BreezyValley
In the Brooder
- May 26, 2020
- 1
- 3
- 19
Big Red is a 1 yr old Ameraucana who weighs no more than a few pounds but makes up for it with her spunky and friendly attitude... until four days ago when I saw her just standing in place instead of coming to greet me like usual.
(((DAY 1)))
I walked over to her and saw why; her vent was red and slightly prolapsed. I took her inside and gave her a bath. Periodically she would push like she was trying to poop or lay an egg and the vent would invert and she would make a chirping sound like she was constipated. When she prolapsed I saw crusty white in between the oviduct and cloaca seeping a whiteish yellow creamy liquid. I felt around her abdomen and inside the oviduct and there was no egg there or shells. She would periodically poop small loose stools, sometimes with blood. It was late and I couldn’t get to the store so the next day
(((DAY 2)))
I began treating immediately with monistat, preparation H, and hydrocortisone cream. At this point she was drinking water and ate a little of her normal feed ration and was really into the plain yogurt with live cultures. I mixed apple cider vinegar with mother into her water and she drank a little. She’s been separated and in my bathroom with the lights off more often than on to prevent her from laying. She had a very squishy crop, so I’m assuming she had yeast there too. I massage it multiple times a day but I have not tried to make her vomit.
(((DAY 3)))
Third day she’s more poofed up and starting to look sleepy which is really scaring me. She seems interested in yogurt and layer crumbles momentarily and sometimes takes a few small bites, but then stops and closes her eyes. At this point she will drink if I dip my finger in water and hold it next to her head for her to peck it, but won’t approach the waterer. Her vent looks absolutely awful at this point, despite a daily bath, twice a day topicals, and even more numerous cleanings with hemorrhoid wipes that have witch hazel. Blood sometimes, and as I wipe her I notice some of the white crusties have turned brown or almost black, and are sort of peeling off. Her discharge at this point is running a little more clear and not as thick.
(((DAY 4)))
The next day it’s a lot more of the same, except even less interested in food and even more time with her eyes closed. Her crop has shrunk down to very small so I try to encourage her to eat but she’s just not into it. This entire time she still pushes her whole butt out sometimes multiple times in a span of a minute or two.
(((DAY 5 TODAY)))
Now it’s today. I’ve gotten her to drink water with ACV and some dissolved aspirin, and she’s seemingly more interested in it since I can pour it into a shallow Tupperware lid and if I dip her beak in she’ll drink. She still prefers me to dip my finger and have her peck. It doesn’t really seem like she’s lost much weight but she was very small to begin with; she’s my smallest girl. Since she’s drank more water today than yesterday her crop is puffed up again, which makes me nervous I did the wrong thing. Today the outside of her vent looks MUCH less irritated than before, and when she isn’t pushing out often everything sucks back in and looks less swollen. More of the original white crusties are sort of turning black and peeling off, but there’s still a substantial chunk right in the middle, and I’m afraid to pull at it too much because it bleeds slightly afterward. I just did another internal finger sweep to make sure there wasn’t anything new inside. Earlier today she took a couple tiny pecks of her favorite bits of her layer food but I don’t think she even ate them. Pooping less, but I can’t imagine there’s much left in her tummy.
((OTHER DETAILS))
She has 38 sisters and they live in an old barn and some sleep in a separate coop. We use pine shavings for flooring materials and they eat organic layer rations. We use the deep litter method and recently cleaned it all out and started new. Their poop lands on a shelf under the roosts and I clean it out at least once per week. There is a compost pile in their huge run where we do dump kitchen scraps (so I know this is possibly where it came from) There are four plastic waterers that are cleaned every time they get close to empty and there are three steel feeders that are up off the ground. Their run is MASSIVE and they forage bugs and worms and all the goodies. They are all my friends and Big Red is LITERALLY my favorite f****g one. I don’t have any vets near me who take chickens (wtf) and I spoke on the phone with a small animal vet at UW Madison today and he said he has nothing else in the way of advice for me.
Ok I think that’s all for the explanation, now for my questions.
1. should I be trying to feed her something?
2. Should I be trying to vomit the stuff out of her crop?
3. Has anyone ever even had a chicken come back from something like this?
4. why in the h*ck is she still pushing?
5. Is she just resting and healing while standing there with her feathers puffed and eyes closed or should I be really concerned? (((I AM ALREADY REALLY CONCERNED)))
6. Does it seem like the bum treatment is working? (Never seen vent gleet/yeast infection before so I have no clue what it looks like when it’s healing)
7. Should I be trying to get her to drink water?
8. Should I just start bawling my eyes out and picking a place to bury her?
I’ve posted in numerous other chicken groups and all I get from people is “you’re doing all the right things, keep it up!” But she just looks so tired and sick it’s hard to believe that what I’m doing is working, and I seriously want to know if anyone has had a chicken recover from this.
PLEASE HELP.
