Hen suffering from aftermath of prolapse vent

[Raeganmh02]

Hi! This is my first time posting a question, but I need some help. My 3 year old leg horn hen (Hie Hie) had prolapse vent about a month ago. It was a pretty bad case. I separated her and started giving her warm baths almost every day. Then I would use honey, sugar, and sometimes coconut oil to push it gently back into her body. This went on for almost THREE weeks. It was a rather long battle and many times I though about culling her, but she is one of my favs, so I didn’t give up. Finally, I walked into the barn one morning and it was back in! However, it had been out so long and her vent smelt like there was an infection. I did some research, and I went to the vet and got 3 cc’s of baytril to help fight the infection. Since she is only 2 and one half pounds, I gave her half a cc a day. The antibiotic lasted 6 days. However, five days after running out of the antibiotic, the area under and around her vent still stinks of infection and is still very swollen. I’m not sure what to do now. Should I get her more antibiotics, and If so, what kind of antibiotics should I get? I don’t think baytril is working too well; maybe the dosage was wrong. I’d hate to cull her after coming this far. Any advice? Thanks so much!

 

[FluffyButtBabies]

Can you take her to vet, or is that not an option? Does it look like she might have vent gleet, or do you think it's something else? Vent gleet can be treated at home, but if it's a bacterial infection than a vet is really the best option.

 

[Eggcessive]

Do you have clear pictures of how the vent looks? Have you been soaking her vent and gently scrubbing the part that stinks? Epsom salts water or warm soapy water would be good. If you have a little Betadine or Chlorhexidene (Hibiclens) I would squirt some on the area, and wash it well. Then use some plain Neosporin on it.

 

[Raeganmh02]

Thanks so much for the replies! I looked up vent gleet symptoms and it match up somewhat which what she has. I haven’t really noticed a white discharge, her rumps been pretty dry lately. However, she does have that nose-cringing smell that my sisters can’t stand (guess I’ve gotten used to it). I was thinking it could be an infection in the lower part of her oviduct since is was out of her body for so long. I could take her into the vet if need be, I’ve sort of put that as a “last option”. She has been the same (same smell and same degree of swelling) for a week now, and I’m waiting to see if it gets better since I gave her baytril. I will give her another warm bath today, I sort of slacked off the baths since her rump dried up again. I don’t have epson salt, but I do have mineral salt that Ives used instead. I’ll send some pics I took yesterday of her rump. Thanks for the advice! I had never even heard of vent gleet before. I’ll do a little more research on it to be sure that’s what she has. The picture may be a little nasty, but I guess chickens don’t have the cleanest rear of any animal

 

[Raeganmh02]

The first pictures were taken this morning. There is some white discharge but I’m not sure if that is poo or not. I’m begging to think she may have vent gleet.

 

[Raeganmh02]

 

[Raeganmh02]

Here is yesterday’s picture where her vent was relatively clean, but is noticeably swollen and larger than normal.

 

[Eggcessive]

What is the crusty material below her vent? Does that come out with a bath? Her prolapse is gone, so that is good. Does you feed have probiotics in it? What does she normally eat in a day? Just looked at the last picture. She might have stool or some blockage inside her vent which could cause the swelling.

 

[Raeganmh02]

The crusty stuff does come off when she gets a bath thankfully. I’m going to get her some probiotics tomorrow morning when I go to Rual King. I’ve been feeding her chick starter feed and not layer feed (I’m trying to keep her from laying too many eggs). She eats plenty still, and drinks plenty as well. I’m hoping the probiotics give her a boost. She’s still laying an egg almost every day, and the egg comes out clean. No blood or poo on it. Also, her dropping are normal in color and thickness. Nothing runny or unusual. Thanks for the reply’s , they’ve been very helpful!