Bald butt and swollen below vent.

[Critter Nanny]

Hi,
I am new to this group and this is my first post. Tonight as I locked my chicken coop I noticed one of my chickens had a very swollen, bald butt. The vent is not blocked from the outside, but the area below is soft and swollen to the size of a tennis ball. Most of the feathers below her vent are gone. She was active today and eating okay. I got an egg from her yesterday. She does not squawk when I touch the area, which is soft and ply-able, but I am not sure how she would react if it did hurt, so that does not tell me much.
She was a little dirty around the butt.( it is the rainy season here in California) and I put her bottom in warm water to clean her off. She is in the house tonight and acting a bit agitated at the new surroundings, but other wise no distress. Anyone have a suggestion as to why her belly is so swollen and what I should do about it?

Doris from Oakland Ca.

 

[Tmatthews]

Oddly enough, I'm experiencing the same symptoms: a huge rear end and I waddle when I walk! Ok....sorry, I couldn't resist. Yes..this needs to be diagnosed if it's happening to so many chickens!!!!

 

[hinchbug]

Good to know others are having this issue. 3YO Austrolorp waddling with swollen bottom and eating and drinking. no egg I can feel, lubed up and put away to rest. But she does occasionally breathe heavily. Hasn't layed in 2 days. Lost one 7 months ago to same problem. Would love to know what to do to keep from happening again.

 

[noshoes]

One of ours has this issue as well and has been living with it for over 8 months. We have had to keep her away from the others who once pecked it open. She still poops and lays eggs just fine. What can it be?

 

[chickenshet]

bumping this thread up...
My 1 year old hen is having the same issue. Did anyone figure out what this is and what to do?
Thanks!

 

[snaphu]

Quote:
what did the vet say? that she just needed calcium?... I soaked my hen a few times in warm epsom salts with tea tree oil, separated her etc... the weather was beautiful and she just doesn't look sick! she just has this uber-mega giant jelly grapefruit size red mass below her vent! she's laying eggs, eating and I so I put her back out with the rest and she's happy as ever! she dust baths and runs to get scratch/treats (looks funny tho) I'm dumbfounded! I have no idea whats going on, and no one seems to have an answer???

I hope your little hen improves soon

I hope mine does too! I can't imagine what she has, but it's not slowing her down whatsoever!

 

[Tmatthews]

Wow....I too have been having this problem!!!!!! A couple of weeks ago we had to put a hen down because her belly split open and it was all mushy inside!!! And now we have a hen acting the same way. We took her to the vet and he diagnosed her with synuvitis. (spelling?) She's actually full of air and not fluid. Weird, huh? She's on antibiotics right now.....don't know if she'll make it. I'm not saying that's what your chickens have, I just wanted to share what the vet told me. Who knows???????? Is there some "new" disease going around that's eradicating all our chickens????????

 

[fishnet1971]

has anyone figured out WHAT this is yet? it really looks serious and so many have it. We need to know what it is and what to do about it.

 

[Kirkpwomack]

Ok, I think I found the culprit of this disease or what I would call a massive growth or tumor. We have a small flock of Buff Orpingtons. One of our Buffs has always had a hard time laying eggs for some reason. She quickly started gaining more noticeable weight than the others. Soon she developed that telltale red swollen bottom and funny waddle when she walked. Looked like she was walking around with a full diaper. Most of her eggs that she has layed have been the classic rubber eggs or some with a very thin coating of shell. She had gotten to the point lately that she just didn't have the energy to get around and was noticeably breathing hard. I made the decision to go ahead and put her down and I'm glad I did, even though it was hard. She was one of our nicer chickens and everyone in the family enjoyed her. After she was gone, I decided to see what it was that was bothering her so much. After a careful dissection of the affected area it was immediately clear that there was a massive tumor like growth that was literally pushing out her backside. It almost looked like fat. It had the bright yellowish like color of fat. The only reason that I believe it was a tumor is because it literally filled her entire body cavity and surrounded almost all of her internal organs. Her diet has been the exact same as the other chickens, so I don't believe that she was a chow hound and just got fat, I don't know. If you are experiencing this problem, maybe you could do a little experiment and limit the affected chickens diet and see if the problem goes away.

A really quick sad story to tell before I sign off. This evening when I put the chickens up, I noticed two of the chickens acting strangely. They were looking for their buddy. They searched and searched for her and finally went upstairs and I closed them up. As I was walking back to the house I could hear what sounded like crying. I walked back to the coop and those chickens were making a crying sound. I've never in my life ever heard such a thing. Broke my heart to listen to them. Probably won't get any eggs for awhile...

 

[Critter Nanny]

Hi California Chick, We are neighbors. I'm in Oakland.
Rizzo is at the bottom of the pecking order, but I do not see a lot of pecking going on. I was working around the pen today, and they were all getting along. Mostly I only see hens peck the next in line, they do not gang up on the lower cast hens.

If I understand Prolapse correctly, it is not that. Her little vent is at the top of the swelling and clamped completely shut as it should when I placed her bottom in warm water to wash her off. The swelling is soft, like a balloon full of water. The more I read, the more I do not want to squeeze it... I would not want to crush the next egg in the tube.
I was working around the pen and making noise, this usually means I do not get many eggs that day. Could this have messed her up? She is very sweet, but shy.

Doris