Pooh stuck to feathers - how to get off & is it a problem??

[silkiechicken]

My hens have that kind of problem too. Feathers don't have 'qucks' as said earlier and won't bleed when cut, the only time that may happen is if you cut a pin feather.

 

[Nebbo]

I have a poopy butt girl, too. I cut off a giant "dag" of dried poops the other day (and a few feather tips) and was hoping the problem would go away, but I think the bathing option is going to be the way to go. None of the other hens have this problem, even my superfuffy cochin. Like the above poster, there are no symptoms of illness or behaviour changes, just messy butt.

Neb

 

[dlhunicorn]

Pasty vents can also be a sign of salmonella overload (internal)... treat water with ACV and offer yogurt (the live culture one not the pasteurized desert/flavored kind) freechoice ...

 

[Nebbo]

I finally caught my poopy hen today and washed her bum in the kitchen sink. She was not amused. She's much cleaner now, but there's a lot of nakedness back there that worries me. She's also panting and gurgling, like she has fluid in her lungs, but that only started after I washed her, so I hope it's just a stress thing. She's on a perch in the coop right now, pouting while she dries out under the heat lamp.

Saw some weird deposits(?) or growths on some of the low "fluff" feathers, way down under the tail. It's spongy and looks like fungus or eggs of some kind.... or am I overreacting and it's just wet "hair"?

Does anybody have a clue? None of the birds have mites that I know of. They spend most of the day out in the yard and have a clean, well-ventilated coop at night with plenty of perch space for all.

Neb

 

[wren]

Lice eggs???

 

[Nebbo]

Quote:
That's what it looks like to me: aaaaagh! She just got the Sevin Dust bath, and so did a couple of the other ones I could catch. All the nest boxes and dust bath wallows have been sprinkled with Sevin and DE.

Poor baby, no wonder she's been only laying the occasional egg, she's a shadow of her former self. The bugs should die off in the next couple of days, and poor Natalie should start to feel better soon.

Will the Sevin kill the eggs, too? Or do I need to wipe them with something?

 

[Nebbo]

Update on "Natalie" the poopy butt bird: She seemed to perk up after the dusting and butt wash. She actually started going out to roam the yard with the other birds and started perching with them at night. Then, about two weeks ago, she started nesting at night in one of the lower nest boxes. Yesterday I saw she was moving slow, and tonight when I went to check on the birds she was just sitting on the porch outside the henhouse all pathetic. I put her in the isolation dog kennel inside the henhouse with a low perch and some food (with acidophilus powder in it) and water (with minerals and vitamins added), but she's not interested in either. Her butt is still messy.

I haven't seen any worms or bugs on her backside, and the poops are normal color, just slightly runny and all over her hinder. She is very thin, although she holds her head up and tries to roam the yard. None of the other birds have any symptoms. Last week we dusted them all with Sevin again, just in case something was bugging them, but it's just Natty who's sick.

Anybody have a clue? I'm ready to try a wormer just because, but can you give wormers to adult hens?

Thanks in advance,

Neb

 

[MandyH]

They make poultry wormer and it a good thing to keep them wormed regularly. I mean heck, they eat their own poo, scratch and dig up all kinds of stuff in the yard etc... It is cheap and easy to worm them. Call the feed store in the a.m. asap.

 

[Nebbo]

Thanks!

 

[Nebbo]

Sad news: Natalie died in the night. She was so listless, I'm not really surprised. At any rate, I'm off to the feed store to get wormer for all of them, and I'm ordering Immuno Charge from McMurray if the store doesn't have anything like it. I really, really hate no knowing exactly what got her, but I think prevention is the best cure, so I'm going to bolster the heck out of the rest of the gang.

Neb