poopy butt

[carmel]

i have a hen who has poopy butt (always) , some poop and wet pasty gray stuff-last sat came home to a hen with maggots infested in her rear and wet gray pasty matter on her rear- she had had a dog pull her tail feathers out 6 weeks before-we did not inspect her because no blood-friend feels like she was injured and flies laid eggs. she died -it was awful. now i am paranoid. i want to was her rear. should i?

 

[faykokoWV]

can you tell us a little more about the hen? How old is she, what is her feed, any other symptoms?

 

[threehorses]

Quote:
Yes, wash her rear please. Maggots will lay eggs in anything wet. Wash it well, examine for any sores there (as they will get sores like babies do from wet diapers). If you see any, wipe them with some iodine thinned with water (1 part betadine or another iodine to about 6 parts water or til it's the color of weak iced tea) if you have it. Pat very dry (don't rinse off the iodine/water) and then treat those sores with Neosporin ointment.

You can use baby powder or corn starch and pat her vent with it to dry it.

Next time you're at the feedstore, buy a can of "screw worm wound spray". it's great to have around in case of a wound or other situation where you might want to prevent or kill flies/maggots. You shouldn't need right now.

OK, let's fix the immediate problem.

First, she'll need yogurt (plain, unflavored) daily for a week. If she'll eat as a treat, great. If not, try mixing with a little cooked oatmeal - just enough to tempt her. Or cooked egg. Or both if that's what it takes. 1 teaspoon or so will help.

The reason: live-culture bacteria contains living bacteria that are the same type (L. acidophilis) that literally live in the gut of our chickens. They're "beneficial bacteria", living symbiotically with our birds. The bacteria get nutrition from the bird, and in turn they give back nutrition, enzymes, and fight bad bacteria and fungus. Sometimes they decrease in numbers because of stress or illness. So you want to replace them. Any time you see anything other than normal droppings, always give yogurt (unless you're treating with 'mycin or 'cycline antibiotics for some reason).

Now to determine the cause, in addition to what faykokoWV has asked, could you please tell us the following:

More details about feed (exactly what she eats), if she's kept with other birds, if she's a laying hen. does she get grit, does she free range? Does she get oyster shell? Has she ever been wormed and if so with what?

Because you mentioned grey stuff, is it on the vent or part of the droppings? does it look like it's on the skin? It's possible that at least secondarily she has a yeast infection which can cause these symptoms. I might end up suggesting that you use organic apple cider vinegar in her water (1 teaspoon per gallon of water, 1/4th teaspoon per quart of water) as her sole source of water for a few days. The organic ACV corrects the pH so that it's friendly for the GOOD bacteria and unfriendly for the bad bacteria and yeast blooms. It also has more lactobacilli in it often (as it's organic and unfiltered) which compliment the yogurt.

It probably wouldn't hurt to give her a one day treatment of applesauce as a treat, too. It gently cleanses the digestive tract, the pectin helps make the good bacteria thrive, and its pH is good for the gut. Only give a little (1/2 teaspoon) in one feeding however. Buying the jars of baby food are awesome for this. You can free teaspoons of it on wax paper in the freezer and then, when they're frozen, break loose and put in a ziplock in the freezer in case you ever need a serving for the chickens later. That way you don't waste money.

Cooked oatmeal makes a wonderful base to hide applesauce and yogurt in.

So this is what I'd do, in summary:

CLEANSING:
Clean the hen with warm water. Pat dry. Examine her vent. Treat any sores. Cornstarch her. do as often as necessary.

FIXING (a start):
One time: feed applesauce, 1/2 teaspoon - alone or in something else.
Daily/one week: feed yogurt 1 teaspoon or so - alone or in something else; Possibly organic apple cider vinegar in the water as above.

DIAGNOSING (as best we can):
Answer the above questions and we'll try to figure out what's causing this.

 

[carmel]

I can't thank you enough for the detailed response! She is almost a year old. she lives with 7 hens and a rooster. she was mail delivered. even when young we were snipping poo off her rear. she has never been wormed. she is free ranging during the day. she is alert and seems fine. i cleaned her up and really it was just a big hard ball of poo. she was nice and dry and fluffy this evening at roost. i will double check her tomorrow for sores. since my horrible experience last sat. night with the other hen i have been reading so much about worming, mites and lice. on sunday i did put ACV in their water and gave them a diced clove of garlic. i figured this could not hurt. i will take your advice and keep a much closer look at my girls from now on. Oh, she eats Durmor (or Dumor) crumble or pellets and the gray stuff was on her feathers not on the skin, clumped and dry. Is blue-cote do the same as screw worm wound spray? My neighbor told me to put diesal on the maggots of the hen that died and blue-cote but there was too many and she was too far gone. love to know your opinion on the diesal.

 

[threehorses]

Quote:
It's no problem at all.

Sounds like she's always had a little imbalance. I would definitely want to worm your flock too - Wazine first (to get rid of the majority of adult rounds) and then 2-4 weeks later, reworm adults with a 'broad spectrum' wormer. That will kill the larva. I personally love pour-on 5% cattle ivermectin for the follow up as it also kills some external parasites (like leg mites, lice, etc).

