What is wrong? seem fine but runny poo on feathers

[newbiechickenowner]

I have a couple of hens, they are second year instead of first like the others, and they seem fine, but, there is runny poo on the back of their feathers. I have 30 birds and a couple of them have poo on their butt feathers. The other ones walk around and their butt feathers are clean as a whistle. These couple have not been sick before, no one seems sick now, I did their de-worming several months ago (maintenance). I have checked their feather bases and there is NO sign of mites or lice. No one else has "caught it" or is having a problem. It has been a couple of weeks...still have it. Checking the poo in the coop and runs and there is nothing that is noticeably runny that would associate it with these hens....It is the regular brown/green/white streaked colors. Any ideas? I would hate to miss something, but, hate to treat randomly without knowing what is going on. No docs around here to test poo. Please give ideas.

 

[Silkie Sue]

if they seem fine in every other way i would not panic....
as the owner of Silkies i have plenty of fuzzy butts that occasionally have runny poo stuck to them
i bring them in and give them a bath.. and blow dry them ( which they love by the way)
most of the time it was an isolated incident and they are clean and dry after that
it seems if a little gets stuck it attracts more and makes it look worse than it is

you know what your chickens act like if they do not seem normal in other ways (eating, vocalizing) then we mite want to get worried
keep us posted

 

[tryxichicks]

I agree, I have one hen with perpetual runny poo, and one with a poo-y bum always, they all have little things about them, as long as they have full crops and such they should be ok! Using a dry paper towel actually works pretty well too.

 

[newbiechickenowner]

Even if they have never had it before? I will try the cleaning thing too to see if it reoccurs...it looked fresh and it is just odd that it is the two chickens that are the same breed. So, I will try the butt feather cleaning thing and see if it reoccurs. Thanks for the input. The only thing that bothered me today was when I picked them up, they were breathing through their mouths...BUT not labor intensive and there was NO indication of respiratory what so ever. Could just be they were nervous. I don't usually pick those two up...they don't prefer it. I have some that love to be handled and those two girls never did so I respect that.

 

[Silkie Sue]

you said you dewormed several months ago
i usually do mine every couple months
it wouldn't hurt

 

[tryxichicks]

Breathing through the mouth is a little strange, have you changed anything in their coop? Any thing that could be stressing them out, other than you picking them up?
You could always play it safe and bring them in and monitor them for 24 hours if its an option for you. That way they can get the others sick if you notice somethings wrong. Are their tails up right?