Lethargic silkie with sore bum, please help.

[dehill]

One of my silkies has become lethargic over the past few days. Not running for treats with the rest of the flock. Sitting alone and isolated.

I had a look at her today and noticed all the feathers around her vent are heavily matted with poo, there was a poo sticking out a little and her vent was bloody. Poor girl must be in some pain. Any ideas?

All help welcome.

The rest of the flock seem well, her eyes are clear and she looks fine otherwise. Not eating like she should, while the others run for mealworms she has to be taken to them.

 

[nuthatched]

Hi there,
Clean her up, first up all. it could be a pro lapsed vent and I need to stay clean.
What is your birds diet?

 

[coach723]

It does look prolapsed. It needs to be kept clean and moist, if the tissue dries up it will become necrotic.
Prolapse treatment info here:
https://the-chicken-chick.com/prolapse-vent-causes-treatment-graphic/

 

[dehill]

Thanks both! I gave her a bath this evening. There was a big mass inside her vent which I manipulated and fairly large amount of poo came out. Very smelly almost like a broody poo.

Some of the vent was definitely prolapsed, so I gently pushed that back in and applied a little bit of the kids sudocreme (antiseptic nappy rash cream). Pic from afterwards below, which was quite the caper to photograph!! She’s in isolation on my warm kitchen tonight in a dog crate with some corn and fresh water.

Any other ideas?

I’ll reintroduce her to the run tomorrow but segregated from the rest of the flock for a few days.

Poor girl!

 

[coach723]

When you say a mass in her vent, did it come out? What was it and did you get a picture? Was it just droppings, or something else?

 

[dehill]

Sorry, I should have been more clear. It was just a big ball of droppings.

 

[coach723]

If she's having trouble with droppings, she may be constipated. Probably need to limit the corn to just very occasionally. All kinds of treats in excess can cause issues, corn is carb heavy and can lead to abdominal fat. Fat birds tend to have more issues. It's REALLY easy to over do treats, they are so small. You can give her coconut oil to help soften the droppings, that may help with keeping the prolapse in also. Freeze the coconut oil and break it into pieces and feed them to her, they usually like it. About a tsp at a time if she'll take that much. Until you know every thing is moving normally and the prolapse is staying in I wouldn't feed anything else except her regular crumbles or pellets mixed with some water to make a mash. That will also help keep her hydrated.

 

[dehill]

Thanks again. I think I’ve got to the bottom of it now (if you’ll forgive the pun!); I think she is constipated.

I kept her in the kitchen last night and it STUNK this morning. I gave her a warm bath with some of the kids baby shampoo and found another hard poo struggling to get out. As soon as it was out she livened up. I then gave her a blow dry and trimmed some of the badly matted feathers.

I’ve left her in a crate in the kitchen, got rid of the corn and replaced with growers pellets and fresh water. I’ll get some oil for her later.

Any other tips for constipation?

 

[dehill]

Sorry, some photos from this morning.

 

[coach723]

Make sure she's drinking enough, dehydration can cause constipation. Depending on your set up, space, and number of birds, you may need to add some waterers to make sure she's getting good access. Sometimes dominant birds will guard things from the lower pecking order birds and they won't get good access. So make sure there are too many to guard. Same with feeders. Watch what you give as treats, for her I would only give feed and water for now, let her system get back to more normal function. The coconut oil will also help. The vent looks pretty good in the picture, so luckily it doesn't appear that she got pecked by anyone else while prolapsed.