Crazy chicken lady

I've been keeping a closer eye on my hens after our disappearing hen scare. (In case you missed the update, she's fine!) I noticed yesterday that one of our Ameraucanas was looking a little-- well-- gross.

I think the Ameraucanas are funny-looking birds anyway, mostly because of their fluffy bloomers. (At least, I think they're Ameraucanas. They look more like Americaunas than Araucanas, anyway.) Check out this photo to see what I mean. The Rhode Island Reds have almost sleek backsides in comparison-- see?

So yesterday I was staring at my chickens' butts. To my unpleasant surprise, I saw that one of the Ameraucanas had something weird going on with her bloomers. It looked like the feathers had stuck together and formed dreads. Yuck.

Of course, I flipped through my chicken keeping books, which are only so-so for in-the-moment information gathering. I then turned to the internet, which very helpfully told me that it might be a condition called "vent gleet, " sometimes known as "nasty chicken butt." It's basically a yeast infection of the digestive tract. (If you're really curious about this condition, I suggest you read this helpful article about it.) OK, cool, I might have a chicken with nasty chicken butt. Good to know.

The articles I read disagree about whether you need to isolate the affected chicken and how intensive the treatment needs to be. I'm hoping that, if it is indeed vent gleet, I noticed it early and I don't have to freak out. Honestly, I would rather not have to try to catch one of my hens and get her to stay put to soak her bottom in an epsom salt solution for 20 minutes. That sounds like torture for both of us. All sources agree that probiotics are a good idea, to restore the correct balance of good and bad beasties in the chicken's gut. I could buy acidophilus capsules and dissolve them in water that I hope the chickens drink in time. Or I could just feed them yogurt. In fact, yogurt is pretty good for chickens in general, so I'm even allowed to offer it to the unaffected hens. And it's high in protein, which they need during their molt anyway. And I have it already! Sounds like a plan.

I scooped some yogurt into an empty hummus container, sprinkled some chicken feed around it and on top of it, and watched my ladies take a few tentative pecks at it. Dude. They loved it. I expect them to finish off what I gave them by the end of the day.

Here's hoping that I can cure "nasty chicken butt" with a treatment that they think is a treat!