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.

 

[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.

 

[Twoleggedmotherhen]

Would try warm Epsom Salt soak and Crushed Tums or Citracal(?) In smashed boiled or scrambled egg.
Could possibly be a reproductive problem(such as internal laying). Pictures or video would be helpful. For video upload to U Tube and link to post.
Thank You @Eggcessive was just tagging you.

 

[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]

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?

 

[tullypippin]

Would try warm Epsom Salt soak and Crushed Tums or Citracal(?) In smashed boiled or scrambled egg.
Could possibly be a reproductive problem(such as internal laying). Pictures or video would be helpful. For video upload to U Tube and link to post.
Thank You @Eggcessive was just tagging you.

I can give crushed Tums a try! Here are some photos, she was squirming quite a bit so hard to get a good one. She's not straining now since I soaked her vent an hour ago, but I can try to get a video of it once she starts again

 

[tullypippin]

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?

I'll try the coconut oil, we have some! Her vent is possibly a bit swollen and more pink than normal, but not crusted. It's now contracting like it should when stimulated. Forgot to add that the liquidy discharge is pretty foul smelling!

I'll see if she eats a chicken feed/scrambled egg combo.

Her crop is difficult to find, I tried for a minute and didn't feel anything hard, assuming it's soft and empty.

Her diet is normally pellet layer feed, with oyster shell mixed in. Haven't added grit recently since they've been outside in rocky soil most days.

 

[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?

 

[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.

 

[Wyorp Rock]

has been straining to either poop or lay an egg for the past 2 days, with no improvement.

hunched up, straining, not eating or drinking by herself, liquidy white/yellow diarrhea

She's obviously in a lot of pain when the straining starts up, she does this agonized clucking sound.

She hasn't been laying eggs recently, but the last eggs we saw were normal

I haven't seen any solid poop from her other than this whitish liquid discharge

Forgot to add that the liquidy discharge is pretty foul smelling!

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?