Chicken can’t stand and her butt is clogged with poop!

[joella13b]

I went out to check on my chickens and noticed my hen laying down in the coop while the rest of the chickens were out eating. I tried to pick her up and stand up her up but she couldn’t stand. I examined her and realized her butt was clogged with poop. I cleaned off the area with warm water and dried it softly with a towel. Can anyone take a guess at what’s wrong? Any suggestions?

 

[Wishing4Wings]

Hi joella. How is your hen doing now?

There are a number of things that could be wrong, and until you figure out what the problem is, the hen would benefit from being isolated and placed into supportive care. If you have a cage or a dog kennel she can go in and put it in a warm, quiet, dark place, it will give her a chance to recover. My hospital pen is always in the garage. Provide water and food. An isolation pen will give you a chance to observe her and keep track of whether she is eating and drinking. It will also protect her from the rest of the flock... it is natural for the others to pick on a sick bird, which is why we often don't notice one is sick until it is very sick, as they try to mask any weaknesses.

If you go to the beginning of the emergencies forum, there are a number of questions you can answer here that might help us figure out what is wrong with your hen. Age and condition, any other symptoms, has she been laying, any new conditions in the coop, is she thin or a good weight, low in the pecking order? Have you checked for mites? Is there anything in her crop?

Hope she is doing well. Give her a good exam, and maybe we will find some clues that can help.

 

[Wyorp Rock]

Good questions from @Wishing4Wings if you can answer those it would be helpful.
Photos of your hen and her poop if you have them.

 

[red130]

hey gang,
I've got the same problem with one of my hens, my roommate noticed she was mumbling to herself quietly off on her lonesome while everyone else was eating. she's had mud butt for a few days and i convinced myself that it was due to recent rains. to my horror i looked underneath her and saw her vent was clogged by a yellowish white solid mass!

this picture is after, i cleaned her off with warm water and pulled off all of the questionable feathers. seems like she hadn't been pooping due to clogged booty.
now it's kinda coming out in spurts. i've isolated her and given her some water with a little apple cider vinegar. I've also got antibiotic chick feed i could feed her if that helps, let me know.
this is day one if yall know anything aboot it. i'll keep posting. hopefully this is a good spot for this article .

 

[Wishing4Wings]

Oh, poor thing. She needs to be isolated somewhere warm and quiet. No food, although I doubt she is eating. I would try a warm water soak... hold her vent below the water... 15-20 mins and see if you can gently shift the mass or if it will break up. Some lubricant might help... vaseline gently rubbed around the inside edges (maybe with a q-tip if you are the squeamish type) and also put some around the outside to keep it from drying out. Not exactly sure what I am seeing, but she may be partially prolapsed. The tissue there is delicate and can be damaged if it remains like this for long.

How is her crop? Full, empty, squishy...

Hopefully someone more knowledgeable will be along to help you soon.
Best wishes for you!

 

[Wishing4Wings]

Also, if no help comes soon, you should start a new thread in the emergencies forum. New threads get more attention than these older ones, although I applaud you for researching, which is what you obviously have been doing.

 

[Wyorp Rock]

hey gang,
I've got the same problem with one of my hens, my roommate noticed she was mumbling to herself quietly off on her lonesome while everyone else was eating. she's had mud butt for a few days and i convinced myself that it was due to recent rains. to my horror i looked underneath her and saw her vent was clogged by a yellowish white solid mass!
View attachment 1928521 this picture is after, i cleaned her off with warm water and pulled off all of the questionable feathers. seems like she hadn't been pooping due to clogged booty.
now it's kinda coming out in spurts. i've isolated her and given her some water with a little apple cider vinegar. I've also got antibiotic chick feed i could feed her if that helps, let me know.
this is day one if yall know anything aboot it. i'll keep posting. hopefully this is a good spot for this article .

Can you take some more photos after you wash her up? Is she laying on her back in the photo, it's very hard to tell.
@Wishing4Wings gave some good advice about taking care of her. When you wash her up, look at all the surrounding tissue to make sure it's not infested with maggots or is starting to break down from poop sticking to it.

You mention that you have "antibiotic chick feed"? What is the medication in the feed/what brand of feed is it?
Most medicated chick feeds in the US contain a very small amount of Amprolium/Amprol - this is not an antibiotic, it's a Coccidiostat which only targets Coccidia.

 

[red130]

Oh, poor thing. She needs to be isolated somewhere warm and quiet. No food, although I doubt she is eating. I would try a warm water soak... hold her vent below the water... 15-20 mins and see if you can gently shift the mass or if it will break up. Some lubricant might help... vaseline gently rubbed around the inside edges (maybe with a q-tip if you are the squeamish type) and also put some around the outside to keep it from drying out. Not exactly sure what I am seeing, but she may be partially prolapsed. The tissue there is delicate and can be damaged if it remains like this for long.

How is her crop? Full, empty, squishy...

Hopefully someone more knowledgeable will be along to help you soon.
Best wishes for you!

Thank you , first thing I did really was soak her until I could crumble apart the blockage with my fingers. I won't give her the medicated chick feed if it's pointless. I'll take more pictures later today.

 

[red130]

Oh, poor thing. She needs to be isolated somewhere warm and quiet. No food, although I doubt she is eating. I would try a warm water soak... hold her vent below the water... 15-20 mins and see if you can gently shift the mass or if it will break up. Some lubricant might help... vaseline gently rubbed around the inside edges (maybe with a q-tip if you are the squeamish type) and also put some around the outside to keep it from drying out. Not exactly sure what I am seeing, but she may be partially prolapsed. The tissue there is delicate and can be damaged if it remains like this for long.

How is her crop? Full, empty, squishy...

Hopefully someone more knowledgeable will be along to help you soon.
Best wishes for you!

her crop is squishy and a greenish baby food colour, she was eating but i removed food from the area for the moment, i cleaned her up unfortunately im all out of petrolatum gel bacitracin a triple antibiotic for the area's i removed scabbed tissue.
i feel terrible for the girl but she seems to be acting herself minus the bleh, on her back side. here's a couple of pics.

this is her on her back, before i began removing the icky bits.

here's the vent after i removed the scabbed tissue, i applied the triple antibiotic cream at this point and let her go. she seems better now that she's been able to poop for a day.

let me know if i need to be doing something hitherto not mentioned

 

[Wyorp Rock]

her crop is squishy and a greenish baby food colour, she was eating but i removed food from the area for the moment,

That's looking better. I would give her a break, but then try to work on that some more at least once a day. Try to debride that gunk off, scrub a little with a wash cloth or gauze, rinse well and re-apply your ointment. Watch that flies don't get on that, they lay eggs and maggots will hatch out and cause a tremendous amount of damage and infection, in warm weather it can happen almost overnight.

You mention that her crop was squishy an greenish - was the green pressed out of her crop, did you vomit her? Sounds like she may have a sour or slow crop. You may need to treat her with a vaginal yeast cream. https://www.backyardchickens.com/ar...w-to-know-which-one-youre-dealing-with.73607/