Hen with Blocked Vent

[StarLightFarms]

My hen has been struggling with this for the last few weeks, she was straining so hard earlier today and nothing was coming out. She keeps getting feces stuck and blocking off her vent. I was able to give her a warm bath earlier and try to remove as much as possible but there was a chunk of poop that was stuck to the bottom side that I couldn't remove. I've tried but taking some off in the past has caused the skin to be raw and open, even the warm bath didnt loosen it. It appears that her poop is sandy and has bits in it almost like she's not digesting it. But im not sure why it's getting stuck and blocking off her vent. She is normal otherwise, a little skinny but she has been eating and no diarrhea. She puffs up more than the others when outside but still moves around a little. I gave her a bath dried her off and put some Vaseline and i had canesten so I put some of that around what I had been able to clear open for her. I also gave her some coconut oil orally but I'm not sure what else to do for her.

 

[Eggcessive]

Has she ever had a prolapse or been pecked around her vent by others? Does she lay eggs now or had large eggs in the past? Does she have an unusually bad odor near her vent or when she poops? Does she have access to eating sand? I’m not experienced with vent gleet, a fungal infection, but she could have that or vent damage. You may want to give 1-2 tsp of chilled coconut oil cut into tiny pieces daily, to help soften the droppings. You can lubricate her vent with some vaseline, and use a gloved finger to clean out her vent daily. Has there been any chaulky white urates forming a crust inside the vent? I would try to get her drinking well, keep going on the canestin or try Nystatin or Medistatin powder for fungal infections. Probiotics may help. Do you feed just a layer or all flock feed, or does she get other extras?

 

[StarLightFarms]

Has she ever had a prolapse or been pecked around her vent by others? Does she lay eggs now or had large eggs in the past? Does she have an unusually bad odor near her vent or when she poops? Does she have access to eating sand? I’m not experienced with vent gleet, a fungal infection, but she could have that or vent damage. You may want to give 1-2 tsp of chilled coconut oil cut into tiny pieces daily, to help soften the droppings. You can lubricate her vent with some vaseline, and use a gloved finger to clean out her vent daily. Has there been any chaulky white urates forming a crust inside the vent? I would try to get her drinking well, keep going on the canestin or try Nystatin or Medistatin powder for fungal infections. Probiotics may help. Do you feed just a layer or all flock feed, or does she get other extras?

She's never had a prolapse or any other problems. She's one of the more dominant hens so she's never been pecked at. She'll be 2 in the spring. Her eggs were pretty average, this started after they molted in the fall and she hasn't laid since this started that I know of.
- There is an unpleassnt odor when she poops or when I start cleaning it out.
- i think there is white urates because it seems like there is a crust that forms and blocks it off.
- she could be eating sand but didn't add any to there run, they were free ranging more before the cold weather but then we had a fox attack so now I'm been keeping them in a run.
- I feed a grower crumbles because I had roosters and it was all I had access too as my feed store doesn't see an all flock feed and I was told that roosters shouldn't have layer.

 

[Eggcessive]

I’m not sure why this sort of thing happens to some chickens, but there was another thread in the last few days about a similar condition. I will try to find it to link here. Is her crop emptying by early morning? Sour crop might be associated with vent gleet. I would probably use 15 ml of apple cider vinegar to each gallon of her drinking water daily to lower the pH, and offer some plain unsweetened yogurt daily with her food. Some people give the antifungal cream orally as well as using it on and in the vent. Here is the other similar thread:
https://www.backyardchickens.com/threads/crust-inside-vent-how-to-clean.1562437/