Every chicken has poopy butt but now maybe dying...😥

[Dinosaur Village Keeper]

My 7 chickens have had poopy butts almost since I got them over 4 months ago. The rooster came covered in poop while the girls were all fine. Weeks after getting them, the girls started getting poopy butts, one at a time, some days they are worse than others. The rooster cleared up after about a month. I was told they were all one year when I got them. None of them were though. They all had problems when they started laying, from long strands of soft eggs hanging out of them to being egg bound to having their innards push out of their bodies. I think 4 are laying and it’s been brutal for each one. I don’t think the black and white ones have ever laid any eggs.

Yesterday my littlest one, a black and white, got the poopy butt and she was standing weird. I cleaned her up but today she had it back and kept standing like a penguin, and it was difficult for her to walk. She was separate from the rest of the flock. Her eyes look dull and partially closed. Her comb and wattle has never grown and I’ve never seen her on a nest trying to lay. I cleaned her up again and saw that her belly is hugely distended and in one spot, the skin looks a little green. I soaked her in an epsom salt bath for about 25 minutes. I didn’t know if she was falling asleep or dying while she soaked. There is no fight in her. Normally she doesn’t want me to touch her.

Now I have her in a warm bathroom in my house, with no windows so it is dark. I gave her Panacur .40 mls of which way more than half didn’t make it into her mouth. She weighs 5 pounds and is way smaller than the other chickens. She is eating and drinking a VERY small amount. Her poop looks completely normal!

When I closed up the coop tonight, I saw another chicken on the roost doing the butt pumping thing and every breathe she was taking was raspy. Her butt is also more caked with poop than the little one I have in sickbay in my bathroom. It is late and so I left her to sleep on the roost.

These are my first chickens and they are all defective and sick since the day I got them and I have done EVERYTHING I can to give them the best life possible. They all get to free range on 1.25 fenced acres and I tried to make their coop perfect in every way, and I give them what I was told was very good food. I had to get rid of the rooster 5 or 6 days ago because he attacked me all the time, but I tried with him attacking me for a long time! Now my husband tells me I can never have another pet because it upsets me too much when one of them gets sick or dies. I guess that is supposed to be a helpful thing to tell someone when they are in the midst of losing all of their feathered friends?

Sorry for the rant. If anyone knows what this could be, please help! There is nothing I have read about that fits what my chickens symptoms are. Vent Gleet was the closest but that doesn’t explain how they have all developed it in a 4 month period and now seem so sick that I think they are dying. My chickens run up to me but they wont let me pick them up easily. Giving them medicine by mouth is a nearly impossible option for me unless they are as lifeless as my little black and white one. I will not take a chicken to the vet under any circumstances, so please don’t suggest that option. Any other help, I would appreciate sooooo much!

 

[Wyorp Rock]

I got them over 4 months ago.

Weeks after getting them, the girls started getting poopy butts, one at a time, some days they are worse than others. The rooster cleared up after about a month. I was told they were all one year when I got them. None of them were though. They all had problems when they started laying, from long strands of soft eggs hanging out of them to being egg bound to having their innards push out of their bodies. I think 4 are laying and it’s been brutal for each one. I don’t think the black and white ones have ever laid any eggs.

Yesterday my littlest one, a black and white, got the poopy butt and she was standing weird. I cleaned her up but today she had it back and kept standing like a penguin, and it was difficult for her to walk.

I cleaned her up again and saw that her belly is hugely distended and in one spot, the skin looks a little green. I soaked her in an epsom salt bath for about 25 minutes. I didn’t know if she was falling asleep or dying while she soaked. There is no fight in her.

I gave her Panacur .40 mls of which way more than half didn’t make it into her mouth. She weighs 5 pounds and is way smaller than the other chickens. She is eating and drinking a VERY small amount. Her poop looks completely normal!

When I closed up the coop tonight, I saw another chicken on the roost doing the butt pumping thing and every breathe she was taking was raspy. Her butt is also more caked with poop than the little one I have in sickbay

These are my first chickens and they are all defective and sick since the day I got them and I have done EVERYTHING I can to give them the best life possible. They all get to free range on 1.25 fenced acres and I tried to make their coop perfect in every way, and I give them what I was told was very good food.

There is nothing I have read about that fits what my chickens symptoms are. Vent Gleet was the closest but that doesn’t explain how they have all developed it in a 4 month period and now seem so sick that I think they are dying. My chickens run up to me but they wont let me pick them up easily. Giving them medicine by mouth is a nearly impossible option for me unless they are as lifeless as my little black and white one.

I'm sorry you are having a hard time.

Can you post some photos of your black/white hen, her poop, the abdomen that is green?
Photos of your other chickens, their butts,poops and housing may be helpful too.

For the Black/White one that is very ill - have you felt inside her vent for an egg? I would do that tonight. Her standing like a penguin, she may be egg bound.
Having a distended abdomen, she may also have fluid in the abdomen (Ascites) and be suffering from a reproductive disorder (Peritonitis, Cancer, Internal Laying, etc)

Panacur (Fenbendazole) dosage is 0.23ml per pound of weight, so if she's 5 pounds, the correct dosage would be 1.15ml given orally for 5 days in a row.

The other one with raspy breathing - how much ventilation in your coop?
It would be good to go out and get her, inspect her really well. How does her crop feel, does she have lice/mites, does she have swelling of the abdomen too, etc.

Exactly what do you feed - name of product, how much and any extras that you may give.
Do you provide oyster shell?

