ISA brown hens lethargic with poopy bottoms

[finally flying]

Two of my isa brown hens are lethargic with wet poopy butts. They are just over a year old. I feed them commercial hen ration as well as waste green pepper, tomato, and cucumber from a local restaurant. They also get comfrey, weeds and grass clippings. I just noticed this today. What should I do to help them?

Does anyone know of a chicken vet anywhere near Winnipeg, Canada?

 

[Wyorp Rock]

Can you post some photos of them and their poop?

Can you get a fecal float to see if worms might be an issue?

You may want to give them their normal commercial feed only for several days to see if the loose poop resolves. Perhaps too much moisture from the veggies, some mold, etc. could be part of the problem.

 

[finally flying]

Thanks for the help. When I felt their abdomens it felt like one had an impacted egg. She basically died in my hands. Once I got the other hen's butt washed off, it looks like she has a prolapse. What should I do to help her with the prolapse? Also, sorry for the gross picture.

 

[Wyorp Rock]

I'm sorry you lost one of them

You're right, poor girl has a prolapse and looks like maybe a bit of damage from picking.

Are there any maggots on the exposed tissue? Hard to tell, but let's hope not.

If she's lethargic, then getting her in a soaking tub may put her over the edge. I'd clean the prolapse either by soaking in a warm epsom salts bath or spray it with saline, diluted chlorhexidine (Hibiclens) or betadine. Keep the tissue moist with honey, sugar pack, coconut oil, triple antibiotic ointment...whatever you have on hand, the goal is to keep that exposed tissue from drying out and becoming necrotic.

This is when you do want to separate her out so her vent doesn't get picked at. Place her in a kennel, crate, etc. on clean dry bedding. Puppy pads in your kennel or crate work well, they are easy to change out and clean up is convenient.

I'd work on hydration. Get her drinking. She needs extra Calcium. You can find Calcium Citrate with D3 at Walmart, CVS, etc. give her 1 tablet daily. Just open the beak, pop it in and let her swallow. If you don't have the Calcium Citrate, 1 TUMS daily will work too.
Calcium helps with retention, so hopefully as the swelling goes down, she will be able to pull in the tissue herself. Or you may need to assist. It can take a few days for this to happen, so just do the best you can with keeping the tissue moist and sprayed clean.

 

[finally flying]

I was cleaning her up and it looks like there are now maggots in there as well as some of the tissue has dried out where it was pecked at. I can stuff everything back in but it all comes out again a few seconds later. When it comes out it brings more maggots with it.

 

[Wyorp Rock]

They are moving?

You will want to try to remove all the maggots you can. Spraying them off, soaking her if she's not lethargic and picking them off.

It doesn't sound very good if maggots are coming out of the vent. Hopefully they can be eliminated.
Do what you can.

I'm very sorry that you're dealing with this.

 

[finally flying]

She didn't make it. It's doubly sad because I think she got that prolapse by the hen that always laid the biggest eggs. I haven't collected any double yolkers since I noticed her prolapse. Thanks for the support.

 

[Wyorp Rock]

She didn't make it. It's doubly sad because I think she got that prolapse by the hen that always laid the biggest eggs. I haven't collected any double yolkers since I noticed her prolapse. Thanks for the support.

I'm sorry to hear you lost her