Is this a normal healthy chicken butt?

[GreenHaven]

My hen is 1 year plus. She had a poopy butt so I bathed her and was surprised at how few feathers she had in the butt area. But I'm pretty new at this. (She needs more bathing.) The skin is a little pink but there was some dried on poop there - or is this possibly a sign of mites?
This is her most recent poop - it doesn't look normal. Loose and greenish. Not sure what I'm dealing with but it seems something is wrong.

Thanks

 

[DLA]

I have some that are a little sparse back there and being the feathers are wet nothing looks overly weird. That poop and the poopy butt could be if she was eating a lot of zucchini or cucumbers or greens. More details on their diet would be helpful. How is she acting, is she eating and acting normally? Is her crop emptying completely overnight? (check before she comes off the roost in the morning).

 

[Wyorp Rock]

My hen is 1 year plus. She had a poopy butt so I bathed her and was surprised at how few feathers she had in the butt area. But I'm pretty new at this. (She needs more bathing.) The skin is a little pink but there was some dried on poop there - or is this possibly a sign of mites?
This is her most recent poop - it doesn't look normal. Loose and greenish. Not sure what I'm dealing with but it seems something is wrong.

Thanks View attachment 3915283

Being wet can make feather looks a bit more sparse.
The skin looks healthy. It may be slightly irritated if poop was sticking to the skin, urates can often burn the skin. NuStock cream or Hen Healer on the skin can help protect it.

If she's not been eating a lot of greens, then consider getting a fecal float to rule out worms.

 

[GreenHaven]

I have some that are a little sparse back there and being the feathers are wet nothing looks overly weird. That poop and the poopy butt could be if she was eating a lot of zucchini or cucumbers or greens. More details on their diet would be helpful. How is she acting, is she eating and acting normally? Is her crop emptying completely overnight? (check before she comes off the roost in the morning).

Thank you so much for replying. They get scratch and peck growers mash and all flock pellets (have roosters - it could be there’s too much protein?) But they have been getting ripe tomatoes, watermelon, cukes and strawberries as treats from my garden. So maybe causing some loose poops. I just went out to check for mites in the dark and found zero. That was a relief. Checked their butts well and the roosts. I will check her crop in the morning. She is eating but crop feels soft. She was not acting herself - but she has a small bumble foot spot. I treated that yesterday - seems like only a small scab but could be partly why she wasn’t her normal perky self.

 

[DLA]

I don't know how much protein the growers mash has but all flock pellets should be fine. If they're laying I would think that feed should be ok as long as they have calcium and grit available.

I'd cut out the treats and vegies for a bit and treat the bumble. (soaking, opening it up and cleaning out and wrapping or using drawing salve and wrapping - whichever method you prefer.)

Check on the crop and see how that feels.

Watermelon and cukes specifically can cause runny poop. I know cause mine got into the cucumbers and zucchini in the garden and I've had to wash butts several times. LOL.

A fecal float test still a good idea. I personally add a little powdered ginger to their feed about once a week. Keeps the worm load low, it really does work.

 

[Loving my girls]

Looking close to the feather quills I can see white areas that could easily be poultry lice, depluming lice. Here is a copy of my notes of them.
Hope this helps.

Poultry Lice
Symptoms generally include …
• Dirty feathers around or near the vent
• Slow moving chickens
• Comb becomes light in color
• Egg production lowers
• Weight loss
• Change in food intake
• Chickens pulling feathers
• Scabby or irritated skin
• Bald spots
• Rough looking feathers losing their color
• Seeing bugs crawling on the skin or nits in feathers
I know that my girls got it from farm hay from a neighbour but it can be caught in lots of ways. It is nothing to do with how you care for your hens or how clean your coop is. In otherwords don’t beat yourself up about it.
I treated mine with xeno450 which is basically ivermectin. Many say use diatom. But for me it would take too long and be too much of a faff.

 

[GreenHaven]

I don't know how much protein the growers mash has but all flock pellets should be fine. If they're laying I would think that feed should be ok as long as they have calcium and grit available.

I'd cut out the treats and vegies for a bit and treat the bumble. (soaking, opening it up and cleaning out and wrapping or using drawing salve and wrapping - whichever method you prefer.)

Check on the crop and see how that feels.

Watermelon and cukes specifically can cause runny poop. I know cause mine got into the cucumbers and zucchini in the garden and I've had to wash butts several times. LOL.

A fecal float test still a good idea. I personally add a little powdered ginger to their feed about once a week. Keeps the worm load low, it really does work.

Her crop was empty this morning. She is my Miss Piggy - probably eating too many treats. She doesn’t eat what she should and is top of the pecking order so except for picking her up - she gets what she wants!
I cleaned out the foot well, and checked the flock and roost last night for mites.I couldn’t find any. So - I’ll keep her separate for now - want the foot to heal up and see her poops firm up.
Need to find a vet who’ll run fecals.
Thank you for your help, it is much appreciated. So many things can go wrong!

 

[GreenHaven]

Looking close to the feather quills I can see white areas that could easily be poultry lice, depluming lice. Here is a copy of my notes of them.
Hope this helps.

Poultry Lice
Symptoms generally include …
• Dirty feathers around or near the vent
• Slow moving chickens
• Comb becomes light in color
• Egg production lowers
• Weight loss
• Change in food intake
• Chickens pulling feathers
• Scabby or irritated skin
• Bald spots
• Rough looking feathers losing their color
• Seeing bugs crawling on the skin or nits in feathers
I know that my girls got it from farm hay from a neighbour but it can be caught in lots of ways. It is nothing to do with how you care for your hens or how clean your coop is. In otherwords don’t beat yourself up about it.
I treated mine with xeno450 which is basically ivermectin. Many say use diatom. But for me it would take too long and be too much of a faff.

Thank you for your reply! So though. I will keep watch. I think it was the greens she’s been getting, but I’ll need to recheck. Do lice come out at night like mites do?

 

[Crazy Maizie]

Thank you for your reply! So though. I will keep watch. I think it was the greens she’s been getting, but I’ll need to recheck. Do lice come out at night like mites do?

You can see lice just about any time as well with mites as there are different types that can live on the chicken. It's the roost mites that come out at night.
From the Pic it looks like she just had a dirty bottom. I didn't see any lice or nits. I see feather shafts and that is from the feathers growing in. Which all of her feathers will grow back when she molts. The urates (white stuff) will kind of "burn" the feathers off when they get a poppy butt. That's why she looks sparse. But, if she's getting to many treats that can explain the poop and her dirtiness.
I'd cut out all treats for about 5-7 days just provide feed and fresh water to see if her messy bottom improves.

https://the-chicken-chick.com/poultry-lice-and-mites-identification/

 

[Loving my girls]

Thank you for your reply! So though. I will keep watch. I think it was the greens she’s been getting, but I’ll need to recheck. Do lice come out at night like mites do?

No they live constantly on the bird, nasty little critters. Always worth keeping an eye out for them,
Hugz