Red Sex Link Hen Having Goopy Vent Problems

[my sunwolf]

hannahwren, I know what you mean about second guessing, it's been a crazy few months! And thank you Miss Lydia, I'm definitely going to try the Epsom Salt, and maybe then move to the Monistat. It's looking like it must be vent gleet, but I'll still post some gooey pictures (you've been warned!).

 

[my sunwolf]

Goopy Pictures!








Below is the red, swollen, white discharge goop with missing feathers (Awk pulled them out herself in attempt to get clean). See how it's dripped even to her belly?



And this next one is so you can see that her crop is actually fairly normal sized (unfortunately this was at the end of the day, so it's full but not overly full; she also decided to move her head to one side so the crop looked bigger, but this is not the case). Notice also that she looks pretty slim.


I will try the Epsom Salt, maybe some acidophilus (I feed yogurt with this culture every day to the whole flock but haven't tried the concentrated substance itself). Have already done the garlic and plain yogurt, as well as apple cider vinegar bath and a molases flush. She's still laying (though it's now every other day), eating, drinking, pooping a lot, and she is very smelly as usual. Here's hoping something works

 

[jmc]

that does not look nice. wow.

best of luck to you both.

now i would like to add that, it seems that an occasional epsom salt purge done by all of us on our flocks say, 1ce or 2ce annually, could be a wise thing to do......................

 

[arkansaschicks]

There was a few post about vent gleet yesterday and a lady suggested Nystatin. You have to have a perscription for it though. I am taking a hen to the vet tomorrow because she fell off the roost and possibly broke her leg. I will ask about vent gleet cause this hen has also had off and on runny poop/pasty but for 8 months. I have tried the epsom salt and it has worked on mine. I have also heard when it gets hot the chickens drink a lot more water and their poop can be really watery. I'll check back in after vet visit.

 

[hannahwren]

After you worm a chicken, can the yucky butt be a side effect? Outside of the cochins having "dingle berries" every now an then. . . . .None of mine have ever had a runny butt, or messy backside. Now that we have wormed and dusted them. . . . I have one with the Yuck Butt today!!!! YAY!!! NOT.

An she is not one of the cochins.

 

[Miss Lydia]

I don't usually notice messy bottoms after worming but I imagine it can happen. if this that your seeing isn't whitish looking and smelly then you probably aren't seeing Vent gleet. I decided to do my whole flock with the Epsom salt flush got the directions here: http://ultimatefowl.atwiki.com/page/Vent Gleet I am at the end of knowing what to do for my lil hen if this doesn't work. I've already done the monistat and that didn't clear it up,

Other than the gleet she is fine eating, drinking lays an egg every so often. I really do want to treat her without getting meds. if possible.

 

[my sunwolf]

These chickens have never been wormed, so I at first thought that's what the problem was. I thought about dosing the whole flock, but didn't want to unnecessarily stress out their systems. However, I was also afraid to dose Awk singly for fear of giving her too much, so I didn't do anything I have heard is that too much antibiotics for too long can cause vent gleet (consider the same problem with humans), and though we've never given them any, they did have a previous owner who bought them from the farm supply.

I did some treatment on Awk. About a week ago we tried an Epsom salt flush. I dissolved 1 tsp in 1 ounce of water and gave it to her by syringe (she didn't mind much). She pooped a little runny but the vent gleet was still there. A few days ago she got a serving of oatmeal, yogurt, acidophilus capsule contents, raw garlic, and apple cider vinegar. I also took a syringe and squirted some ACV into her vent (supposed to settle the unbalanced pH that comes with vent gleet). She finally laid again after three days, and if you know red sex links you know that's a long time! Her poops look normal but she's still oozing goopy white stuff from her vent. I'm going to give her another dose this week and then give her a long warm bath. She still has low energy, she's off balance, she preens constantly and gets this far off expression. She's still eating and drinking and dust bathing and laying. Awk ocassionally will start to get her energy back, but then she lays an enormous or weird egg (last month she laid a double yolker, a few soft shells, and a yolkless) and she reverts back to her slow-moving, glossy-eyed, off-balance self. I just feel like the whole situation's a bit hopeless. I guess I'll move on to Monistat in a few weeks if I can't get these other remedies to work, and maybe there's another way to get some Nystatin.

We're moving in August and we have to sell most of our chooks, but I have no idea if someone would buy a girl with a goopy vent, so I'm trying desperately to cure her before then. I'm just running out of ideas...

 

[arkansaschicks]

Put ACV in the water everyday. My vet told me to do 2 TBS to 1 gallon of water everyday. Water bowl needs to be glass or plastic so it doesn't neutralize the ACV

 

[my sunwolf]

Today the white stuff stopped oozing! I'm away from them now so I can't take a closer look, but she'll get ACV every day from now on. I'm hoping the absence of goop lasts, that would be awesome! I'm betting it was squirting ACV into her vent, that was pretty much the last thing I did. That and she's been taking a very long dust bath every day, which she didn't get a chance to do before because they were in their pasture coop. Thanks for all your help, and will continue to update if something goes wrong again...

 

[Miss Lydia]

Today the white stuff stopped oozing! I'm away from them now so I can't take a closer look, but she'll get ACV every day from now on. I'm hoping the absence of goop lasts, that would be awesome! I'm betting it was squirting ACV into her vent, that was pretty much the last thing I did. That and she's been taking a very long dust bath every day, which she didn't get a chance to do before because they were in their pasture coop. Thanks for all your help, and will continue to update if something goes wrong again...

How many times did you squirt the ACV in her vent? and great news, i am still waiting to see on my lil hen..