Help. Chicken with huge swollen red butt

[ruth]

I'm so sorry to hear you lost her. There wasn't much you could have done. Of course you take good care of your chickens. You wouldn't have written to ask for help or sought a vet if not. Sometimes these things just happen.

 

[Elko Stacy]

I am sooo sorry..It's crazy how much we love these birds, but just know that you did the best you could..and she knew that yu were caring for her..It's almost spring time, so I hope you look forward to getting some new babies.

Again, I am really sorry for you!

 

[chkn]

Red and swollen sounds like an infection of some type. Definitely a call for antibiotics. Are there any sores? I would get antibiotics and then put some neosporine on the red area. Repeat once a day for several days.

 

[chkn]

Oh, I'm sorry about your hen. I didn't realize she'd already passed. I still mourn my little 'Streety' who passed several weeks ago from a long battle with peritonitis. I really fell in love with her when I had to spend so much time nursing her. I still feel like I didn't do enough.

 

[Noahettes Mom]

I have 6 chickens. We noticed that they looked a little wet after the Ice Storm we had, so we brought them in to dry them off. One of the chickens (while we were blow drying her) has a red bump on her bottom, so we were reading what was recommended here. My husband was gently pressing on the swollen area to see if it might be an egg, poop seemed to come out... then a watery red liquid. Very concerned about chicken, so we are going to try the warm bath to see what else could be wrong. Keeping them in the house for a while to be sure they are dry before taking them out to the cold weather again. Any advice or other ideas? They have been out in the KY cold weather this entire winter and hasn't caused them to stop laying or have any problems...
Thanks for any help you can be...

 

[Elko Stacy]

I'm sorry I haven't been on here in a few days, How is you girl doing? I have had the same problem with a couple of my hens, but one in particular..I don't think the degree of cold has anything to do with it, But it is a concern..and I finally decided it is Ascites, which you can find in the search here in BYC..It explains it better than I can. I got a syringe and sucked out the fluids.. much to the relief of the individual..I have had to do it numerous times..especially when it's hot..She has since passed away, but that was due to the heat more than anything, and plus she was getting old..Once it happens. it seems to be a reoccuring thing.

 

[Noahettes Mom]

I'm sorry I haven't been on here in a few days, How is you girl doing? I have had the same problem with a couple of my hens, but one in particular..I don't think the degree of cold has anything to do with it, But it is a concern..and I finally decided it is Ascites, which you can find in the search here in BYC..It explains it better than I can. I got a syringe and sucked out the fluids.. much to the relief of the individual..I have had to do it numerous times..especially when it's hot..She has since passed away, but that was due to the heat more than anything, and plus she was getting old..Once it happens. it seems to be a reoccuring thing.

I didn't get a chance to get back on here that night. We gave her a warm bath, gently squeezed the swollen area to see if there was an egg stuck in it. It was soft and not hard/firm. She seemed to be 'falling asleep' in the bath so we took her out and blow dried her so she wouldn't be cold (we had an ice storm so we dried all 6 of our chickens as they were wet, and kept them in the house overnight to be sure they were dry before putting back out in the cold air), and put her in a different place then the other chickens as they seemed to be 'picking on her'. Anyway, we kept and eye on her and right before we went to bed she let out a loud 'squawk' and toppled over on her back with legs in the air. In other words, she died!! :-( She was only 11 months old!! So I don't know why she died or what caused it, but it killed her whatever was wrong. My 10 yr old was very upset (Noahette is her nickname) when she woke in the morning. We were going to try the syringe idea in the morning, but she died before we could. Any ideas why this would happen? The other 5 chickens are fine!!

 

[dkhaxton]

I have been reading the replies about hens with the swollen red area below the vent and I have a similar issue with my 9 month old hen that I need advise on. The area below her vent is not red and squishy; my hen's area is terribly hard, blackish, about the size of a golf ball with red viable tissue all the way around it. She is not yet laying and my vet says she is not egg bound but has never seen this before. It's as if the tissue is dead or dying or some sort of mass. Vet says could be spider bite (since brown recluse spiders are very common at my house), an abcess or a tumor. I try to keep her as clean as possible (for a chicken) by spraying her with warm water twice a day and treating her with Tricide Neo w/Clotrimasole. Vets says we can't give her an oral antibiotic if we ever plan to eat her eggs. When she tries to poop she makes a whizzing sound and doesn't poop normal. When she goes it just runs down the area an makes a mess. Other then her bottom, she is healthy as everything. Runs around like the others and eats great. She prefers to be with me so I have brought her into the house to keep an eye on her. Does anyone have any ideas? She is my absolute favorite. I don't want her to be suffering but don't know what to do. Thank you!

 

[Ivas Henhouse]

Thanks for the post. It really helped my with one of my girls. She is getting better now. Her swelling is going down and not red.

 

[chikkenboy]

My hen had the same problem with the swelling rep lump below her vent. It happened in the beginning of last summer and just got worse. I thought she was going to die because she could barely move. I have her baths and anti biotics. I think she just healed on her Own though. It's the same time of year and happening again! What do I do?