Poop/Mud on butt

[carrie+chicks]

I have a Delaware who is almost a year old who has recently started a large collection of poop/mud on her butt.

I have a flock of 4 and they are run freely on our property.

I noticed some runny dark poops the other day and some that had "clung on" to her butt feathers but didn't worry too much about it as the poops do vary a little form time to time. Today, the collection of gunk on her butt was larger (like a walnut still in its shell) so I started to worry. It doesn't totally look like poop but it's definitely hard and brown. I tried holding her and dunking her back-side in water to loosen up the mass but didn't make much progress. Is this something I should worry about?

I read another post about mites but she is totally strong and acts very healthy other than the poop problem. ????

If I do need to do more cleaning does anyone have any tips for it? This is a chicken who will tolerate being held but doesn't like it all that much. She looked terrified when I dunked her butt in the water and soon started struggling to get herself free again. Needless to say, it was about how I imagine it would go if I tried to bathe a cat. Thanks to all for your expertise!

 

[crazyhen]

I've had them that way from time to time. I snip off the bad area(feathers) and wash with warm water so they do not get chilled. I also check for sore areas and mites. Watch her for awhile. Gloria Jean

 

[tnchickenut]

When I first saw the title... I thought it was vent gleet, but that is usually a white runny (almost constant runny) dirty "bum". Sounds a bit like she pooed and it didn't fall, but got stuck in her feathers. You can try to trim it out with scissors, or bathe her again. I always found that my girls liked warm, almost hot, water. They would stand it and not try to get out (few cases of bumblefoot we were dealing with). Most the time they would start to go to sleep standing there. lol.

I wouldn't worry if it was me... unless she can't get her poo to go past it.

Do you have a picture? Maybe might help us understand.

 

[MaureenL128]

I have had this happen before. I just make up a little bath of warm water, put on some gloves, and wash her bottom as best as I can. For the most part, it all comes off. You might want to have someone else wrap them in a towel first to hold onto her better.

 

[carrie+chicks]

I'll very helpful ideas. Thanks everyone. My "bath" was cold water so maybe tomorrow I'll try again with warm and do the towel trick too. Overall, it sounds like it is just a failure of gravity (what powerful feathers!) on those turds. Thanks everyone