Bald butt and swollen below vent.

[aabbott]

I am having the same problem, although I have not dusted with diatomious earth- just read that here today- my hen has not laid since Tues/Wed- and it is Fri. Gave her the 'spa' treatment. She was not thrilled, but she doesnt seem uncomfortable. She now has a heating pad in her pen. I will continue to give her warm baths off an on. The area doesnt seem to be as red and the selling is more located near her vent area today. I have massaged and for thanks ended up with poo on my lap- Guess she is better. Likes eating the yougurt- so maybe the diatomious earth is worth a try....

 

[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!

 

[noshoes]

We have tried "operating" twice the second time brougth the old gal pretty close to lights out. She has bounced back so we have decided to let nature take it's course. No clue why she has the condition.

 

[frank'n'carol]

We are new to your group and thanks for all the info. We have 9 chickens of various breeds and they are all but one being pecked, really bad. Is it the heat, too crowded, something missing in the their diet....or is this what 'pecking order' means. What can I do about it? We have one at the bottom of 'the order' that is afraid to come out of the nest....that is the only place the rest of the flock will allow her to be.
Thanks to any suggesstions.

frank'n'carol

 

[noshoes]

For the most part you have to let the pecking order become established and then things calm a bit. You must isolate birds who do develope wounds as the other birds can eventually kill other who have bleeding wounds. We have to groups of birds in our yard. This allows us to swap around if there is any real trouble

 

[chickenshet]

Thanks for your response noshoes, does the condition have a name?

 

[Ohhhdear]

I have a hen with the same condition. I posted two days ago and didn't get a response. I also gave her a warm butt-bath before I brought her to the vet and in retrospect I think it helped her release some of the contents of the mass. Here is the post again:

"One of my ISA Brown hens has a weird, hot growth in her belly. She's lethargic, her comb is flopped over, her belly is so distended she has difficulty holding herself up or climbing up into the coop at night. The growth is at least the size of a tennis ball, maybe bigger, and seems to be growing.

She is 15 months old and has been a very good layer until now. Her 11 other sisters are fine. There is no evidence of mites, lice, worms, or other parasites in the flock.
I took her to the vet, who examined some of the discharge that was mixed with her poop in the carryon I brought her in. It was a cheesy, tan, lumpy material that sortof looked like tan eggyolk but more like congealed cottage cheese. He thought it was protein which had escaped her oviduct? somehow and congealed in her abdomen. The vet's a country doctor, used to dealing with all sorts of animals. He tried breaking up the mass with an inserted hand, and gave me some electrolytes and calcium, plus giving her mineral oil to help move the blockage. He thought if she didn't pass the mass of gunk she might get gangrene and then just die. Hasn't happened yet, though.

In retrospect, this happened to this same bird a few months ago. I thought she might have a cold so I isolated her and then she seemed to recover.

The vet thought she is in pain, but it's difficult to tell. She is eating and drinking and tries to hurry to the fence when I bring "chicken treats" from the kitchen and yummy weeds from my garden. She is not being picked at by the other chickens. She just huddles into herself away from the rest of the flock. I don't believe she is laying anymore, though with this heat it's hard to tell who's laying and who's not.

Is this common in production breeds like ISA Browns?"

 

[Jean McIver]

My Andalusion is doing the same thing today. Her bottom is swollen like a water balloon. It is very hot & dry here today. But she is also short of breath w/ a wheezing. I'm wondering if she has air-sac mites! Any others with w/ their chickens having respiratory problems?

 

[cafarmgirl]

In a hen with long term swollen area below the vent, who otherwise acts mostly normal, moves about normally and eats well, I think I would suspect an internal layer. I mention long term because if it is sudden onset and the hen is showing signs of discomfort or just sitting in the nest a lot then it may be she is egg bound. These internal laying hens can go on for a long time but eventually it will kill them.

Edited to add: Fluid builds up in the abdomen and if there gets to be a lot of it that can cause the bird to have difficulty breathing.

 

[Ohhhdear]

Quote:
My hen was gasping too, but I brought her into the airconditioning in a crate and she stopped and could breathe normally. It was dreadfully hot that day!


Update: I got a large-bore syringe/needle from TSC and attempted to pull fluid from the sac, but there wasn't anything. So perhaps not Ascites? Internal laying is the next logical thing to suspect... she *is* a production breed hen.

I thought my farmer father-in-law would be a helpful resource, but apparently not. His extensive experience raising chickens was for eggs and meat while growing up, but if they had a sick chicken it was axed and buried, not coddled or taken to the vet! If a hen had a condition like mine has (not laying, and not contagious-sick) it was in the stewpot for Sunday dinner. People got doctors, horses and cows got vets, chickens got the axe. His old-time, Depression-era comment? "It's a CHICKEN. It's JUST a CHICKEN". *sigh*