NEW UPDATE - Sore tushy - It's a bite!

[nikkimay]

My barred rock, Baby, has been dealing with some problems lately. She has had two infections over the last 6 months, and has been to the vet and gotten anti-biotics. She hasn't been laying eggs for a while, and when she does, they are very thin shelled, and break right away.

This morning we found one of her eggs, that she must have layed yesterday. Well just now we were outside with them and noticed that her vent is all blocked up. It seems to be a mixture of dried blood and poo. We've been rinceing her bottom, and wiping it with a washcloth, but haven't broken through yet.

Yikes!!! What can I do for her? The vet isn't open on sundays.

thanks for your help!

 

[nikkimay]

So - new details, it's not her vent that is blocked, she has a giant nasty sore thing a couple inches below her vent!!! I'm not sure if that's better or worse!

Any advice would be great.

 

[FrozenChicken]

For starters I would sperate her from your other birds as they may peck the wound. Her thin shelled eggs may be a combination of calcuim defisency (my spelling is not so hot) / age. Give her some oyster shell or if you have access some cows/goats milk. Hens that have been laying faithfully for years can still develope Prolapse of the oviduct, make sure it is not this condition.

From my book "The Complete Guide To Raising Livestock and Poultry"

Prolapse Of The Oviduct
The inner walls of the cloaca are pushed out as a mass of tissue through the vent. An affected hen is often attacked by other hens. If the condition is discovered in time it is possible to push the tissue back in. Apply petrolium jelly to the vent and put her in a quite place to recover on her own. Hens are prone to prolapse when they are too fat.

 

[DuckLady]

Nikkimay, you are a memeber of PDXbackyardchix, right? Get hold of Tonya. She is great with these situations!

 

[dlhunicorn]

It would be most helpful if you would post a pic of this "sore"... you mentioned her having problems the last few months...has she been on antibiotics for them? If so then her intestinal flora is probably affected by this...give her free choice yogurt (not the desert kind but the plain one with live cultures in it) this will help her gut flora (even if she has not been on antibiotics it will still help as malabsorption of nutrients occurs with any stress or disease challenge). What have you been feeding her?

 

[Wes in Tx]

For one she isn't prolapsed. What she has is a sore caused from the poop being stuck to the feathers for a long time. You need to cut all the poop and feathers away from the area and wash it good with saline solution. Once that is done cover it good with triple antibiotic ointment. I would keep her seperated from the other birds so they won't peck at her and start it to bleeding.

 

[nikkimay]

We were able to get the vet on the phone this morning. They are super busy so we won't be able to take her in for a while, but they said we were doing the right thing just trying to clean the area up. They said we could also use some Dawn dishsoap to get the area totally free of debris.

They said to NOT but any ointment on the wound, but just to get it totally clean, and leave it open to the air. They also said it was a good sign that she had layed an egg.

 

[Wes in Tx]

Your in good hands with the Vet then. Did they happen to mention anything about an antibiotic to protect her infection?

 

[nikkimay]

No - they just said to keep it clean to avoid infection. We have an appointment to take her in on Monday - that was the soonest they can see her. But she is eating and acting totally chipper like nothing is wrong at all...

 

[nikkimay]

So we finally got our girl in to see the vet today - he said the sore on her tush was a bite!

I am a bit surprised by this - it seems odd that the chicken that is known to have problems in the tush area just happened to get bit in the tush - but he said he saw puncture marks.

Also - we have not seen any critters in the area that would fit the bill of the biter....

Anyway, we're going to wash her tush twice a day with some special stuff, and put on animax cream.... and that ought to fix her up.