirty butt even though she wasn't laying. They get plain yogurt mixed with steel cut oats or brown rice every morning and I'm going to try to remember to add a little olive oil in with their treat to see if that helps with the problem.

 

[Medicine Man]

you might try adding the following:

Split or ground peas (no fines, just split or quartered): ~20%
Fish Meal: ~5%
DE (food grade!): ~2%
Beet Pulp: ~0.25%

these percentages are by weight, in proportion to the entire feed ration. Using commercial feed is much like having your house built by the lowest bidder, but I also cannot recommend a beginner to switch to a homemade formula - too many pitfalls to be wary of there.

Best of luck to you and your hen.

 

[Medicine Man]

Also, if you're really crazy like I am, try nutritional yeast. Maybe just a tablespoon or two sprinkled over her food. It's expensive, but you'll see the difference in her eggs in about a week.

 

[PetRock]

Quote:
I have split peas and food grade DE. What brand of fish meal do you use? And do you make your own beet pulp?