First pic is day 1 and second is today. Third pic is also today and what it looks like when she pushes out completely. Fourth pic is her beautiful face.
(((DAY 1)))
I walked over to her and saw why; her vent was red and slightly prolapsed. I took her inside and gave her a bath. Periodically she would push like she was trying to poop or lay an egg and the vent would invert and she would make a chirping sound like she was constipated. When she prolapsed I saw crusty white in between the oviduct and cloaca seeping a whiteish yellow creamy liquid. I felt around her abdomen and inside the oviduct and there was no egg there or shells. She would periodically poop small loose stools, sometimes with blood. It was late and I couldn’t get to the store so the next day
(((DAY 2)))
I began treating immediately with monistat, preparation H, and hydrocortisone cream. At this point she was drinking water and ate a little of her normal feed ration and was really into the plain yogurt with live cultures. I mixed apple cider vinegar with mother into her water and she drank a little. She’s been separated and in my bathroom with the lights off more often than on to prevent her from laying. She had a very squishy crop, so I’m assuming she had yeast there too. I massage it multiple times a day but I have not tried to make her vomit.
(((DAY 3)))
Third day she’s more poofed up and starting to look sleepy which is really scaring me. She seems interested in yogurt and layer crumbles momentarily and sometimes takes a few small bites, but then stops and closes her eyes. At this point she will drink if I dip my finger in water and hold it next to her head for her to peck it, but won’t approach the waterer. Her vent looks absolutely awful at this point, despite a daily bath, twice a day topicals, and even more numerous cleanings with hemorrhoid wipes that have witch hazel. Blood sometimes, and as I wipe her I notice some of the white crusties have turned brown or almost black, and are sort of peeling off. Her discharge at this point is running a little more clear and not as thick.
(((DAY 4)))
The next day it’s a lot more of the same, except even less interested in food and even more time with her eyes closed. Her crop has shrunk down to very small so I try to encourage her to eat but she’s just not into it. This entire time she still pushes her whole butt out sometimes multiple times in a span of a minute or two.
(((DAY 5 TODAY)))
Now it’s today. I’ve gotten her to drink water with ACV and some dissolved aspirin, and she’s seemingly more interested in it since I can pour it into a shallow Tupperware lid and if I dip her beak in she’ll drink. She still prefers me to dip my finger and have her peck. It doesn’t really seem like she’s lost much weight but she was very small to begin with; she’s my smallest girl. Since she’s drank more water today than yesterday her crop is puffed up again, which makes me nervous I did the wrong thing. Today the outside of her vent looks MUCH less irritated than before, and when she isn’t pushing out often everything sucks back in and looks less swollen. More of the original white crusties are sort of turning black and peeling off, but there’s still a substantial chunk right in the middle, and I’m afraid to pull at it too much because it bleeds slightly afterward. I just did another internal finger sweep to make sure there wasn’t anything new inside. Earlier today she took a couple tiny pecks of her favorite bits of her layer food but I don’t think she even ate them. Pooping less, but I can’t imagine there’s much left in her tummy.
((OTHER DETAILS))
She has 38 sisters and they live in an old barn and some sleep in a separate coop. We use pine shavings for flooring materials and they eat organic layer rations. We use the deep litter method and recently cleaned it all out and started new. Their poop lands on a shelf under the roosts and I clean it out at least once per week. There is a compost pile in their huge run where we do dump kitchen scraps (so I know this is possibly where it came from) There are four plastic waterers that are cleaned every time they get close to empty and there are three steel feeders that are up off the ground. Their run is MASSIVE and they forage bugs and worms and all the goodies. They are all my friends and Big Red is LITERALLY my favorite f****g one. I don’t have any vets near me who take chickens (wtf) and I spoke on the phone with a small animal vet at UW Madison today and he said he has nothing else in the way of advice for me.
Ok I think that’s all for the explanation, now for my questions.
1. should I be trying to feed her something?
2. Should I be trying to vomit the stuff out of her crop?
3. Has anyone ever even had a chicken come back from something like this?
4. why in the h*ck is she still pushing?
5. Is she just resting and healing while standing there with her feathers puffed and eyes closed or should I be really concerned? (((I AM ALREADY REALLY CONCERNED)))
6. Does it seem like the bum treatment is working? (Never seen vent gleet/yeast infection before so I have no clue what it looks like when it’s healing)
7. Should I be trying to get her to drink water?
8. Should I just start bawling my eyes out and picking a place to bury her?
I’ve posted in numerous other chicken groups and all I get from people is “you’re doing all the right things, keep it up!” But she just looks so tired and sick it’s hard to believe that what I’m doing is working, and I seriously want to know if anyone has had a chicken recover from this.
PLEASE HELP.
First pic is day 1 and second is today. Third pic is also today and what it looks like when she pushes out completely. Fourth pic is her beautiful face.
Welcome To BYC!
)
