Pasty butt?

[sb4878]

Our chickens are about 6-7 months old. We just noticed our black jersey giant's butt looking like this. Is this pasty butt? How can I fix her? If it's not pasty butt, what do you think it is? She is acting completely normal.

It's going to be about 25 degrees here tomorrow so if I have to bathe her/get her butt wet, we will be doing it inside in the bathroom. How do I dry her off because I certainly don't want to put her back out when she is wet.
Thanks for your help from this first time chicken mom

 

[sunflour]

Pasty butt is a problem for baby chicks, and not of older chickens. Looks like she just has some poop on her feathers.

IMO I would not wash her unless you can dry her with a hair dryer on low or keep her in a warm place to let the feathers dry before placing her outdoors.

The other choice would be to pull the poop off, cut the feathers to remove the poop. or just leave it alone till warmer weather.

I have grabbed and pulled, they don't like it too much, but do get over it.

 

[azygous]

Some hens have lazy butts and they can't seem to squirt the works with enough force to keep the load from grazing and hanging up on the butt feathers.

Yesterday I found an aging Wynadotte hen with a build-up on her butt feathers that would have filled a half cup. I have several of these lazy butts, and I need to back them up to a warm basin of water periodically and soak and remove the crud or it just keeps building up over time.

There's a condition caused by yeasts that smells very bad called "vent gleet". If this is the cause of the poopy build-up, it can be treated.

By the way, I've trimmed poopy butt feathers before, and it caused the poop to stick even worse than before. Best thing is to soak the feathers clean, pat or blow dry and keep an eye on the hen for further problems.

 

[howfunkyisurchicken]

Another option, if the poop is hard and dry, is to take a pair of pliers and crush it. It'll break into pieces and fall off. Its also my experience that trimming the feathers usually makes things worse. So I normally wash and blow dry or crush with pliers. I can't stand dirty bottoms and have to take care of it when it crops up

 

[bawkbawkbawk]

We've had this happen to our adult hens on occasion, usually after inclement weather - maybe they get debris tangled in their hindquarters or something.

We just hold them over a sink - easier if you have two people, one to hold the bird (make sure her wings are held down so she doesn't flap) and the other person can gently wipe the affected area with a warm, wet cloth or paper towel. A few minutes of this is usually all it takes to break up the accumulated gunk. Pat her dry and then let her walk off in a huff. One of those thankless flock keeper jobs...