Chickens vent clogged badly with straw

[jfmorini]

I have a chicken that's been lethargic, puffy and retracted, and slowing down. She's been visibly unwell for a couple days and I've been treating her for thing I thought it might be. I was just drying her off after a salt bath and noticed hay and straw sticking out of her vent. I pulled on it a little bit and that cause watery poop to come out. I don't know what to do here.... I tried coating her in and out with mineral oil. I was able to pull the mass out about an inch before she really got uncomfortable. I'm worried if I keep trying to pull it out I'll hurt her too much even with the lubrication of the oil. I think she almost passed out on my last try. I'm worried I don't have much time left to fix this. I think I atta he'd the photo here correctly. Please help!

 

[SmiYa0126]

@Wyorp Rock @azygous @Eggcessive please help!

Hi! Don't pull on it, I've tagged some experts. My first thought is to do a molasses flush and an Epsom salt bath or.give calcium citrate. My hen was also blocked with straw but not to this extent.

Let's see what the experts say.

 

[azygous]

@SmiYa0126 is absolutely right. Do not pull on the mass as that can yank all her plumbing out with it. Then you'd have a hen so damaged, there would be no help for her.

I agree that coconut oil would be a good first step. You need to lubricate her works. Do you know how to use coconut oil? Divide into bite size pieces, plan on two teaspoons worth to start. Then chill the pieces until hard. Place them in ice cubes to keep them hard while you administer one by one into her beak. Yes, get it all into her. This won't hurt her. It will turn to liquid when she swallows and hopefully, it will grease her insides well and she will poop the plug.

After all that, then we may decide to do a molasses flush to clean her out well.

 

[jfmorini]

@SmiYa0126 is absolutely right. Do not pull on the mass as that can yank all her plumbing out with it. Then you'd have a hen so damaged, there would be no help for her.

I agree that coconut oil would be a good first step. You need to lubricate her works. Do you know how to use coconut oil? Divide into bite size pieces, plan on two teaspoons worth to start. Then chill the pieces until hard. Place them in ice cubes to keep them hard while you administer one by one into her beak. Yes, get it all into her. This won't hurt her. It will turn to liquid when she swallows and hopefully, it will grease her insides well and she will poop the plug.

After all that, then we may decide to do a molasses flush to clean her out well.

Thank you. What's an appropriate amount of time to wait between giving her the oil and doing a molasses flush? I'm going out to get the coconut oil now

 

[azygous]

It's up to the hen. We stuff a whole lot of oil into her and wait for it to move the stuff through. Then we assess what comes out, as well as observe how she's acting. You know, if you were all constipated and you went into the bathroom hunched over and in a lot of discomfort, and then emerged all chipper and light of step, we'd conclude your bathroom experience was a stellar one.

 

[jfmorini]

It's up to the hen. We stuff a whole lot of oil into her and wait for it to move the stuff through. Then we assess what comes out, as well as observe how she's acting. You know, if you were all constipated and you went into the bathroom hunched over and in a lot of discomfort, and then emerged all chipper and light of step, we'd conclude your bathroom experience was a stellar one.

Ahh, I see. I thought the molasses flush was in the event she didn't end up being able do poop after the oil. Got it

 

[jfmorini]

I have a chicken that's been lethargic, puffy and retracted, and slowing down. She's been visibly unwell for a couple days and I've been treating her for thing I thought it might be. I was just drying her off after a salt bath and noticed hay and straw sticking out of her vent. I pulled on it a little bit and that cause watery poop to come out. I don't know what to do here.... I tried coating her in and out with mineral oil. I was able to pull the mass out about an inch before she really got uncomfortable. I'm worried if I keep trying to pull it out I'll hurt her too much even with the lubrication of the oil. I think she almost passed out on my last try. I'm worried I don't have much time left to fix this. I think I atta he'd the photo here correctly. Please help! View attachment 3373331

I have a chicken that's been lethargic, puffy and retracted, and slowing down. She's been visibly unwell for a couple days and I've been treating her for thing I thought it might be. I was just drying her off after a salt bath and noticed hay and straw sticking out of her vent. I pulled on it a little bit and that cause watery poop to come out. I don't know what to do here.... I tried coating her in and out with mineral oil. I was able to pull the mass out about an inch before she really got uncomfortable. I'm worried if I keep trying to pull it out I'll hurt her too much even with the lubrication of the oil. I think she almost passed out on my last try. I'm worried I don't have much time left to fix this. I think I atta he'd the photo here correctly. Please help! View attachment 3373331

There has been a change to her status, not for the better. I gave her the two teaspoons of coconut oil this morning. No poops as of yet. She now seems to be audibly breathing almost exclusively through her mouth. I looked as far down as I could with a flash light and didn't see any obstruction or worm. So I think this is more involved than constipation unfortunately...

 

[SmiYa0126]

Is she drinking? Any poops at all? Not even liquid?

Epsom salt bath maybe? She could be too weak though.

@azygous molasses flush?

 

[azygous]

Feel her crop. Use your sense pf touch to feel if her crop is also jammed up with straw. If it is, she's likely clogged from top to bottom with a almost pure cellulose that can't be digested. If this is her condition, she needs surgery, and just crop surgery, which you can do at home, wouldn't clear the gizzard and lower intestines.

A molasses flush will not help if she has straw from stem to stern.

 

[jfmorini]

Is she drinking? Any poops at all? Not even liquid?

Epsom salt bath maybe? She could be too weak though.

@azygous molasses flush?

Up to today she had been drinking a fair amount. She had an Epsom salt bath yesterday and this morning and I plan to give her another one soon. I've put vetrx under her nostrils a couple times as well. There's been no signs of any poop. She had been spitting up liquid a few times, but when I found that straw binding this morning I chocked that up to her being bound up and stopped trying to treat for the any other number of things it could be. She has lost quite a bit of weight. The last chicken that had this kind of weight loss ended up being euthanized because it was cancer. I hope it's not the same scenario, but it's not looking good