My month-old red has vent problems... help!

[mamachicken888]

Hi everyone - we are new to raising chickens though we are mature in age. To put it mildly, we have been overtaken by the desire to see our little flock healthy and growing every day. We have 21 mixed varieities that are all together in a great coop and outside run. All of them are doing very well except one little girl. Today we noticed that her vent was kind of sticking out and she was picking at it. We brought her in, cleaned the vent with a Q-tip and sprayed it with Silver Sol - which is a mild anti-bacterial. A little while later, we saw her picking at it again. What is the problem? All the others seem healthy and they're growing like weeds. We are very concernced about this one little lady.

 

[86121]

Oh dear, no idea, but here is a bump in hopes someone will help you!

 

[shellybean40]

try some honey on that and wait until tomorrow.

 

[3cutechicks]

read about a "prolapse". there is info that might apply to you. Keep her separated from the others so they don't pick.

 

[mamachicken888]

It's so good to have people to talk to about these things. We are as green as you can get about raising chickens. I'm afraid we're even getting way too attached to them - then if something happens we'll be devastated.

But, this youngin' is only about a month old. I read about prolapse and it seems it usually happens in chickens that are egg-laying age. So, it seems that she is a little young but it sure sounds like that's what it is. We have isolated her in a box - which she complains about loudly. We will try the honey tomorrow morning since it's after dark here now in Oklahoma.

 

[3cutechicks]

good luck.

 

[mamachicken888]

Thanks. We are going to need it.

 

[mamachicken888]

Well, here's how we treated her so far:

We cleaned the vent area and sprayed it with Blue Lotion, then we waited for that to dry and applied the hemorrhoid cream. She wouldn't let us push the prolapsed vent back into place (it is constantly pulsating) - she had a fit and we figured it was hurting so we have to rely on the cream and the Blue. We put her in with the other pullets that she grew up with for a little bit, and it wasn't five minutes until they were pecking her so we brought her back out into her own box. She is outside with the rest of them but she is protesting loudly that she isn't allowed to run in the open fenced area.

I sure hope she makes it.

 

[chkn]

Keep her separated and keep using the hemorroid creme. Rinse it off if it's dirty. You can try again with a lubed up little finger or just continue with the creme.

 

[mamachicken888]

Thanks, chkn. We'll take all the advice we can get! It does disturb me that she is only a month old with these problems. I thought this kind of problem didn't show up until they were egg-laying age, 4 or 5 months at least.