Poopy bum

[my5hens]

First off, I want to apologize if my question seems dumb, I know hens poop alot and poop comes out of their bum.

However, I noticed that a few of my hens have white poopies around their bum feathers. They didnt have this before and I am concerned that it may be an illness?

They do seem fine otherwise.

Thank You!

 

[EmmyGirl]

There are no dumb questions! It's a constant learning process and this is a great forum to ask and get answers. Maybe some of the more experienced BYC'ers will chime in, but here's my humble opinion.... I've seen this question several times in the forums and have seen a bunch of different answers so I guess none of us know for sure, especially if there are no other symptoms. Just my opinion, the messy feathers are usually a sign of watery poos which could mean there's possibility of something else could be going on (dehydration, illness etc)--does she lay regularly?

 

[WalkingTreatMachine]

Hey there. What breed are the chickens you are noticing this in? I have 3 breeds but the ones this has happened to was Honey, my buff Orpington. She has a very fluffy butt, and once it started getting dirty, it just kept collecting more and more poop until her eggs started getting dirty. I first checked all the pictures on the 'poop chart' to see if her droppings (the ones that made it past her bum feathers) looked normal. They did, so I then followed the instructions from another thread here (which I can't find now or I would post the link) and took her inside, washed the poo off her butt, and checked for lice and mites at the base of feathers (there were none). I then clipped the feathers around her vent a bit shorter, careful not to cut too short and leave her with a chilly vent in cold weather. It's been about 3 weeks now and ol' fuzzy butt has been fine ever since. Clean butt, clean eggs. Hope this is helpful!