Zanna
Songster
Not an OT, been raising chickens for 5 years but I do have some past experience with vent gleet. In my research, a common cause is moldy feed and it is an internal fungal/yeast infection. Now, on that note, my first two years into chickens I had 3, approx. 4 month old birds with this problem. The birds were raised in the exact same environment as all the others, fed the same, ACV in their water since hatch, free-ranging with 25 - 60 other birds at any given time and 24/7 access to a large, dry coop with plenty of roosting space. These first two years I had hatchery production reds and White leghorns for egg layers plus some "special" birds as I was wanting to breed show quality birds and was trying a few different breeds to figure out which ones I wanted to focus on. The 3 birds that had vent gleet all were different breeds of these "special" birds that I hatched from eggs from private breeders and I had a lot of $ and time invested in them so wanted nothing more than to save them. Tried all remedies on the internet I could find....... Molasses in water to flush their system, epsom salts in water to flush their system, Vagisil you know where, etc., etc. The first two birds after all the treatments gradually got weaker, thin, stopped eating and were culled. Unfortunately in my effort to "fix" them they suffered for it. The third bird, at the first sign (smell!!!) was culled immediately. This experience made me smarter/wiser, cull for the poor birds sake. Lesson learned. Have not seen the problem again and I am at the point where I can breed my own birds now and only the hardy made it this far..............I've never had one of my layer flocks to ever have vent gleet. From what I understand, this is a fungal/yeast infection and probably due to excessive wet feces and/or an imbalance of growth in the environment of the coop/soils/bedding? I don't know that I've ever known of regular roosters having a messy butt and only had the occasional hen have mess there after eating watermelon or other such fresh veggies in sudden and mass amounts.
I'd be looking at why this bird had wet/messy stool and why it consequently grew fungus on his feathers and skin. The ACV can't hurt at all but I'd also be looking at your bedding and the soil in your run. ACV isn't a cure all and only really works if it is used in combination with sound husbandry practices. Sounds like you have an imbalance of bacterial/fungal growth in the environment of your flock and that needs rectified. Plenty of air, drier bedding, plenty of sunlight, the proper diet, no overcrowding(very important), good dusting areas...all of these things can help you keep a proper balance of microbes in the flock environment.
The first flock of meaties I ever had looked like they had started to grow some vent gleet at the time of butchering..not much but still a little present in the feathers around the vent. I put that down to excessive, too liquid stool(typical for meaties) and bedding down in that same stool each night instead of roosting, even though they were free ranged. I also noticed this batch of meaties didn't dust as regularly as my layer flock kept in the same environment.
The second batch of meaties were given UP/ACV in the water and fed fermented feeds, which changed their sloppy wet feces into healthy, firm droppings, and were given "meaty friendly" roosts, given adequate dusting areas they didn't have to share with bossy layer hens, and there was no sign of vent gleet upon butchering, even though I had way more meaties in that batch than I had in the previous one.
I bet if you look into getting some good cultures into their diet, via the mother vinegar or fermented foods, look to having dry bedding underfoot and proper ventilation in the coop environment, particularly during roosting times, and eliminate any overcrowding, you may see a change there. I've noticed that most of a bird's grooming takes place on the roost, so adequate space between birds is imperative to encourage this behavior...a well-groomed bird has oils distributed well into the feathers around the vent that protects against excessive moisture exposure from feces.
Anyone else have any insight into vent gleet and the causes? I always look for the cause first instead of the cure...you can throw a pound of cure in there but unless you get rid of the cause, you won't manage a thing.