Hen always has a dirty bottom - why?

[V2vee]

Can anyone help me try and figure out why my hen always has a dirty bottom? We have had her for a year and I think she would be a maximum of 2 years old.

She was laying 4-5 times a week but stopped laying about 7 months ago and after that she has a permanently dirty bottom. It is all clumping up around her bottom and no matter how much I clean it it just gets dirty again. I don’t think it’s vent gleet as our other hen had that a while ago and it was a white sticky mess. This is different - it just looks like poo?

She still goes to the nest most days and sits there as though she would like to lay - but nothing comes out! Otherwise she is completely normal eating, drinking general chicken behaviour!

Can anyone shed any light on this? Thanks!

 

[talkinboutchickens]

Hi!

Sorry I'm not much help...But I've always wondered the same thing because one of my hens gets pasty butt a lot as well. Is her diet normal? Are you deworming your flock? (Just found out that you are suppose to be deworming them every 2 years.. )
You should definitely get her all cleaned up because the poop can attract flies and they will lay eggs on her which will then hatch into maggots which will start to eat into her body (this occurrence is called flystrike; avoid at all costs!) My hen had flystrike and it was nasty She is the hen in my profile pic.
Well I hope this helps somewhat!

 

[Goose08]

Can anyone help me try and figure out why my hen always has a dirty bottom? We have had her for a year and I think she would be a maximum of 2 years old.

She was laying 4-5 times a week but stopped laying about 7 months ago and after that she has a permanently dirty bottom. It is all clumping up around her bottom and no matter how much I clean it it just gets dirty again. I don’t think it’s vent gleet as our other hen had that a while ago and it was a white sticky mess. This is different - it just looks like poo?

She still goes to the nest most days and sits there as though she would like to lay - but nothing comes out! Otherwise she is completely normal eating, drinking general chicken behaviour!

Can anyone shed any light on this? Thanks!

Is the hen’s skin more pale than usual? It may be cocciodosis which is treatable with Amprolium in her water for around 7 days if caught early enough. The feathers may also just be too long, and you can just clip them. Another possibility is worms, which can also be treated.

 

[talkinboutchickens]

Is the hen’s skin more pale than usual? It may be cocciodosis which is treatable with Amprolium in her water for around 7 days if caught early enough. The feathers may also just be too long, and you can just clip them. Another possibility is worms, which can also be treated.

wouldn't you see blood if she had coccidiosis?

 

[kathy32]

You might try worming. I had one hen that was always dirty and I noticed it cleared up after I wormed them all. I also treated for mites, but I think it was the worms that caused the dirty bottom.