Leakage from vent? Please help....

[chicknfun]

Hello Everyone- My DH's fishing buddy has a chicken that has what appears to be a black colored leakage from her vent. She is not particularly tame, and I couldn't get a hold of her when I went with him to feed today. He is an older guy and cannot bend down to look and see the leakage. I tried to point it out to him but he just couldn't see it.

His chickens are not pet like, he keeps them strictly for eggs and meat.

I suggested that seeing as how they have seen her in one nest box continuously for the last few days, maybe she was egg bound (?). Michael said he didn't think so, but I said I would post and see what replies came back.....
Any help would be greatly appreciated, as that particular chicken is my favorite of his flock, and I do not want her to suffer. Could the leakage indicate something else?
Thanks in advance- Wendi

 

[Karhog]

I have not heard of black leakage before- could it be dark or dried blood? Could she be injured or could be a prolapse. If she were mine I would claen the area and try to get a better look.

 

[chicknfun]

Thanks for the reply! I am going to try to catch her today when I go over there to feed them.
Not sure what it is at this point, it looks black from a few feet away, but without catching her, I can't really tell what color, or type of substance it is..

Can someone tell me what to look for? That is, if..... I can catch her

 

[chicknfun]

Today when I went to feed, there was not much left of the streak of black stuff from the vent area left, but she released a weird poo that was all black. Not really 'runny', but not normal either.

Any ideas?
I did separate her from the rest of the flock. There is actually 2 coops there, and one large yard for both coops. I locked her in one of the coops. I tried very hard to capture her so that i could examine her vent, but to no avail. She was running out in the yard area when I arrived, and she had gone into the preferred nest box as i was finishing up, so it was easy to lock her in at that point. No egg in her box at all....but feisty, nonetheless.....
In fact, the egg production has been going down steadily for the last 5 days. We were getting 12 - 14 eggs per day out of 14 hens, then, all at once it just dropped to 3-6 a day. Today there were 4.

So, I am trying to research the poo thing, but any ideas would be helpful!

 

[Sarahndipity723]

Black stool in other species means blood in stool OR iron usually...can u ask a vet? For other species u can "guaic" the stool with a test kit from vet if its possible the animal has blood in stool...

 

[buckabucka]

Have you seen the poop chart page? If you type it in the search box you will find it, and it shows what is normal (not the most pleasant viewing, but helpful). If the hen is hard to catch, you may have to go in the evening when you can snatch her off the roost.
Good luck with her!

 

[chicknfun]

LOL
i did view the poop page, and couldn't find anything that looked quite like what was in her coop.....However, I read so many threads and I did come across a few ideas.... I know Mike has been feeding them red cabbage, swiss chard, and the little 'chicken cakes', so, because the chicken is acting normally, i am thinking that it is something in her diet. I was able to distract her in the nest box today and felt around her rear and under. I did not feel anything that felt like an egg stuck

.
Thanks for everyones ideas and suggestions! i guess all i can do at this point is to watch her closely and see what comes about.