Hen straining and in pain - egg bound or vent gleet?

[tullypippin]

Hi everyone,

We have a very sad chicken at our house. Gouda is a 1-year-old bantam hen (Double Silver-laced Barnevelder) who has been straining to either poop or lay an egg for the past 2 days, with no improvement.

Here's the story: Thursday evening we discovered her in the coop, making these weird squeaking sounds while straining to poop. Her vent was slightly open, there was diarrhea on her feathers, and her vent didn't contract like it normally would.

We tried to feel for an egg, but couldn't feel anything obvious in her abdomen and when we felt her vent it caused her a lot of discomfort - and we still couldn't feel anything. We consulted Dr. Google and came across "vent gleet", which has similar symptoms.

Here's what we've been doing:

Friday: hunched up, straining, not eating or drinking by herself, liquidy white/yellow diarrhea
- Soaked her vent in warm iodine water 4x (seems to calm straining down)
- Gave her 1 crushed calcium pill mixed with yogurt just in case she's egg bound (no change)
- Diluted 1/4 cup yogurt with water, syringe fed that (yogurt was recommended for vent gleet)
- Gave her 5cc of molasses/water solution (again, recommended for vent gleet)

Today: no change
- Soaked her vent in warm iodine water (again calmed straining down)
- Gave her 10cc of molasses/water solution

I'm not sure what else to do... She's obviously in a lot of pain when the straining starts up, she does this agonized clucking sound. I'm not sure whether to keep trying things or put her out of her misery!

Any advice is appreciated, thank you.

 

[tullypippin]

Yes, please let us know how she is in the morning.
It's good that she's eating and seems more comfortable. Not to burst your bubble, but I would be cautiously hopeful that the worst is behind, but the bulge is not normal (look in the morning). I would still be concerned that she's having some type of reproductive issue which is soooo frustrating. There's usually not a lot you can do except what you have done so far.

Checked on her today and she was making happy clucking sounds instead of distressed ones, which was a welcome improvement!

Gave her 2 tbsp yogurt mixed with rice (thinking the BRAT diet here?), she ate most of that and more of her feed.

We have some water with a bit of apple cider vinegar in her cage (supposed to be good for digestion), she's been drinking that too. 2 small solid poops in her cage!

Going to give her 1 tsp coconut oil again per @Eggcessive 's suggestion, and continue to monitor.

Attached a better photo of her vent from just now, some crusted poop below but otherwise looks better than yesterday, less red and inflamed.

 

[Eggcessive]

The white discharge is urates or kidney waste. I would give her a teaspoonfull of coconut oil that has been refrigerated and chopped into small pieces which she should eat. Does her vent area appear irritated or crusted? I would try to get her to pass some droppings with the coconut oil. Will she eat some chicken feed and a little chopped scrambled egg?

Does her crop feel empty, full, hard, or puffy? What does her diet usually consist of? Does she have grit available?

 

[Eggcessive]

The area under her vent looks bulging slightly. I can’t see the vent opening in your pic. A better pic could help. Her tail is down somewhat. I just wonder if she might have a lash egg stuck up high or has something else going on. Is a vet a possibility?

 

[tullypippin]

Yes, I agree, it's hard to tell about the vent, that bulge - where is it located, what does that feel like?

She's still straining to poop as well?
View attachment 1894447

UPDATE: Sorry for being MIA, it was a busy day!

When I checked on Gouda this afternoon, she seemed perkier and less fluffed up, no straining. She pecked at her feed, even! I gave her 1 tsp of refrigerated coconut oil and left her alone.

I just checked on her (5 hours later) and she's laying down, which is the first time she's done that since Thursday! NO straining. Half her feed was gone, and she'd eaten all the coconut oil. I spied what looked like a small solid poop in the corner - very exciting

The bulge you saw is just above the vent - don't want to check it now since she's resting, but I'll give a look tomorrow.

Hoping the worst of it is over?? Will give an update tomorrow morning.

 

[Wyorp Rock]

UPDATE: Sorry for being MIA, it was a busy day!

When I checked on Gouda this afternoon, she seemed perkier and less fluffed up, no straining. She pecked at her feed, even! I gave her 1 tsp of refrigerated coconut oil and left her alone.

I just checked on her (5 hours later) and she's laying down, which is the first time she's done that since Thursday! NO straining. Half her feed was gone, and she'd eaten all the coconut oil. I spied what looked like a small solid poop in the corner - very exciting

The bulge you saw is just above the vent - don't want to check it now since she's resting, but I'll give a look tomorrow.

Hoping the worst of it is over?? Will give an update tomorrow morning.

Yes, please let us know how she is in the morning.
It's good that she's eating and seems more comfortable. Not to burst your bubble, but I would be cautiously hopeful that the worst is behind, but the bulge is not normal (look in the morning). I would still be concerned that she's having some type of reproductive issue which is soooo frustrating. There's usually not a lot you can do except what you have done so far.

 

[Wyorp Rock]

Checked on her today and she was making happy clucking sounds instead of distressed ones, which was a welcome improvement!

Gave her 2 tbsp yogurt mixed with rice (thinking the BRAT diet here?), she ate most of that and more of her feed.

We have some water with a bit of apple cider vinegar in her cage (supposed to be good for digestion), she's been drinking that too. 2 small solid poops in her cage!

Going to give her 1 tsp coconut oil again per @Eggcessive 's suggestion, and continue to monitor.

Attached a better photo of her vent from just now, some crusted poop below but otherwise looks better than yesterday, less red and inflamed.

It sounds like she's doing a bit better.

 

[Eggcessive]

Sorry about your bantam hen. Has she been laying eggs recently, and were they normal with hard shells? Is she pooping? If you insert a finger inside her vent (lube and use a rubber glove) about an inch or so, can you feel anything other than soft tissue? Hopefully, she doesn’t have a stuck egg, lash egg material, or a tumor stuck. Constipation or obstruction could be possible.

 

[tullypippin]

Sorry about your bantam hen. Has she been laying eggs recently, and were they normal with hard shells? Is she pooping? If you insert a finger inside her vent (lube and use a rubber glove) about an inch or so, can you feel anything other than soft tissue? Hopefully, she doesn’t have a stuck egg, lash egg material, or a tumor stuck. Constipation or obstruction could be possible.

She hasn't been laying eggs recently, but the last eggs we saw were normal with hard shells. I haven't seen any solid poop from her other than this whitish liquid discharge (thinking it's diarrhea but not sure).

Yesterday I inserted a gloved finger in her vent (using lube) and couldn't feel anything other than soft tissue. She started straining and protesting, so we haven't tried it again.

 

[Eggcessive]

I am going to tag @casportpony and @Wyorp Rock to see if they have any thoughts. The foul odor may be some type of infection going on. It is just hard to know for sure.