But for now let's get this gal stabilized.

Incidentally, if you're interested, here's something I posted on a post about 'your chicken is going to get sick'. It's a list of basics that I've learned (the hard way mostly) that might help you. It includes that looking bit - I never really stuck to that before, and now I realize how essential it is - and how many potential little problems I prevented looking at the birds I love a little more closely.

I still use it as a checklist to try to keep things going right for my flock.

Thanks for your wonderful replies, and I look forward to your next updates.

------------------------------------
(the topic was "if you own chickens, they're bound to get sick". I disagreed, saying the following:

If one sticks to some basics, you will rarely if ever have a sick bird.

- Lots of ventilation, lots of clean air, not lots of draft. Lots of space - never any less than 2 square feet per bird ever. Never crowd.
- Dried and compressed horse pine shavings instead of hay as bedding - in a well ventilated coop.
- Sand on the ground instead of soil - dries out parasites and bacteria.
- Yogurt monthly for adults. Weekly for babies. Replaces good bacteria to strengthen immune systems. (In the old days it was sour milk non pasteurized)
- Keep a closed flock!
- If you don't keep a closed flock, then quarantine everything for 30 days = NO exceptions! Some diseases have a 21 day incubation period. 30 days gives you 21 days, and then four days for us to catch on if they're sick. (that includes birds you took to a show.
- Never ever ever pity-buy or buy from a flea market. Buy from tested flocks, ask for the paperwork, and then quarantine. Vaccinate for marek's if you raise your own.
- Worm with wazine and then worm with a follow up of a broad spectrum larva-killing wormer (fenbendazole, ivermectin pour on, etc) whether you think you need it or not. Do so at least twice a year or have "Fecal egg counts" done. DON"T depend on seeing worms to tell you there are worms - or your system will frankly fail.
- Sunshine shining in the coop and run will kill diseases and bacteria; take advantage of it.
- Every adult hen should have oyster shell grit. Period. No egg shells.
- Every adult bird should have granite grit no matter the diet or ground type.
- Every bird should have most of their diet a completely fortified age and use appropriate feed crumble or pellet, 10% of the diet being more of the same or healthy treats. No shrimp tails, birthday cake, few sweets, more vegetables than fruit. No more than 10% of their diet in grains.
- Feed should always be in date when purchased, strongly fresh smelling. If it smells like cardboard, it's as good as cardboard. The bag should be whole. Never use feed that's been rebagged from bulk. Use within 1 month.
- Clean fresh water - nothing in it 90% of the time.
- Never medicate to prevent anything ever. (Coccidiostats in the feed don't count.)
- Keep birds separate until they're 5 months old. They're at different stages of their immune development as they grow. Don't push things.
- If you get a worm or parasite infestation, TREAT the infestation - don't use control products to do a treatment product's job. DE is great for helping reduce numbers and prevent - it's not a treatment. Suck it up and treat and then work on preventing again (see sand and shavings recommendations above).

and the king-daddy of them all:

- Pick up your birds every week. Take no less than an hour weekly to sit and watch them eat and play. Know their weights, know their parts, know their anatomy, know their personalities, know who is the boss and who's the lowest in the flock. You can't do that from an armchair - pick them up, look at them, feel them, smell them, listen to them.

If people followed these rules, this board would be a lot less busy.

The reason I know a lot about diseases is that I used to NOT follow these rules. I've learned how important they are and I am constantly, through my advice, trying to get people back atuned to these basics. NOW I read the old poultry books and guess what every single book pushes? the above rules. Period. They're free, cheaper than meds, cheaper than tests, cheaper than culling your flock and investments, cheaper than all the stress you'll get from being heartsick over a bird.

 

[CheerfulHeart2]

Thank you for this post. I also have one hen with some grey stuff on her feather.

Why is that wormer so important to do?

Are the eggs safe to eat when they are worming?

I have been using ACV in one waterer every day. There are 2 other waterers that don't have it. But I use distilled not raw ACV.

It is pretty hot here, (But also dry) so I have been keeping the coup in the shade. . .

Thoughts?

 

[threehorses]

Quote:
The worming is important because worms cause inflammation and irritation of the digestive tract chronically. That causes a lack of nutrient absorbtion, reduced immune strength, increased susceptibility to diseases, digestive tract scarring, dehydration from diarrhea, etc etc.

Depending on the wormer, you can toss or keep eggs. Triple Action wormer from Rooster Booster doesn't require withdrawal. If you use a good wormer twice a year, withdrawal isn't too bad.

On the ACV, the distilled keeps biofilm away - but doesn't have the beautiful benefits of organic raw. Something to consider.

On the cooling, I like to spray plants around my coop with water (because it's been really dry) Sometimes that cools the air a bit.

 

[CheerfulHeart2]

Thank you for the tips and info. Very kind of you to take time to help us!

 

[threehorses]

Quote:
I'm glad to be able to help.

We're all supposed to help one another, yes?

 

[CheerfulHeart2]

Yes, helping one another is a great thing!