Poopy butts and roosting?

[biscuit7]

Sorry in advance for the odd post! We recently adopted 5 older hens (maybe 4-5 years old). They don't appear to be in terrible health but were with many other chickens who had very bad leg mites. We treated them for this before adding them to our flock. Two of the hens seem to have persistently poopy butts, their poop gets stuck on their feathers. These two chickens also don't roost, they attempt to sleep in either a corner or nesting box. Could there be a link between the poopy butts and not roosting? Its been in the 20's and 30's here so although I would love to bathe them, I haven't had the opportunity and my husband isn't a fan of chickens in the house (although that may be my solution). Also I do recognize that their poop doesn't look like healthy chicken poop to me, but I don't know what runny poop means for them. Any advice is appreciated! Thank you!!

 

[ChickNanny13]

I'm new to the chicken raising scene, have raised hatch to 8wks old for a breeder, only recently decided to raise some for myself. I won't be much help but I do put 1T ACV to 1 gal of water for drinking (helps digestion, I've read) & doing FF (fermented feeding; firmer poop, less stinky, less poop, no wasted feed & supposedly healthier. There's a thread about it...

Back to your situation, could it be worms? Or probably stress from the move & change, hopefully they're separated/quarantined from your chickens to ensure they don't bring any disease/illness to your flock. You could try a rag/wash towel in warm water, working the poop off their butts and/or trim the poop off then keep the area with warm towel wash.

You could also check in the Raising Backyard Chickens - Emergencies/Disease/Injuries and Cure section for help. I'm sure someone with more expertise will chime in. Hope they get better soon.

 

[ChickNanny13]

Ooops, sorry, didn't realize I was in that section...