krthaymp
Chirping
Yesterday, my chronically dirty butt hen of 3 years old started acting poorly. She was standing still, hunched a bit, and fluffed up. She had no interest in snacks, while everyone else came running. Despite that deceptive appearance, she was a BUGGER to catch (she's not one of my more friendly hens either)! I soaked her in some warm water until the bulk of the mess was off, then refreshed the warm water with a tad bit of dawn (probably not necessary), soaked again, then rinsed and blow dried off.
We just had a tree fall on the back of the run Friday, and I'm somewhat confident this is pasty butt from stress, but there's a chance it could be something else and I'm second guessing everything I know about this now.
How can I be sure it's just pasty butt from stress and not vent gleet, or something else even? Nothing appeared overly red or swollen. I don't think she had eaten recently, as her crop was not full. She had two movements while we were cleaning her up - the first mostly water, some urates. The second, mostly water, some solids.
It was dark by the time she was dry, so she probably didn't eat or drink after I deposited her back on the roost.
Recover 911 in the water today. This morning she was up and about and looking much better, but I did not have time to watch her long enough to see her eat, drink or poop. Her bottom does still look clean.
A second hen, same age, was at the back of the coop though, sitting down like she was on the nest, but in the middle of the run. Alert, watching, but not moving until I walked towards her. Then she got up and walked away fine, but it has me wondering if there's something more than stress and pasty butt about to hit my flock.
What else can I do or watch out for?
They also went off laying a bit after the tree fell, which I expected. After all, the sky was legitimately falling I suppose...
EDIT: I got SafeGuard AquaSol to de-worm the flock, which may have been a mistake. She's the only hen having a dirty butt, I haven't seen any parasites in their manure, and the idea of weighing 9 chickens to average their weight (especially after the near fiasco of catching just one last night) for proper dosing is an idea I'm increasingly dreading. I don't see any evidence of pests or parasites. Should I just skip the de worming?
We just had a tree fall on the back of the run Friday, and I'm somewhat confident this is pasty butt from stress, but there's a chance it could be something else and I'm second guessing everything I know about this now.
How can I be sure it's just pasty butt from stress and not vent gleet, or something else even? Nothing appeared overly red or swollen. I don't think she had eaten recently, as her crop was not full. She had two movements while we were cleaning her up - the first mostly water, some urates. The second, mostly water, some solids.
It was dark by the time she was dry, so she probably didn't eat or drink after I deposited her back on the roost.
Recover 911 in the water today. This morning she was up and about and looking much better, but I did not have time to watch her long enough to see her eat, drink or poop. Her bottom does still look clean.
A second hen, same age, was at the back of the coop though, sitting down like she was on the nest, but in the middle of the run. Alert, watching, but not moving until I walked towards her. Then she got up and walked away fine, but it has me wondering if there's something more than stress and pasty butt about to hit my flock.
What else can I do or watch out for?
They also went off laying a bit after the tree fell, which I expected. After all, the sky was legitimately falling I suppose...
EDIT: I got SafeGuard AquaSol to de-worm the flock, which may have been a mistake. She's the only hen having a dirty butt, I haven't seen any parasites in their manure, and the idea of weighing 9 chickens to average their weight (especially after the near fiasco of catching just one last night) for proper dosing is an idea I'm increasingly dreading. I don't see any evidence of pests or parasites. Should I just skip the de worming?
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