Marigold has gone broody, now living in a separate bare corner of the run until she gets over it. Today I noticed she had filthy feathers around and below her vent, caked solid with dried droppings. Her droppings are normal so this probably wasn't due to infection. Probably she had been sitting in a large pile of poo and it dried on. I had to cut the feathers right back to the shafts before bathing off the residue as she has splendid fluffy plumage round her bum, and then bathe the stumps until I could see that her vent was clean and pink and no poo remained. No sign of lice, but of course I was mainly worried about the danger of fly strike, and immediately inspected my other hens, who were all clean.
On warm weather, fly strike can occur very fast, so you need to continually check that your chickens have clean feathers round their vents. Especially if they have runny poo. Indicating an infection, the vent and caked feathers below will attract flies, which lay eggs in and around the vent. These hatch very fast, within 24 hours, and the maggots wriggle into the warm damp interior of the hens vent, up Into her oviduct, and literally eat her alive. If you haven't noticed the early signs, it may well be too late to save her from a horrible fate, as once the maggots are inside there's no way of removing them and euthanasia is the best way out.
Also, keep up the poo picking and coop cleaning, as a dirty run or coop will attract flies. Lice and redmite also will breed very fast if not continually kept in check, so whilst watching out for fly strike, keep an eye out for lice eggs at the same time. Have louse powder in stock so you can treat immediately if you suspect an infestation.
On warm weather, fly strike can occur very fast, so you need to continually check that your chickens have clean feathers round their vents. Especially if they have runny poo. Indicating an infection, the vent and caked feathers below will attract flies, which lay eggs in and around the vent. These hatch very fast, within 24 hours, and the maggots wriggle into the warm damp interior of the hens vent, up Into her oviduct, and literally eat her alive. If you haven't noticed the early signs, it may well be too late to save her from a horrible fate, as once the maggots are inside there's no way of removing them and euthanasia is the best way out.
Also, keep up the poo picking and coop cleaning, as a dirty run or coop will attract flies. Lice and redmite also will breed very fast if not continually kept in check, so whilst watching out for fly strike, keep an eye out for lice eggs at the same time. Have louse powder in stock so you can treat immediately if you suspect an infestation.
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