Overwhelmed. I need help.

[Taylermartin]

I have 5 hens that I just adore, they are my babies! I think all of them have vent gleet. They all have feces sticking to their butt feathers with some white discharge at the base of the vent. I also have a big brahma that has scaly leg mites, it is pretty severe. I wonder if I should be doing a big treatment for all of them or if I should be spot treating one at a time. I have been putting probiotics in their feed and ACV in the water. I want to do everything I can for my girls.

 

[azygous]

Probably the easiest cheapest way to treat vent gleet and any yeast infection of multiple birds is to do it with copper sulfate in the drinking water. Try to locate copper sulfate, either plain or acidified, and we'll give you instructions. (Amazon will carry it.)

The scaly leg mites are easy to treat. Soak the legs and feet for twenty minutes in warm Epsom salts to soften the scales. Then take a tooth brush and scrub the scales, getting as much dirt and debris out from under them as you are able. Then coat the legs and feet with castor oil.

I like castor oil better than Vaseline because you can push the oil up under the scales and get it to cover the mites in hiding to smother them. Any other chicken with raised scales may also be infested, so treat any others you suspect if having the mites, as they are somewhat contagious.

 

[azygous]

Here's where to buy the copper sulfate. https://jedds.com/products/acidified-copper-sulfate-animal-science The dose is a quarter teaspoon per one gallon of water for five days.

You can buy Medistatin to treat vent gleet and crop yeast from the same outfit. https://www.jedds.com/shop/medistatin/

 

[Taylermartin]

What do you feed them? Anything watery like melon or cucumbers?

I have not even them cucumbers or melon. Recently I have been giving them a banana to share, Greek yogurt, cabbage, and a few Berries like raspberries and blueberries.

 

[Taylermartin]

Thank you. Is the copper sulfate a blue powder? How do you use it and how does it work?
I got home after work and saw my brahma kind lot of puffed up. I have also noticed she likes to sit a lot when the others are roaming and foraging. Is this typical?

 

[azygous]

Well, Brahma's are large and slow, so a lot of sloth is genetic.

Copper sulfate is used a lot in reservoirs and pond to kill algae and other protozoa. Yeasts are one of the things it can kill. It's very toxic and caustic in its powder form, but mixed into a solution it's safe enough for anyone to drink.

You can get other meds to treat vent gleet and crop yeast, but it can get expensive and some need to be given individually, making these other methods too inconvenient for multiple chickens.

 

[nuthatched]

What do you feed them? Anything watery like melon or cucumbers?

 

[azygous]

I think they no longer carry the Medistatin. Here's where I got it recently https://jedds.com/search?type=produ...tions[unavailable_products]=last&q=Medistatin

 

[Taylermartin]

T

his I what I found in the nesting box tonight. What is this?

 

[azygous]

You need to slice into the strange nest artifact. If it's full of cheesy substance, it's lash material, signifying infection. It it's thin and papery, it's a collapsed egg membrane, and it would signify a calcium deficiency or other reproductive issues.