Need advice

[trudyg]

It's not vent gleet. I've done the washing, checking, treating--the whole shebang. There is no smell or discharge, only the white urates clinging to the ends of the feathers. I bathed, clipped, inspected for lice/mites, applied castor oil to the legs for scaly leg mites (should be gone by now, after 3 once a week castor oil treatments), vent looked clean and healthy. One poster said they were obese, so I stopped treats and they only get all-flock and whatever bugs and stuff they find out in the yard. I am almost convinced that the dirty butt thing was due to dirty water. They drink from any nasty puddle they see, not the nice clean fresh water in the bucket.

 

[trudyg]

so, another question that has come up. When I butcher, I plan to use the feet and carcasses for broth. Since I'm skinning the chicken, how do I handle the head so I can put it in the stock pot? Do I pluck it clean of feathers (assume yes)? Do I need to remove a layer from the comb (like you peel the feet)? I've been researching, but all I find is that the comb and tongue are very tasty. I won't be finding that out for myself, I only have the stomach for good, healthy broth.

 

[Mosey2003]

I might assume you would blanch the heads like you do the feet, and then pluck the feathers. I don't think there's a skin layer on the comb though... Brave woman, lol.

 

[trudyg]

Just an update--my Red Rangers are just past 11 weeks. 2 are pretty red--and someone laid an egg today! I think the one with big wattles and funky tail is a boy and the other has got to be a girl! My older hen, Rosie, who has been laying every 3rd day since it got hot also laid an egg today. Rosie's are sort of blunt on both ends, the new egg is smaller and more of what we think of as egg shaped. I'm so proud of this new girl.

 

[trudyg]

So, whatever this is is now back. It cleared up and everyone had a fluffy butt now for a month and yesterday I see one of the new pullets with a dirty butt. Several of the pullets have come into lay, so the rooster has been breeding them. It must be something that he has and is passing on since the not-in-lay pullets don't seem to have this issue. I didnt' think it was vent gleet since there was no discharge or smell when I checked them over.

So, is there a definitive treatment for vent gleet? The coop has been cleaned last weekend and no one has any visible bugs or discharge/odor. The water is changed 2x/day (it's been very hot and I put ice in it, so it's still cool when I get home from work). I've been bleaching the water buckets and running bleach water thru the nipples, so dirty water should n't be an issue. I treated with levamisole 2 weeks ago for worms (per fecal test). I put an inch of new sand in all the spots they tend to hang out and dust bath (the rest of the yard is grass, which I cut very short).

Is there a medicine that I can administer orally for yeast/fungus? I can wash and cream up all 14 if needed, but I'd so much rather dose in the water. I am so ready to have this done already!

Here's a look at my chicken yard:

And here's a look at Roscoe's legs--do you think I should restart the castor oil treatments? They look so dirty!

 

[Mosey2003]

Yes, you can use an oral anti-fungal. Search vent gleet over in the medical forum, see if @casportpony can pop in here.

 

[Morrigan]

A couple of my hens get dirty butts when the weather gets extremely hot (over 100 degrees). They are basically drinking extra water to cool off, and it passes it through their systems quickly and re-emerges in liquid form. Plus, they like to lay in any wet dirt to cool off. All it all, there were some yucky looking butts for awhile. I've noticed that it was the two hens with the pea combs who were affected, which makes sense, as they don't have large combs to help disperse heat with. When the weather improved, the butts did too, which made me pretty confident that it was just the heat.

Not saying it couldn't be vent gleet, but it might not be either.