Hen pecked, vent gleet, sour crop?

[Mommato5]

Our sickie is a black copper Marans about 1 year old. She looks completely healthy, lots of shiny feathers, red comb. I never would have suspected anything wrong with her. Yesterday my husband went to collect eggs and found 3 chickens in one (large) nest box. 2 of them were pecking this girl's vent to bits and she was bleeding quite a bit. He removed her. The bleeding stopped on it's own after a couple of hours (not heavy bleeding) but her vent was open wide and there was what looked like a white string of something hanging out of the vent and down her now bare bottom (but didn't look like a prolapse, more like a string of poop). She can walk fine and doesn't appear to be in pain, but mostly just stands in one place now, fluffed up. Last night she did not roost (slept on the floor) and her crop was HUGE and squishy, like she drank too much water (I was suspecting vent gleet and put ACV in her water and the bowl was empty but I don't know if she drank it or spilled it). I also gave her some tuna and she ate a small amount. This morning her crop was still huge and squishy so I thought sour crop and gave her yogurt, which she ate some of. Now her crop is still huge, but very solid/hard. I've moved her into a small cage in the garage to keep her warm. I am not sure what to do for her now. I have read to use Monastat for sour crop, but now that her crop is hard, maybe it's not that (or maybe it's solid because she ate?). Maybe she's not digesting because of the stress and blood loss from yesterday?

I don't know why she was attacked in the first place. We do have egg eaters so maybe they were trying to eat the egg as she was laying it and got some skin, too, and caused the bleeding. Or maybe her vent was red from vent gleet and that's why they attacked, but she really wasn't acting sick at all prior to the attack. Did illness lead to the attack or did the attack lead to the illness?? I don't want to over treat her if she's not sick and just is recovering from being attacked, but I don't want to neglect neccasary treatment either.

I would appreciate any suggestions or insight. Thank you!!

 

[Eggcessive]

She may have laid a shell-less egg that had broken, and they were going after the broken egg, and then started pecking her vent. She also may have had a small prolapse that slipped back inside. The white stringy thing was probably the egg membrane. Is her vent red and bloody or irritated and bare? Check her crop in the morning to make sure that it is soft again. There can be crop stasis where the crop is very slow, and that can happen with a lot of problems as a symptom. Is there a bad smell to her breath? There is a lot of difference in opinion about treating sour crop--many say to not give vinegar. I wouldn't give any whole grains at all until her crop is better. Soft foods like eggs, wet feed, apple sauce, and small amounts of yogurt may help. Nystatin, medistatin (available online) and fluconazole can be good for sour crop if it is fungal. Vent gleet and sour crop can occur at the same time if it is fungal. Antifungal creams such as Nustock, miconazole, and Lotrimin applied to the vent may help if she has that. Here is a link about crops and vent gleet:
http://www.the-chicken-chick.com/2012/04/answers-from-chicken-vet-on-impacted.html
http://www.tillysnest.com/2012/12/vent-gleet-prevention-and-treatment.html

 

[Mommato5]

Thank you for the response! Her crop is soft and squishy again (but very full). She has been eating yogurt and drinking water which I think is a good sign! Her vent area is scabbed over bloody. I will get an anti fungal, remove her seeds and feed her soft foods. Thank you!

 

[Eggcessive]

Thank you for the response! Her crop is soft and squishy again (but very full). She has been eating yogurt and drinking water which I think is a good sign! Her vent area is scabbed over bloody. I will get an anti fungal, remove her seeds and feed her soft foods. Thank you!

I did want to clarify that it may not be vent gleet--it would be hard to tell if it is really gleet when she has just been pecked there. It may or may not be--only you will be able to judge it when she heals a bit, but putting Nustock on it would probably not hurt if it wasn't gleet because Nustock will heal a lot of things.

 

[Mommato5]

This morning her crop was still full and soft, but smaller than before. I bathed her in Epsom salt and she tolerated it fine. While she was drying, I wiped her bottom area and the white that I had seen was just poop on her feathers, not at all related to her vent! The pecked area was above the vent. I put on neosporin (without pain reliever) and she squirmed at that like it was still sore. I offered her yogurt, scrambled eggs and applesauce over the course of the day but she didn't eat much at all and she didn't drink anything.

When we got home from running an errand she was dead.

I am shocked because the wound did not look severe and looked like it was healing well so I figured the crop issue was due to the trauma and would resolve as she recovered. Maybe it was, but I also think that was what killed her in the end.