Is this Vent Gleet!? Please help! *Pictures*

[lauranickerson]

I just bought 5 laying hens from someone on Craigslist who deemed them perfectly healthy. I brought them home to find them with lice and one with this.

None have laid an egg yet, but I haven't had them a full day yet. Plus I'm not sure if they will right now because 1, they might be under stress from the move, 2, they are in a crate in the garage on quarantine for the lice, and have no nesting area (if that matters), and 3, the lady said a lot of them are going into molt. It doesn't appear any of these are in molt (and why they would during the summer is beyond me).


Anyways. Here are some pictures.

Not sure who did this, but it has orange in it. Is that normal? (doesn't look like blood)



Another orange-y tinted poo.


Her behind.


Her skin is white around the vent (I also powdered them for the lice, too). There is a ball of poo/urate stuck right under her vent, and then stuck on down on the feathers. When I pinned her down, then scooted her, there was a smear of clear liquid with white swirls in it. She smells pretty bad.

 

[lauranickerson]

This is the first sick bird I've ever had! I sure could use some advice!

 

[ten chicks]

I just bought 5 laying hens from someone on Craigslist who deemed them perfectly healthy. I brought them home to find them with lice and one with this.

None have laid an egg yet, but I haven't had them a full day yet. Plus I'm not sure if they will right now because 1, they might be under stress from the move, 2, they are in a crate in the garage on quarantine for the lice, and have no nesting area (if that matters), and 3, the lady said a lot of them are going into molt. It doesn't appear any of these are in molt (and why they would during the summer is beyond me).


Anyways. Here are some pictures.

Not sure who did this, but it has orange in it. Is that normal? (doesn't look like blood)



Another orange-y tinted poo.


Her behind.


Her skin is white around the vent (I also powdered them for the lice, too). There is a ball of poo/urate stuck right under her vent, and then stuck on down on the feathers. When I pinned her down, then scooted her, there was a smear of clear liquid with white swirls in it. She smells pretty bad.

Yes,this looks like vent gleet. Also green poop(besides eating grass clippings,etc) can indicate they are not getting enough food. Here is a link for information and instructions on vent gleet.

www.backyardchickens.com/a/vent-gleet-aka-nasty-chicken-butt

 

[lauranickerson]

Okay, thank you. I leave on vacation tomorrow night. Should I start the treatment of bathing when I get back or just do two days then finish when I come back? I'll be gone for about 9 days.

 

[ten chicks]

Okay, thank you. I leave on vacation tomorrow night. Should I start the treatment of bathing when I get back or just do two days then finish when I come back? I'll be gone for about 9 days.

Start immediately.

 

[casportpony]

She could have multiple things going on. Some will say the orange poo is normal, but I have not found that to be true. If she were mine I would start by dusting her for bugs with a proper poultry dust, not DE and I'd also de-worm her with fenbendazole 10% (Safeguard or Panacur, liquid or paste) 50mg/kg by mouth (0.5ml per 2.2 pounds). You'll find the wormer in the horse, goat and cattle sections of TSC. Worms can cause all of the symptoms that you're seeing, so that's a good place to start, IMHO.

Warning: fenbendazole should not be used during molt.

-Kathy

 

[lauranickerson]

She could have multiple things going on. Some will say the orange poo is normal, but I have not found that to be true. If she were mine I would start by dusting her for bugs with a proper poultry dust, not DE and I'd also de-worm her with fenbendazole 10% (Safeguard or Panacur, liquid or paste) 50mg/kg by mouth (0.5ml per 2.2 pounds). You'll find the wormer in the horse, goat and cattle sections of TSC. Worms can cause all of the symptoms that you're seeing, so that's a good place to start, IMHO.

Warning: fenbendazole should not be used during molt.

-Kathy

I'm not quite sure if they are in molt or not. They all seem to have all their feathers still except this girl in this post. She's missing a patch right on her back, about the size or a plum/peach. Maybe it's from mating?

 

[casportpony]

I'm not quite sure if they are in molt or not. They all seem to have all their feathers still except this girl in this post. She's missing a patch right on her back, about the size or a plum/peach. Maybe it's from mating?

FWIW, I have used it on molting birds and haven't had any issues. For me, I'd rather have a healthy one without worms and funny feathers than a sick or dead one with pretty feathers. The choice is yours to make, but like I said before, I've used it during molt and haven't had any issues with feather growth.





-Kathy

 

[lauranickerson]

Okay, so I'm going to treat for vent fleet first. I put ACV in their water. I mixed layer crumbles, water, raw garlic, and organic yogurt together in a bowl and fed that to them (I made a batch for the people watching them to feed while I'm gone). I then cut up a few more cloves of garlic and made some scrambled eggs. I put that and the last bit of yogurt on a plate, generously sprinkled with wheat germ.

I then filled the sink with epsom salt water, and soaked her in it for a while. Then I rubbed around with Dawn dish soap and got most of the crud off (some was really hard and crusty). When I examined her after pulling her out the water, I decided I'm just going to clip a bunch of the feathers around the vent to lessen the mess, since they appeared to be covered in lice eggs anyways. It exposed her redness. It's a bit tender, as in it's not really firm or anything where the redness is. I can poke it with pressure and it will go in about an inch. I got as close to the body with the clippers as I could without making her bleed. I noticed a sore under her vent, also. It looks like it's infected a little, maybe a little puss under the skin with a dark red hole in the middle. I squeezed like a pimple just for a second, but it's kind of hard and I stopped right away. I tried getting good pictures, but they are just a tad blurry with bad lighting.

Any other suggestions? (I may try deworming if this doesn't work after I get back from vacation).


Here are the pictures.
The sore is almost right in the middle of the picture.




Red butt.

 

[casportpony]

Vent gleet is caused by something... infection, which can be bacterial or fungal, or parasites. Finding out what is causing it is key, which is why I suggested worming before you go on holiday. Does that make sense?

-Kathy