Hen not laying and stinky butt

[Haleygoss]

I have a 3-4 year old hen (not sure got her from a friend). She has laid faithfully almost daily since I’ve gotten her almost two years ago. She started molting last September-October and looked awful over the winter lost almost all feathers on her neck chest and wings. She has all her feathers back now but hasn’t laid since last September-October. And recently she’s had a horrible foul smell coming from her vent. No other symptoms though, not waddling, she’s eating drinking and pecking others just fine. I have posted pictures of her, her vent and a piece I pulled off of her vent (without gloves that smelled terrible!) I also posted a photo of her feet, does it look like she has scaly leg mites? None of my other hens are sick or legs look like this. Not sure if she egg bound, has gleet or what, any advice would be great!

 

[Farmgal101]

Hope someone can help you!you got a pretty hen there!Good luck!

 

[Haleygoss]

Hope someone can help you!you got a pretty hen there!Good luck!

Thank you!

 

[Haleygoss]

Here’s a photo of her poop

 

[Eggcessive]

It looks like she has had her vent pecked and injured. Is the blood from where you pulled off the chunk from her vent? There could be a combination of vent pecking infection, vent gleet, or a reproductive infection going on, I am just not sure. I would bring her inside, and give her a warm soak in Epsom salts for about 20 minutes. Wash the gunk off her vent area. While doing that insert a finger one inch inside her vent to check for an egg or any other material from infection in there. Apply plain Neosporin/Triple Antibiotic Ointment on her vent. Repeat this tomorrow.

Her leg scales appear lifted, as in scaly leg mites, but I wonder if she has gotten any frostbite on her legs lately that has caused the darkening of her scales. The warm soaks will also help her leg scales. After soaking her legs, apply some oil of choice to her legs where the scales are raised. Vaseline, coconut oil, crisco, or mineral oil are all good choices. Repeat this treatment once a week or whenever you do the vent soak.

 

[Haleygoss]

Yes it wasn’t bleeding until I pulled the piece off. I live in California so I don’t think frostbite. Thank you I will begin treatment now! Do I need to treat the coop at all for scaly leg mites? No other hens are having problems or lifted scales.

 

[Eggcessive]

It would probably be a good idea to treat your coop with permethrin 10 spray and change the bedding. Just inspect your others for loosened scales.

Do you think your hen has any laying problems, or has been getting her vent pecked?

 

[Haleygoss]

It would probably be a good idea to treat your coop with permethrin 10 spray and change the bedding. Just inspect your others for loosened scales.

Do you think your hen has any laying problems, or has been getting her vent pecked?

No vent pecking that I’ve seen however she had a lot of her neck feathers pecked off while she was molting. She hasn’t laid at all since last September. I didn’t feel an egg when I put my finger inside her vent. I gave her a soaking bath and cleaned out her vent then put neosporin on it. I also cleaned her legs and put coconut oil on them. The photos are her legs and vent after I treated them.

 

[Eggcessive]

Her vent looks better as well as her legs. Some hens will stop laying by her age and some develop laying disorders, such as salpingitis or internal laying. Some hens have fungal infections in their digestive tract that can cause vent gleet. Diarrhea is seen in a number of illnesses, so hopefully we can figure out what her problem is from.

I would use some probiotics in her diet. Cottage cheese or a small amount of plain yogurt with cultures can help. Probios powder from your feed store is good, and Gro2Max is another good brand available online. Make sure that she is eating and drinking well, and that she is consuming mostly a balanced chicken feed (layer or all flock.)

 

[Haleygoss]

She is free range in my yard but I Feed layer pellets as well as kitchen scraps and black oil sunflower seeds. I put acv in their water as well. I just bought some yogurt so I will give her some tomorrow.