Nasty bottoms.....what do we do?

[cordonbleu]

Okay, I did what I read not to do - I bought hens because I felt sorry for them. Two have nasty, bald bottoms and the feathers just below the bottom are coated in nasty gray poo - at least I think it's poo. We have had a few eggs and a few were dirty. These girls stink, too. Any suggestions? They were all together in a pen before and we just lost our girls to a raccoon so at least they can't spread it if it's a bad thing.

 

[purpletree23]

Give them a good bath and see what's under all that poo. When they are dry treat for lice and mites and give them great care and nutrition. I would worm them when they get some strength back. Good luck.

 

[Indiana hens]

Ditto! LICE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

 

[amysflock]

I agree. And be patient when cleaning their bottoms...they won't like it, it'll stink to high heaven and you'll wish you were doing anything other than that, but it'll help them. Their missing feathers will eventually grow back and they'll look like "normal" chickens again after they moult.

Good luck!

 

[purpletree23]

Thanks amysflock for the reminder about being patient with the dirty butts. Some times they have to be soaked quite a while to get things to soften up. Try feeding them treats and talking softly to them while they soak. If necessary you can use tiny scissors to carefully clip away any feathers that are really caked and won't soften. Cut as close to the poo as you can.

 

[threehorses]

You'll also want to fix the vents from the inside out. When you wash the vents, look to see if there are any sores, or grey/black waxy rings around the vent. ATreat the sores with neosporin after cleaning them well. Then pat the vent with corn starch or plain baby powder to dry and cool the area (and keep flies from being attracted - they lay maggots in nasty rear feathers). Do daily as necessary.

Then if you worm them, please only worm with Wazine 17 (piperazine 17) the first time. I would wait a week before you do that. These birds could have heavy parasites and worming with a more broad spectrum wormer the first time could stress them to illness. Wazine has enough strength to expel adult roundworms and already make a difference. Then in 2-4 weeks, reworm with a more broad spectrum wormer like one of the following: fenbendazole (SafeGuard paste for horses or liquid for goats), 5% pour on ivermectin for cattle (pm for dosage), levamisole, albendazole. I tend towards fenben for this as some sites say it can possibly be effective towards tape worms. It's very safe, very hard to over dose, very easy to give. 1 BB sized bit of the horse-paste (SafeGuard 10% fenbendazole) in their beaks.

I'd dust for lice/mites whether or not they have them. Permethrin dust is what to use - it's safe, very effective, and comes in a shaker can. read the active ingredient of products that say "poultry dust", "poultry and garden dust", "livestock lice powder", etc. Make sure it's permethrin. You can even treat their bedding in the new pen - stir the powder in - just in case.

Then yogurt for a week, daily - rebuild their digestive bacteria to help fix the diarrhea. It would really help if they had organic apple cider vinegar in their water (1 tablespoon per gallon) for a week, and of course good complete feed - laying crumbles or pellets. Slowly introduce grit and free choice oyster shell to them - so that they don't hog it down. Who know what they have and haven't had to eat.

The OACV (not regular, but organic) will help adjust the pH to correct if there's a yeast infection from their bad care (common with the pasty vent). The Yogurt has live bacteria that also helps fight yeast, bad bacteria, etc.

You can even mix Lotrimin (athelete's foot creme) and neosporin and smear that into their treated bottoms well. I'm certain there's bacterial and yeast issues from sitting under the wet droppings in the heat. That's a good way to do it and then use the cornstarch. Then on top of that, make sure that when you dust them the permethrin dust goes there - over the dressing and powder.

They're lucky to have you!!