Lalachickens
Songster
- Jul 10, 2020
- 60
- 62
- 108
Hi all,
I have a hen who is just constantly constipated. This all started when we got her and the rest of the flock almost 2 months ago.
I have this hen “sweetie” who came with her flock of golden and blue laced wyandottes. Some of them are a year old, some two. We noticed when they were free ranging (which promptly stopped due to wolf presence), that she would stop and REALLY strain to poop. Like, it looked like an egg sized mass was above her vent, pushing to come out. Now, before you think “egg bound”, I have felt up this chicken more times than I can count, and she’s not. The vet confirmed this. But she PUSHES, and a dribble will come out.
So we started bathing her in warm epsom salt baths, and upon closer examination, we discovered this yellow rubbery plug on and in her vent that was stopping anything from passing. I was able to gently massage it away from her vent, which would give her relief. Occasional bleeding would happen when removed, as her skin was quite raw. She was then isolated from the flock, and we read about using canesten on chickens with vent gleet/yeast infections. We also gave her yogurt, molasses in her water. When we removed the plug, she could poop. However, it kept coming back, would get covered in poop, etc etc many many baths.
We decided to take her to the only vet around (not close), who takes chickens, and he agreed it didn’t seem like bird flu or egg binding. She would be long dead by now with either. I didn’t want to pay for a fecal test or X-rays, as she was already costing us more than was reasonable, so he prescribed BAYTRIL - 2 doses a day for ten days. He also instructed me to stop canesten, ACV in water, Electrolytes, yogurt, molasses. Just food and water, and cut off her access to grass. She showed signs of improvement, and we moved her back with the flock.
She is still getting plugged. Her vent doesn’t look AS rough as it did, and I can usually get the plug out quite easily (maybe I’m just good at that now, ugh), but about four days go by and she’s plugged up again. Her poops, when they happen are dark green, usually quite watery, and on a good day slightly more solid than pudding. Energy, alterness, all seem fine and good. Comb and wattles are ever so slightly pale? The rest of the flock is totally fine.
Her vent does look slightly different to me? We joke that chicken vents look like muppet mouths, hers is just a “o” hole.
I read the “what to write if you need to post here” post, and to provide as much info as possible, I’m going to reply below in all caps.
1) What type of bird , age and weight (does the chicken seem or feel lighter or thinner than the others.) GOLDEN LACED WYANDOTTE, ABOUT 1.5 YEARS OLD, WEIGHT UNKNOWN BUT IS LIGHTER THAN HER FLOCK MATES
2) What is the behavior, exactly. TOTALLY NORMAL, EXCEPT STRAINS TO POOP UNLESS SHE HAS JUST BEEN BATHED/UNPLUGGED BY US
3) How long has the bird been exhibiting symptoms? ABOUT A MONTH AND A HALF
4) Are other birds exhibiting the same symptoms? NO
5) Is there any bleeding, injury, broken bones or other sign of trauma. A FEW TIMES WHEN I “UNPLUGGED”, SHE WOULD BLEED WHERE THE PLUG WAS IN CONTACT WITH HER RAW SKIN
6) What happened, if anything that you know of, that may have caused the situation. I KNOW GRASS HAS BUNGED HER UP BEFORE?
7) What has the bird been eating and drinking, if at all. SHE DEFINITELY GRAZES, SEEMS TO DRINK WATER AND FOOD LIKE THE REST OF THEM
8) How does the poop look? Normal? Bloody? Runny? etc. WHEN SHE DOES POOP, ITS USUALLY QUITE RUNNY, ON A GOOD DAY ITS PUDDING, BUT OFTEN RUNNIER THAN THAT. DARK GREEN ALMOST ALWAYS
9) What has been the treatment you have administered so far? WE HAVE TRIED YOGURT, FERMENTED FOOD, CANESTEN (WHEN WE WERE CONVINCED IT WAS A YEAST INFECTION), ENEMAS, BAYTRIL TWICE DAILY AS PRESCRIBED BY VET, MOLASSES IN WATER, ELECTROLYTES, ACV. NOT ALL OF THESE AT ONCE!!!
10 ) What is your intent as far as treatment? For example, do you want to treat completely yourself, or do you need help in stabilizing the bird til you can get to a vet? WE HAVE ALREADY SPENT QUITE A BIT ON HER BY TAKING HER TO THE VET AND GIVING HER ANTIBIOTICS, WE WOULD LIKE TO TREAT HER OURSELVES AT THIS POINT, OR CULL
11) If you have a picture of the wound or condition, please post it. It may help. WILL DO
12) Describe the housing/bedding in use IN THE COOP, SAND WHICH IS POOP-SCOOPED EVERY MORNING
After dealing with this for a month and a half, we are really not sure what to do anymore. Having to bath and unplug her every three to four days is not sustainable, but I was just wondering if, on here, anyone had had a similar issue, or does she just
Likely have some kind of physical abnormality??? If she was lethargic we would just cull, but the fact that she hasn’t died yet makes it all the more curious????
Attaching a photo of a dropping that is a good example of the colour of her droppings. This is a firmer version.
This photo is of the first time we bathed her and found the yellowing plug. I didn’t know what was going on, so removed it and she bled (
), but you can see the rubbery yellow matter.
And this is her at the vet - she was surprisingly so well behaved, and she is a little cutie…
This is what her vent area does when she is straining. I have a video but can’t seem to upload.
