Rooster's vent is swollen and he seems to be blocked up.

[Brookliner]

My 3 yr old Cuckoo Marens bantam rooster has a swolen vent and seems to be plugged up. I have applied prepH to the inside and outside of his vent. As I was applying the prepH to the inside of his vent I felt gritty poop. I am wondering if I should give him some epsom salt in his water as a laxative. Or give him duramycin 10 in his water for any infection. He is plump and healthy looking now. He had a dirty vent area with no other symptoms. I gave him a bath last night. Any help I can get will be appreciated. Will try to get a picture tomorrow night.

 

[Lady of McCamley]

Okay...guys are different from girls, and what might be concerning for a girl maybe not so much for a guy.

Has he been mating a lot recently? Or suddenly stopped mating (as in put in isolation after mating a lot?)

His swollen vent may be a natural reaction to, well, uhem, masculine swelling. That might be causing some clogging in the vent area.

If you are certain it is not a reaction to mating a lot (which can increase the organ size), or not mating after mating a lot (which could keep the size inflated), then it could be his diet causing constipation.

The other thought is check your hens...do any of them have especially dirty bottoms? If some of your hens have vent gleet (an overgrowth of yeast), that infection could be passed along to your fella through mating.

His vent would likely look red and may even have some cheesy appearing discharge. Your hens will look a mess with very drippy, messy bottoms that often smell bad, and red swollen vents if the infection has gain hold.

You can google vent gleet here on BYC for measures...often cleaning and drying the vent, applying tinactin spray, and supplying probiotics or yogurt in the diet with apple cider vinegar in the water can go a long way to help put the flora into balance for mild to moderate cases. More severe cases require anti-fungals such as nystatin which a vet has to prescribe.

My thoughts,
LofMc

 

[Eggcessive]

Constipation can cause swelling of the vent area. Dehydration is one cause of constipation. Make sure he is getting plenty of water, and you can even put water into his feed, along with adding extra water bowls. Molasses or epsom salts can help as a laxative, and castor oil 1/2 tsp orally can also help. Adding probiotics to his food or water may also help.

 

[Brookliner]

I gave both him and the hen that lives with him a treatment of myconizol (sp), then did an oral epsom salt purge, then treated with Corid For 5 days for coccidosis which all helped. His vent appears prolapsed so gave him a prepH treatment inside and outside his vent then prepH, vetricyn, neosporin. Vent is not as swollen but has a ways to go. Tonight he had an hour in the epsom salts bath. 1/2 cup epson salts in warm water in a 5 gal bucket 3/4 filled with water. I put a heavy grate on top so he could see through but couldn'tget out. Rinsed him off and reapplied the prepH, vetricyn spray, neosporin. Will give them their last corid treatment tonight. Will continue the epson salts baths and treatments until his vent is normal.

Thanks eggsessive and Lady of McCamley foryour good ideas. I think I saved him.

 

[Lady of McCamley]

Glad to hear he is doing better.

Keep us posted.
LofMc