What's wrong with my hen's vent? *Gross Pics (Found mites)

[PsychoChicken]

Hi, My 5 (ish) month BA (not laying yet) seems to be struggling to poo. I saw her squat weirdly yesterday and she made a strange noise while she pooed. I checked out her vent and its poopy and does not look healthy. I have seen her trying to clean herself back there and she is also holding her tail feathers down. I want to give her a bath because she also smells bad. It's cold today though so I'm thinking I should hold off but I don't know. There are 5 chickens in my flock (including this one) the rest seem healthy and there vents all look normal a few of them have poopy feather butts and smell bad like her. They free range in a large yard. Their diet has not changed recently... I have had them all since Oct. The hen in question seems healthy otherwise. She had a limp for awhile but she doesn't have it anymore.

Does anyone know what wrong with her? Have any advice? Should I wash her despite the weather is supposed to be raining and 40-60F for the next 3 days. Should I separate her from the flock?






As you can see her poo is super grassy and looks like it isn't digested. This one has a lot of liquid that looks clear but yesterday it was really dry and piecey (still had undigested grass). Sorry for the grossness.

 

[teach1rusl]

Well, here rear end doesn't look horrible to me. But keeping her tail down doesn't sound good. Since she's about laying age, it makes me wonder if it has something to do with that - like maybe something stuck internally??? I think a warm bath is a good idea - just towel dry her really well and blow dry if needed before putting her back outside. If there are any egg issues, soaking in a warm bath often helps them expel it.
Of course it may have nothing to do with that. Have they ever been wormed? Often times runny poo and messy butts are a sign of worm infestations. If you suspect that's the case, you might want to look into Safeguard - it's a goat dewormer often used with poultry. But a warm bath still makes you and the chicken feel better IMO...lol.

 

[PsychoChicken]

I'm thinking I need to de-worm her and probably all of them. As far as I know they have never been wormed. I was reading about symptoms and she meets some of them. This one hen in particular has been eating less, going off alone, and today she has that watery poo. Thanks for your reply. I'll probably give the super poopy ones a bath tomorrow.

 

[mommissan]

I throw this possibility out every time I see a smelly green poop post. Could she have eaten anything bad? Botulism causes nasty smelly green poop and paralysis. The symptoms vary in severity depending on how much they ate, and how much toxin they ate. I only suggest it because my roo fell victim to it at Christmas and has recovered. I gave plenty of fresh cool water and no "junk food" to flush the system. Good luck determining what she has.

 

[PsychoChicken]

Anything is possible. I can't think of what she could have gotten into. The green in the poo is undigested grass though and the rest of the poo looks like a normal color to me.

 

[mommissan]

Glad it's not that! Deworm. Can't hurt.

 

[AHDCST]

Okay, I'm no expert but I just happened to read something about this type problem just last night. The problems you are describing sound like the hen is crop bound or impacted crop. It is caused by the hen eating too long or too much grass. Her crop may feel hard or hang lower in front than usual. The food can't make it into the gizzard to be crushed and broken up so it shows as hard undigested looking poo. If any does get by it is often runny as it just isn't going through the normal digestion process. Try giving her a little bit of olive oil and see what happens. If I am wrong it won't hurt her. Just a suggestion. Some of the experts may be able to expand further on the issue. Good luck with the bath thing!!

 

[PsychoChicken]

OK I gave my hen a bath today. I discovered that her vent has this kind of hooded scab over the top and I also found what I believe are mites. I did not see any of the gray egg patches but I found maybe 10 mites. They looked like this: http://buildingchickencoopsreview.com/chickenpens/wp-content/uploads/2011/03/chicken-mites.jpg

I felt her crop and compared it with the other hens (it was not morning so we will need to check again) but it seemed only a little bit chunky compared o the other hens. We massaged it while we bather her anyway and after her bath she pooed a more normal poo but it smelled really foul and she had weird posture. Later she pooed another water undigested one.

So, we need to treat for mites and I guess we should worm them all too? Does that sound like what I should do?

If so, should I do the wazine in the water and ivomec on the neck and the follow up on the wazine with valbazen? Or can I just use the ivomec to follow up on the wazine??

It seems like there is cross-over so I am getting confused.

Hilary

 

[seminolewind]

Okay, I think I would worm. Mites, you can treat with Sevin powder, poultry dust, or Ivomec Eprinex.
I had one chicken last year who had really stinky green poo. I did a necropsy and it showed an impacted gizzard, not crop. With undigested food, do your chickens get grit? It took my a long time to realize that my chickens were not getting enough grit from free ranging. I live on beach sand, LOL. I have to supplement so the gizzard can puree the food. Anyhow, the stinky green stuff was the fluid that got by the blockage. It was gross.

 

[PsychoChicken]

Yeah mine free range so I didn't think they needed grit. Maybe I should get them some. The dirt we have is mostly clay so it is soft. I save the egg shells and let them dry out and give them back all crushed up I don't know if that counts.