Thanks in advance.
I have a hen who is just constantly constipated. This all started when we got her and the rest of the flock almost 2 months ago.
I have this hen “sweetie” who came with her flock of golden and blue laced wyandottes. Some of them are a year old, some two. We noticed when they were free ranging (which promptly stopped due to wolf presence), that she would stop and REALLY strain to poop. Like, it looked like an egg sized mass was above her vent, pushing to come out. Now, before you think “egg bound”, I have felt up this chicken more times than I can count, and she’s not. The vet confirmed this. But she PUSHES, and a dribble will come out.
So we started bathing her in warm epsom salt baths, and upon closer examination, we discovered this yellow rubbery plug on and in her vent that was stopping anything from passing. I was able to gently massage it away from her vent, which would give her relief. Occasional bleeding would happen when removed, as her skin was quite raw. She was then isolated from the flock, and we read about using canesten on chickens with vent gleet/yeast infections. We also gave her yogurt, molasses in her water. When we removed the plug, she could poop. However, it kept coming back, would get covered in poop, etc etc many many baths.
We decided to take her to the only vet around (not close), who takes chickens, and he agreed it didn’t seem like bird flu or egg binding. She would be long dead by now with either. I didn’t want to pay for a fecal test or X-rays, as she was already costing us more than was reasonable, so he prescribed BAYTRIL - 2 doses a day for ten days. He also instructed me to stop canesten, ACV in water, Electrolytes, yogurt, molasses. Just food and water, and cut off her access to grass. She showed signs of improvement, and we moved her back with the flock.
She is still getting plugged. Her vent doesn’t look AS rough as it did, and I can usually get the plug out quite easily (maybe I’m just good at that now, ugh), but about four days go by and she’s plugged up again. Her poops, when they happen are dark green, usually quite watery, and on a good day slightly more solid than pudding. Energy, alterness, all seem fine and good. Comb and wattles are ever so slightly pale? The rest of the flock is totally fine.
Her vent does look slightly different to me? We joke that chicken vents look like muppet mouths, hers is just a “o” hole.
I read the “what to write if you need to post here” post, and to provide as much info as possible, I’m going to reply below in all caps.
1) What type of bird , age and weight (does the chicken seem or feel lighter or thinner than the others.) GOLDEN LACED WYANDOTTE, ABOUT 1.5 YEARS OLD, WEIGHT UNKNOWN BUT IS LIGHTER THAN HER FLOCK MATES
2) What is the behavior, exactly. TOTALLY NORMAL, EXCEPT STRAINS TO POOP UNLESS SHE HAS JUST BEEN BATHED/UNPLUGGED BY US
3) How long has the bird been exhibiting symptoms? ABOUT A MONTH AND A HALF
4) Are other birds exhibiting the same symptoms? NO
5) Is there any bleeding, injury, broken bones or other sign of trauma. A FEW TIMES WHEN I “UNPLUGGED”, SHE WOULD BLEED WHERE THE PLUG WAS IN CONTACT WITH HER RAW SKIN
6) What happened, if anything that you know of, that may have caused the situation. I KNOW GRASS HAS BUNGED HER UP BEFORE?
7) What has the bird been eating and drinking, if at all. SHE DEFINITELY GRAZES, SEEMS TO DRINK WATER AND FOOD LIKE THE REST OF THEM
8) How does the poop look? Normal? Bloody? Runny? etc. WHEN SHE DOES POOP, ITS USUALLY QUITE RUNNY, ON A GOOD DAY ITS PUDDING, BUT OFTEN RUNNIER THAN THAT. DARK GREEN ALMOST ALWAYS
9) What has been the treatment you have administered so far? WE HAVE TRIED YOGURT, FERMENTED FOOD, CANESTEN (WHEN WE WERE CONVINCED IT WAS A YEAST INFECTION), ENEMAS, BAYTRIL TWICE DAILY AS PRESCRIBED BY VET, MOLASSES IN WATER, ELECTROLYTES, ACV. NOT ALL OF THESE AT ONCE!!!
10 ) What is your intent as far as treatment? For example, do you want to treat completely yourself, or do you need help in stabilizing the bird til you can get to a vet? WE HAVE ALREADY SPENT QUITE A BIT ON HER BY TAKING HER TO THE VET AND GIVING HER ANTIBIOTICS, WE WOULD LIKE TO TREAT HER OURSELVES AT THIS POINT, OR CULL
11) If you have a picture of the wound or condition, please post it. It may help. WILL DO
12) Describe the housing/bedding in use IN THE COOP, SAND WHICH IS POOP-SCOOPED EVERY MORNING
After dealing with this for a month and a half, we are really not sure what to do anymore. Having to bath and unplug her every three to four days is not sustainable, but I was just wondering if, on here, anyone had had a similar issue, or does she just
Likely have some kind of physical abnormality??? If she was lethargic we would just cull, but the fact that she hasn’t died yet makes it all the more curious????
Attaching a photo of a dropping that is a good example of the colour of her droppings. This is a firmer version.
This photo is of the first time we bathed her and found the yellowing plug. I didn’t know what was going on, so removed it and she bled (
), but you can see the rubbery yellow matter. And this is her at the vet - she was surprisingly so well behaved, and she is a little cutie…
This is what her vent area does when she is straining. I have a video but can’t seem to upload.
Thanks in advance.