Where did your hens come from and what breeds are they supposed to be. Long strings of soft shell eggs and innards coming out - that is reproductive issues. Could be from a number of things, hopefully we can help you figure some of this out, but the best answers usually come from getting a necropsy through your state lab. Since that may not be an option for you - you can perform an informal one yourself. Take photos of the internal organs, what you find inside the abdomen and body cavity - a lot of times we may recognize something.

 

[Dinosaur Village Keeper]

Wyorp- Thank you for your help. My husband put her down. There was no egg inside of her. We decided she had egg peritonitis and there was no chance of the poor thing getting any better. She had no breasts on her, only a bone sticking out in the center of her chest. and a massive watery mass for a stomach. She had never grown, not even a crop or wattles. Since my chickens don’t want me to pick them up, I never noticed how bad off she was, probably for a very long time.

The chicken that was breathing badly (it sounded like her lungs were filled with water) we think was egg bound. I could feel the egg clearly inside of her but couldn’t get it out. After her baths and treating with a lot of colloidal silver for about 24 hours, her breathing cleared up. I put quite a bit of olive oil around and partially inside her vent, then put her back outside figuring we would put her down if she seemed to be suffering. She looks good today, two days later, so I’m guessing she got it out. There was a big broken egg mess under the roost that looked like she had two stuck eggs. Not sure if that is possible...

They all still have poopy butts of course. I am putting the following in one gallon of water, which is what they drink each day:
1 tbsp vinegar
5 dropperfulls of colloidal silver
1/3 tsp probiotics/vitamins/electrolytes as per directions
I will continue this for a week and use as maintenance. Sound ok?

I feed Purina’s Layer food and have oyster shells out but they don’t eat them. I give them scratch because they love me for it. Also, I am now soaking the scratch in another 5 dropper fulls of silver to get them a strong daily dosage. Between the 6, they probably get 1/2 cup a day. I can stop this but is there any “candy” they would like as much that would be healthy?

I have the recommended coop ventilation (open eaves across the entire south portion) based on size and number of chickens, and I also leave a south facing window open at all times, even when it’s cold. After reading your post, I cleaned the coop out, even bleaching it

because it did have some moisture in it which I figure was a result of my failure to properly apply the deep litter method, or to not clean it often enough - it had been 5 months. It had a slight odor.

Many have suggested to me that I kill all of my remaining 6 chickens and start over. I cannot do this. No way. They are so sweet and adorable.

Never, ever purchase chickens from someone you don’t know!! This was a hard lesson for a newbie chicken mom that tried to do everything right but was fighting a losing battle everyday because of a creep that intentionally sells unhealthy chickens. A better suggestion than putting all of my chickens down would be to put that creep down!

 

[Wyorp Rock]

Wyorp- Thank you for your help. My husband put her down. There was no egg inside of her. We decided she had egg peritonitis and there was no chance of the poor thing getting any better. She had no breasts on her, only a bone sticking out in the center of her chest. and a massive watery mass for a stomach. She had never grown, not even a crop or wattles. Since my chickens don’t want me to pick them up, I never noticed how bad off she was, probably for a very long time.

The chicken that was breathing badly (it sounded like her lungs were filled with water) we think was egg bound. I could feel the egg clearly inside of her but couldn’t get it out. After her baths and treating with a lot of colloidal silver for about 24 hours, her breathing cleared up. I put quite a bit of olive oil around and partially inside her vent, then put her back outside figuring we would put her down if she seemed to be suffering. She looks good today, two days later, so I’m guessing she got it out. There was a big broken egg mess under the roost that looked like she had two stuck eggs. Not sure if that is possible...

They all still have poopy butts of course. I am putting the following in one gallon of water, which is what they drink each day:
1 tbsp vinegar
5 dropperfulls of colloidal silver
1/3 tsp probiotics/vitamins/electrolytes as per directions
I will continue this for a week and use as maintenance. Sound ok?

I feed Purina’s Layer food and have oyster shells out but they don’t eat them. I give them scratch because they love me for it. Also, I am now soaking the scratch in another 5 dropper fulls of silver to get them a strong daily dosage. Between the 6, they probably get 1/2 cup a day. I can stop this but is there any “candy” they would like as much that would be healthy?

I have the recommended coop ventilation (open eaves across the entire south portion) based on size and number of chickens, and I also leave a south facing window open at all times, even when it’s cold. After reading your post, I cleaned the coop out, even bleaching it View attachment 2028528because it did have some moisture in it which I figure was a result of my failure to properly apply the deep litter method, or to not clean it often enough - it had been 5 months. It had a slight odor.

Many have suggested to me that I kill all of my remaining 6 chickens and start over. I cannot do this. No way. They are so sweet and adorable.

Never, ever purchase chickens from someone you don’t know!! This was a hard lesson for a newbie chicken mom that tried to do everything right but was fighting a losing battle everyday because of a creep that intentionally sells unhealthy chickens. A better suggestion than putting all of my chickens down would be to put that creep down!

I'm sorry for your loss

It was good that you were able to take look inside and be able to guesstimate what was going on with her.

I'm glad the other one is doing much better!
As for treats, oh yes, they love you for treats LOL
Some would say eliminate the scratch all together. Most recommendations I have seen (including on some name brand scratch) is give about 1 Tablespoon of scratch a day.
You could switch it up and give them some scrambled eggs as a treat or a small amount of greens/veggies.

Not sure what's going on with the poopy butts. Hopefully your additives will be helpful, keep us posted on that. Crop issues or vent gleet can also cause poopy butts so you may want to look into those as well.

I like your coop! Very nice!