New chicken guy, took over a flock of 19 mixed hens. All are pretty neat in their own right, but I have one that has a pretty nasty bottom. All the other ladies are clean and neat, but this one looks like it is caked on there and her regular movements are not making anything better. Tried wiping down there and got a hand full of of new stuff. I am not squeamish but that ended my efforts for the day. Is this is sign of something else that I should be aware of, I believe that she is a New Hampshire Red. I want to just hose her down or but don't think that is the appropriate action. Sorry for bringing you into my nasty problem, just not sure if I should be doing anything about it. I have notice that it has been like this for about 2 weeks.
Quote:Give her a nice bath and use a baby shampoo. Make sure to get all the pasty stuff off. It sounds like she may have pasty vent or vent Gleet. See this link and see if it sounds like what you have. http://ultimatefowl.atwiki.com/page/Vent Gleet Here are some more links. http://fowlfacts.proboards.com/index.cgi?board=afflictiondiseaseff&action=display&thread=1577 http://www.welphatchery.com/index.asp
We have had to clean one of our hen's dirty bottoms. My wife brings out a bowl of warm water and I hold the hen kinda on her side while my wife uses gloves to massage the hardened poo and work it off. The hen seems ok with it all unless the wife pulls too hard, but HEY, it needs to be done from time to time.
It could just be a dirty hen. I have one that is like that. I trim the vent feathers occasionally to keep her cleaned up. If left on it can burn the skin. Good luck Imp
We have one dirty-pooper also. It seems like she can "shoot" it out as well as all the other girls. We give her a bath about every month. Warm water and baby shampoo. Then a nice warm hair dryer. She seems to be getting used to it. The other girls try to teach her how do it cleanly, but she just can't seem to get it right!
Lice eggs could be causing the poop to stick to the feathers near the vent. It is one of the common locations to find lice. If you leave the poopy mess, it will attract flies, who will lay their eggs in it and the maggots will EAT the poor bird. Contrary to common thought, maggots do not eat "only dead flesh." They will eat living flesh as well. This condition is called Fly Strike. Seems like every summer I end up dealing with it at least once. BTW, the condition can crop up in warm weather in only a few hours.
I gave her a bath last night and ended up having to cut away the area that was caked with poo. She was pretty calm through the whole thing and looked pretty rare down there. I checked on her this morning and she looks a great deal better. Thank you all for your help, really appreciate you and this site.
If it looks sore you can apply antibiotic ointment (like neosporin) make sure it is NOT for pain. If it has an ingredient ending in 'caine' do NOT use it. I get the $2 stuff at dollar general. I think it's called double antibiotic ointment. If the other hens start pecking at it, which they might do. For some reason anything red and irritated is an attraction for them. You can get something call Blue Kote. It will turn the area purple and suddenly they have no interest in pecking the area. It will stain your hands though, so you might want to wear gloves. Good luck and
