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My bantams have feathery feet so often have to drag around a huge ball of dried on mud on their feet. They usually manage to sort it out by themselves so I haven't had to give them a pedicure yet!

Zoe

She has a filthy bum again and one of the others who has just finished being broody has a dried up dag stuck to her..... oh joy.

what do you use to worm her? just wondering if worth trying something else.

some hens just seem prone to it though...

Can't remember the name of the stuff offhand but there's only one product available in France, then you have to wait 4 days before you can eat the eggs again.

I washed both hen's bums but they are still a mess because they've got poo dried onto the feathers all the way to the base and I can't therefore cut the feathers off, and I can't soak the really dried on encrusted poo short of sitting the hen in a bowl of water for half an hour, which I don't think is very possible! Will probably have another attempt today.

Do they have a spot to dust-bathe? My two seem to take care of themselves nicely in an odd corner of a border.

Yes, plenty of them including one inside - but that's something I've noticed, the one with the permanent mucky bum doesn't dust bathe like the others do. I gave them a vitamin tonic in their water for a couple of days but I think Ginger's bum is just going to be always disgusting - cleaned her again yesterday and she doesn't have many feathers left down there. Her skin is a bit pink and I wonder whether their poo burns their skin? It's really hard to try to sponge off dried on poo.