Help needed --Treating two chickens for suspected gleet but no improvement

[lisajnuttall]

My girls are ex battery. I have separated them and are in my utility room. I have given daily baths with dettol & epsom salts, ACV in their water, natural yoghurt, Canesten cream and tried sauerkraut as its been suggested to try fermented feed (its all i had). One has been treated for about a week and seemed to make progress but now gone worse. She also sounds chesty but generally happy. The other came down with suspected gleet four days ago but isn't interested in drinking or eating much and generally bunches up with her eyes closed. Doing all I can think of but doesnt seem to be working. Both got hen pecked which caused wounds which I washed and added antiseptic purple spray then vetricyn.

Maybe its not gleet after all. Need help as feel sorry for them and also need my utility room back and my life as I feel all I am ding is washing them to no avail.

 

[Rietta]

Yikes, I have not had experience with this. They sound very sick though, Will be watching to see what some of the more experienced members say. Hope everything turns out ok, it can be exhausting trying to solve these problems. Keep your head up!

 

[BjaJra826]

I had an issue with gleet this spring. We treated with otc athlete's foot cream rubbed over the vent every other day, on opposite days I rubbed on blue hen healer, and added appke cider vinegar, honey, and cranberry juice to the waterer. I have no idea which one helped or if it was a combo of them all but we got rid of the gleet after about 45 days.

 

[lisajnuttall]

Yikes, I have not had experience with this. They sound very sick though, Will be watching to see what some of the more experienced members say. Hope everything turns out ok, it can be exhausting trying to solve these problems. Keep your head up!

Thanks, yeah getting rather tired and emotional now. I don't know how long I can keep it up. Its making washing almost impossible as washing machine and dryer are in the utility room where they are. feeling guilty im not spending as much time with my son as I should and in the middle of decorating a bedroom of which I'm doing myself. Hope they pick up soon!

 

[lisajnuttall]

I had an issue with gleet this spring. We treated with otc athlete's foot cream rubbed over the vent every other day, on opposite days I rubbed on blue hen healer, and added appke cider vinegar, honey, and cranberry juice to the waterer. I have no idea which one helped or if it was a combo of them all but we got rid of the gleet after about 45 days.

I will have a look at the athletes foot cream & cranberry. Thanks for the tip. I will try anything. 45 days!! gulp think I need to rethink where I put them. Need my utility room back.

 

[BjaJra826]

Maybe try giving them some protein too? If they are ex battery then it might take them longer to get better because of overall health too. Poor girls. Maybe see if your son wants to help with the birds and use it as a bonding activity for all of you? My kids love interacting with the birds.

 

[lisajnuttall]

Maybe try giving them some protein too? If they are ex battery then it might take them longer to get better because of overall health too. Poor girls. Maybe see if your son wants to help with the birds and use it as a bonding activity for all of you? My kids love interacting with the birds.

I've given them a few mealworms now and again. My son scares them as he can be loud and boisterous. They were suppose to be his but later decided maybe I should take all the responsibility. Also I worry he might catch something off one of them if they are sick and not 100% sure why.

 

[lisajnuttall]

I've given them a few mealworms now and again. My son scares them as he can be loud and boisterous. They were suppose to be his but later decided maybe I should take all the responsibility. Also I worry he might catch something off one of them if they are sick and not 100% sure why.

So your 45 days wasn't a typo? I was hoping you would come back and say you meant 4 to 5 days.

 

[Wyorp Rock]

One has been treated for about a week and seemed to make progress but now gone worse. She also sounds chesty but generally happy. The other came down with suspected gleet four days ago but isn't interested in drinking or eating much and generally bunches up with her eyes closed. Doing all I can think of but doesnt seem to be working. Both got hen pecked which caused wounds which I washed and added antiseptic purple spray then vetricyn.

Welcome To BYC!

Can you post some photos of the hens and their poop? (vent, discharge, whole hen)

You mention they are Ex-Batts, how long have you had them? Have they laid any eggs since you got them?
Both were pecked which caused wounds - was the pecking at the vent or somewhere else on the body?

Do a check-up for us please and let us know your findings - feel their crops - they should be empty first thing in the morning before eating/drinking, look them over really well for lice/mites, feel their abdomens -any bloat/swelling or feeling of fluid, also look inside the beak for sores, yellow/white plaques or canker.

Consider getting a fecal float to rule out worms. You mention Dettol and Canesten cream so I'm going to take a guess and say you are in the UK? If you don't have a vet that can do the fecal float, you can use Westgate Labs which is a mail order service based in the UK. https://www.westgatelabs.co.uk/

I'm sorry that you are dealing with this - hopefully with more information we can give you better suggestions.

 

[lisajnuttall]

Warning - gross picture alert!!! - sorry guys.

Thank you so much for your reply and the nice welcome. I will try and send photos to you tomorrow when the light is better. The ones attached or all I have right now. Yes I'm in the U.K. The first photo is Maisy's bottom. She is the sickest. The chickens pecked at her around her vent which bled. I removed her, noticed possible gleet so cleaned her up etc and put her in quarantine with the other that has suspected gleet. She was constantly producing white discharge even as I cleaned her. There was a thick yellow coating around and inside the vent which I couldn't get off. There was lots of stuck together white stuff going up inside which no doubt made it difficult to poo. I managed to clean some off but she was covered no matter how long I let her soak in the warm water. . The vent ends started to look black but not sure if this was stuck on discharge that had
The other one called Chiney was the first I spotted and had already been in quarantine a few days. She too had been bleeding from her vent, presume from pecking. I originally though that she had a prolapse but it was a mixure of dried discharge and being swollen. and white discharge. She still had a tiny bit of white discharge not much. She is rather is active, eating ok and drinking. But she does sound a bit chesty and I think its been a couple of weeks like this.

Also at the moment the sickly chicken (Maisy) that hasn't been moving and stood with its eyes shut has gone and hid. Whilst I was cleaning the bedding she went under the back door steps. This leads to a gap between the ground and the floor of our utility room. She has gone too far for me to get her and she isn't going to walk out on her own. I'm worried she is going to die there during the night or get by a fox or something as we do live in the countryside and have seen one not that long since. Not sore what to do. I might try cover it with a sheet or metal mesh. But she is still going to be there during the night. Do chickens go off to die like some animals do?
We have had them since March of this year. We use to have chickens about 9 years ago before my son was born.
B I will do a crop check in the morning and try & check its mouth.
Thanks, I will report back tomorrow, don't think i will sleep well tonight .

below Maisy - one under our utility

Chiney - chesty but gleet hopefully on its way out.