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[chickencam]

My Light Sussex had no fluffy feathers last year but since her moult she has grown them back but they are always grubby. The rest of her plumage is in lovely condition but she has big clods of poo and soil under her vent. (she loves to dust and mud bathe)

 

She has been like this for a few months, she has been wormed and checked for lice. Her poos are very watery quite often but she is of a good weight lively and lays lovely eggs (if you don't think too hard about where they have come from ) Her eggs are always clean.

 

I know that when I have seen meat birds on TV they quite often look like this too, is it a common problem or should I be more worried. The other girls are fine.

[ellisyellis]

hi,

 

does she eat a lot of fresh food? ive found less is always best with fresh food as it gives them the trots! a few days on grains and layers pellets will help if its that causing it. x

[chickencam]

They eat mainly pellets and a bit of corn as a afternoon treat with a few mealworms. They have had quite a bit of spinach recently because it had bolted but this doesn't seem to make any difference apart from giving us really orange tasty egg yolks.

[Lewis]

Matilda is sometimes like that. You could either give her a wash, or cut out the clumps with scissors and hopefully because you've made the fluff a bit shorted, it won't happen again.

[Budgies]

I know that lots of breeders consider dirty knickers to be a first sign of mites or other external parasites.

 

Just wondering whether it could be Northern Fowl Mite which are apparently abundant this year?

 

here's Clare's thread

 

viewtopic.php?f=11&t=44213

[laurmurf]

Our Meg has this problem but it's due to a mild case of sterile peritonitis - she's a bit full in the lady knickers area so her protuding (sp?) bum catches some poo.

 

We give her a bath and trim the feathers around that area (and she loves a blow-dry). It's also helpful because when we see pink skin we know that she's stretching a bit due to the peritonitis and we keep an extra eye on her.

 

the state of her knick-knicks doesn't seem to bother her but i find myself embarassed on her behalf

[The Dogmother]

It's worth keeping an eye on her for crawlies, especially as NFM aren't easy to see until you have loads.

 

One of my girls has a wet botty sometimes and I can't for the life of me work out what's causing it.

[chickencam]

She is not a very friendly soul, she hates being handled and makes a real fuss every time we go near her. We try to give her a good check over at bedtime once a month but she doesn't like it. The rest of her feathers are lovely it's a real shame about her back end.

 

I will give her a trim and have a good look at her over the weekend.

 

What is the best treatment for Northern Fowl Mite if she has got that? I have seen a few things mentioned and was a bit worried that they were not liscensed in the UK. Does this mean that they are not that safe?

[Lewis]

I never thought about mites

They had a sprinkling of red mite powder last week and I checked then, just didn't think about NFM and dirty feathers.

I'll go and check them today

 

 

And because its not licenced doesn't necessarily mean its not safe it just means that licenced products are safe.

You might just have to withdraw eggs for a few days, some things are a few weeks.

[The Dogmother]

Liz, see my thread on treatment of NFM, they don't respond to the same treatments as lice.

[chickencam]

Thanks Clare I will have a good read

[The Dogmother]

Good luck; I've been helping a friend get rid of them in her flock and they are very tenacious.

[chickencam]

Finally got around to giving her a bath today in nice warm water in the wheelbarrow I had a really good look and trimmed off all the dirty clumps and washed her well, she did try to fire a poo at me but I was alert so she missed

 

Her skin is as clean as a whistle and she has no signs of mites either there or anywhere else, so I think she has just had a runny tummy. She seems a bit better with that now and has always been perky and well. She looks much better now so we will see what happens.

 

Thanks for the advice

[The Dogmother]

Good news Liz, just keep an eye on her with the warm weather now and more flies around.

[Lewis]

Just checking Matilda + Theodore for lice (beats revision :roll and Theodore has a dirty bum. Considering a bath

 

Shall I just use water? I have some "small animal shampoo" but thats for the guinea pig.

Not she'll like me too much!

[The Dogmother]

Do you have any eco-friendly washing up liquid or hair shampoo? I sometimes use that with a few drops of tea tree oil.

[Lewis]

Do you have any eco-friendly washing up liquid or hair shampoo? I sometimes use that with a few drops of tea tree oil.

I don't think so but will have a look. Thats what we use for the guinea pig.

I'm pretty sure we have some tea tree oil so I'll have a go later or get something else in the week

[The Dogmother]

The shampoo would be fine Lewis

[chickencam]

We just used warm water and she has cleaned herself well today and despite having her knickers trimmed she looked quite fluffy still today and clean