Bald butt and swollen below vent.

[degarmo2911]

I'm sorry to say that we had to put our hen down yesterday. She really went downhill the night before and really, it was the only humane thing to do since she experienced what a lot of the other chickens on this thread did. I'm not sure I'm up to being a backyard farmer. I love all my birds and I'm afraid I took this pretty hard.

 

[amybmc]

Poor babies! I'm sorry for the last two posters who had / have to make a tough decision.
I'm on this thread because my hen had something similar but not nearly as severe and it seemed to clear on its own. There must be a few different things going on with these girls.

 

[JCedarfield]

We had a large chicken who developed a huge butt, and lost her feathers around the vent as well. I kept an eye on her--there was no redness, she was high in the pecking order, was spry and otherwise doing well, but her rear end continued to swell. She continued to lay for over a year. When she stopped laying, we processed her with the other old hens. Upon opening her up last Saturday, we discovered that the mass was nothing but FAT. One and a half pounds of chicken fat, all in her behind. Oh, and around her heart, liver and other internal organs. She was one fat hen. Made great stew!

 

[NSawyer]

I shared my experience with swollen abdomen on a new thread. I didn't want to post the graphic pictures of the necropsy here. Check it out if you're not disturbed by rotting flesh!
https://www.backyardchickens.com/t/938617/amateur-necropsy-of-swollen-abdomen-graphic-pictures

 

[custardlycat]

Hi all,
I am new to this forum, but I just wanted to share with you what has happened to one of my chickens, as it is very similar to what some of you have experienced, though I haven't been able to find anything quite the same. I hope by writing this and showing the photo, I can help others who have the same problem with one of their chickens.

One of my West Sussex chickens has had a swollen area below her vent for about 5 months. It was the size of a tangerine, and squishy. Otherwise, she was happy, and a vet said to monitor it. The skin was a bit scaly, with pink and yellow bits, I guess the yellow was fat.
Today, I saw something huge hanging down, and we took her inside. The swollen part of her had split open, and part of her intestine, I am sure her duodenum, had come right out. I have spoken to the vet, and there is nothing we can do. She is inside tonight, and tomorrow we will have to kill
her, which is very sad. (It has got some straw on it, from her bedding.)

I would like to know if anyone else has ever come across this, and if anything could be done to stop this happening. I incubated her from an egg, she was only 2 years old, a good layer, and lived outside on a very healthy diet.

.

 

[artsyrobin]

i am thinking in your case its a prolapse, but i'm not positive on this. I am sorry you had to put her down

 

[Angie16hearts]

I am looking for help. My barred rock is either pulling her bum feathers out or mites? Not sure?!i thought she was molting at first I tell I looked at her feces a orange color and egg production has gone down. She's one if our best hens great personality ! I know she hurts because I tried to clean it up a bit. Here's her picture

 

[Angie16hearts]

The last picture does not do her justice!im going to try to get another one

the other hens are trying to peck at it. This has happened in the last 2 weeks tops! I did a deworming and mite dose 2x I whole flock two months ago.. I gave her ivermax last night.

 

[Angie16hearts]

Continued , her eggs have also have like a ripple texture to them sometimes a big single one. Today's is hard to see but many lines not clean smooth egg !

 

[Kelty]

I have had the same problem with a Rhode Island Red. I found her after coming home from vacation pretty listless. I check for egg bind and that wasn't it. She had lost a lot of weight and I figured she was done for so I ended her misery. I preformed a necropsy and found her to be filled with fluid and what looked like egg yolk that had been cracked into water. Her intestines and cavity were covered in absess and infection. For future chickens with this problem I will drain the fluid via a large gauge needle and treat with antibiotics. But as others have mentioned this may be a reason to cull if it's a persistent problem. I would like to know what causes this however. Egg bind, damage to the egg while laying, mites, diet?