HELP SICK LOOKING CHICKEN BUT

[casportpony]

Her bottom does look pretty reddened. Do you think one of the others has been pecking her? That's what it looks like to me. Look around her vent and into the base of her feathers and try to look for lice eggs (yellow bits) or specks of dirt which may indicate mites. If her butt is poopy, you can take some scissors and trim away the poop on the feathers. There is a condition called vent gleet (not saying she has this) that will cause white and yellow patches on reddened skin around the vent. This is a yeast infection.

I've been dealing with some yeast infections and a vent prolapse due to laying issues so your thread caught my eye. This doesn't look like what I've been dealing with ... maybe that's reassuring?

I recently read an article written by a vet that "vent gleet" is not always a yeast infection, it can also be due to a bacterial infection or parasites. And I believe the same can be true for a prolapse, it can be from an egg, yeast, bacteria or parasite.

-Kathy

 

[casportpony]

Official recommendations for treatment if vent gleet type symptoms differ a LOT, from antibiotics for bacterial infections to recommending against antibiotics because antibiotics make fungal infections worse.

I had a hen with a prolapsed vent and dirty butt with stink. The hen was active and thogh she also has feather loss due to molting and over mating, I didn't spot anything to indicate parasites or sickness from bacterial infection. That night I brought her in for a bath in very warm Epsom Salts. I got as much of the gunk off as I could by soaking, rinsing and scrubbing with a soft toothbrush and a soft wash cloth. I also used a pair of tweasers to help peel off a few little bits ... but was super careful with the very tender vent prolapse. I gently explored/massaged her bottom a bit to help her pass any impacted poo and feel if she had an impacted egg, but didn't feel anything too suspicious. She did pass some poo pellets which could have been part of the problem, or not.

Using some water-based lubricant I explored inside her vent to make sure she didn't have anything in there. I found no egg shells. I also popped the prolapse back inside.

Then I treated her vent interior with preparation h to help shrink the swelling.

Then I applied some athletes foot cream to the area ... this is effective for fungal infections, which yeast infections are. But I gather not all "vent gleet" is fungal.

I repeated this for the next few nights until she looked and smelled better and stayed clean on her own. Then I put her back with her friends. I kept an eye on her after that.

Note: I am not a vet and did not seek the advice of a vet. I did a fair amount of Internet research, and chose what sounded to me to be a conservative approach based on the info I found doing the Internet searches and what my gut told me about the situation. But your situation might be very different than mine so this approach might not be good for your hen.

That is what I read recently... Need to find that link!

-Kathy

 

[sararoni]

Oh my ....... 639 pages!!!!
I had never seen a post so long.
Thanks. It will keep me busy for a while