I think I figured it out! In another thread, I found this:
Ovarian Carcinoma: After finding this during necropsy and doing a little research, it was discovered that is the most common tumor of unknown origin in hens. It is associated with advancing age, which is why most vets are not exposed...
I'm not sure how well it will work, given their other symptoms, but for the dirty vent, I found this link a while back: http://hencam.com/faq/Yuck-My-Chickens-Have-Messy-Bottoms/
However, my hen who had what I thought was vent gleet I treated via those instructions, but we a couple weeks later...
This thread makes me laugh! My tactic was a little less "sweet," I think: I bought fertilized eggs and started incubating them. That way I was able to say, "Alright. Three weeks until they hatch. Then three weeks until they're large enough to be kept outside. If they don't have a place to...
I had a hen that had similar symptoms (except her comb and wattles never changed color). She got really bad, where she couldn't move her legs much anymore, so my husband and I also decided the right thing to do was put her down. When I necropsied her (poorly, unfortunately), her abdomen was...
Thanks for the lead; Blackhead is definitely a possibility. I spent a really long time last night online trying to figure out what I was dealing with (and lamenting more and more that I hadn't spent more time looking at HER so I'd have more to go on). Similar to trying to self-diagnose my own...
I don't actually every say "Howdy." Even though I live in the city in Texas where EVERYONE else does.
I had backyard chickens as a kid in an urban area, so now that we live in a smaller town, I couldn't wait to get my own flock. I started by hatching out 4 silkie chicks in a 1970s incubator...
Hi! I am a long-time user, first time poster. :) I have a small backyard flock of 7 hens in Texas. The birds I currently have, I acquired all of them when they were older (but mostly as pullets). My Dominique hen, Rocky, suddenly start going downhill early last week. She was acquired as an...