poop buildup under vent?

[no roosters]

3 of my 4 young laying hens have poop that has started to build up in their feathers under their vents. They started laying around Christmas pretty steadily and have started getting the build up in the last couple of weeks. Is this something I should be concerned about, if so what can this be caused by, and how do I remedy it? Any help would be greatly appreciated.

Thank You

 

[mommissan]

They get runny poops sometimes. My girls are a little "squishy" right now because they got wasted on a pot of spaghetti yesterday. It gets caked on now and then, so I just grab them and gently pluck the chunks off. You could give them a bath, or simpler yet, just cut off the chunky pieces. The feathers will grow back. In the meantime, poop can't stick to feathers that aren't there, right? You just want to make sure the vent is always open so things can still exit freely.

With that said, maybe you should look into why the poops are runny. Perhaps they need deworming? Or, like in my case, they had too much junk food?