Poopy butt

[rosemarythyme]

Clipping is also just a ton faster, and the results will last longer. This past week I clipped around the vent of 4 or 5 hens (amount of clipping needed varied based on how poopy they tend to get) and I was done in under 10 minutes, that includes catching them and doing the clipping alone.

 

[Vicki F]

Wow!! Wish I could brag about catching & cleaning in 10 min!! Need your secret will try in the next day or so. Cooling weather & maybe no so much stress. Wish me luck.

 

[rosemarythyme]

Wow!! Wish I could brag about catching & cleaning in 10 min!! Need your secret will try in the next day or so. Cooling weather & maybe no so much stress. Wish me luck.

No real secret. Most of my birds don't really run away so catching them isn't hard.

I put each bird on a platform that's around waist high, then I put my left armpit over their wings and back to hold them in place, and use my left hand to grab the tail and lift up (for the older, fatter ones just lifting up on tail is enough, they're too lazy to escape). Right hand has the scissors. I quickly trim any obvious poopy bits and any spots under that where poop tends to land, and then let them go.

 

[Pghelp]

If the issue is malformed eggs or a hen being egg bound that can cause clumpy stinky feathers at the rear. I find a 5-gallon bucket is the perfect size to stand a full grown hen inside. I run tap water to about chicken temp and add water from a tea kettle if it needs to be warmed more. Don't cook 'me! If it's burning your hands, it's too hot. I dump about 1/2 cup of Epsom salts in the warm water and then soak the hen for 10-20 minutes rubbing and working the nasty stuff off under the water. Mine actually seem to enjoy it and know it helps. I keep my hands on them but they don't struggle or panic at all. I wrap them in dry towels and don't put them back with the gang until they are dry. Really helps if they have digestive or egg passing problems. You might Aldo consider giving your ladies plain yoghurt as a treat. The probiotics help balance their digestive system and adds a little calcium too.

 

[Byrd gal]

My chickens love baths and the hair dryer puts them over the moon. A couple have napped during the blow out. I use dawn on them it works great.

 

[Tortoise]

Using scissors is usually the best way with older chickens. Just clip off the poopy feathers while being very careful not to knick anything since that area's pretty sensitive.

Edited because I meant OLDER, not OTHER...

This is what I do also. I clip enough that it hopefully won't keep sticking. She don't look the best from the back side but she looks better bare butt then poopy butt.

 

[Boise-girls]

Clipping is also just a ton faster, and the results will last longer. This past week I clipped around the vent of 4 or 5 hens (amount of clipping needed varied based on how poopy they tend to get) and I was done in under 10 minutes, that includes catching them and doing the clipping alone.

Man, wish you could come to my house! You sound like a pro!

 

[rosemarythyme]

Man, wish you could come to my house! You sound like a pro!

Haha, I'm just impatient (which is why I usually do it alone, hubby slows things down!) and have other things to do, so gotta catch-clip-release as quick as I can.

 

[Clauzon]

What do you mean by “petrified?”

If you mean hard, what I do is gently use a damp paper towel to try and remove it.
That often doesn’t work for me, so what I usually do is turn the faucet onto a fairly warm temperature, but not too hot. (But also not too cold) I would say maybe warm shower temp.
Take the chick, and run it’s butt under the warm water, I usually do this for about a minute of it’s fairly bad. No need to turn the chick upside down or anything. It’s ok if some water gets on it’s back, but try not to get water on their face that much. Basically what you are doing is moistening the poop so you can easily wipe it off. Once a minute or so has passed, or it seems like it is good, gently with a damp paper towel wipe the poop off. It should be all gone. (Note, the chick will most likely peep and scream at you when your doing this, but it’s for the better good.)

Make sure to get the chick as dry as you can. I usually dab off excess water, then make sure the brooder is nice and toasty. (I lower the heat lamp a touch) and wait for it to dry off. Once it’s done drying, raise the heat lamp to the regular position. (That is, if your using a heat lamp.)

If your referring to something other than dried on pasty butt, hopefully someone else can help.

Sorry no ones responded yet.

I empathize with your dilemma. Just cleaned 3 of mine with poopy butts with enough warm water to put out the Chicago fire. Bleached myself to my elbows and I think my summer tan is faded . Fluffy butts are cute till hot weather hits and they drink enough water to empty a reservoir then loose poop to cool themselves off and the fluffy butts are not so cute anymore. Never happened with the leghorns but with these Dixie Rainbows... I told myself if this is a regular occurrence, off to freezer camp they go!

 

[Debbie292d]

Thanks for the tips. We had three hens given to us that joined our clutch of Silkies. Those three are larger but still had the feathers on their feet but not sure what they are. Two of three of them got poopy butt, and I'd never seen it before. We made a bin of soapy water and soaked one's behind in it. She seemed to enjoy it. We scrubbed, soaked, scrubbed, soaked. A week later the other one we didn't do this to died. Two weeks after that, the first one had poopy butt again. I'd been giving them yogurt thinking that might help but nope. I'm going to go with the cutting idea for both those that remain and just keep them clipped. It beats me as we have 10 other happy Silkies this has never happened to.