Sickness only affecting Australorps?

[LittleDinosaur]

I have 7 Australorp hens, 4 EE hens, 6 Partridge Rock hens, 2 EE cockerels and 3 Autralorp/EE crosses that I keep in one coop. Tonight when shutting them in I noticed one Australorp hen had a pale comb (which I take as a sign of sickness) so I checked her out and sure enough she had some yellow poop/pus(?) on her vent. The vent itself did not look irritated nor is she bloated. The last time I saw this the hen became miserable and eventually died. I then checked my other hens and all of my Australorps (minus a broody one who wont leave the nest) seem to have vent problems. One hen is bloated with yellow poop/pus(?) on the vent and one has nothing on the vent, but the vent is blue! The others just have that same yellow poop/pus(?). All the other non-Australorp birds seem fine. I have noticed that the Australorps are not laying much at all recently. What the heck is this? Mass EYP? Are Australorps susceptible to some weird disease? Please help, I don't wish to have this spread to the rest of my flock!

 

[igorsMistress]

Vent gleet? Did you notice an odor?

ETA It's a fungal infection so I imagine it spreads. Any missing feathers near the vent?

 

[Saaniya]

Pale Comb Means Two Thing 1st Is Chicken Anemia , Second Is Bacterial Infection .
You First Look For Lice And Mites as they are the first culprits of anemia in chicken..if there's no lice that's bacteria inside the bloodstream

 

[junebuggena]

Could also be that it's fall and the days are getting shorter and shorter.

 

[LittleDinosaur]

Vent gleet? Did you notice an odor?

ETA It's a fungal infection so I imagine it spreads. Any missing feathers near the vent?

I did not notice any odd smells. Some of the hens are missing feathers, but not many and I thought it was due to pecking order squabbles since they've been missing feathers here and there since I picked them up at 10 months old from a farmer.

I just googled vent gleet and what my hens have doesn't look like that. Compared to those gleet images my hens look fine. Their vents (besides the one with a blue hue to it) look healthy, they just have soft, liquidy yellow poop on the edges as though they didn't wipe well enough! I'll try to get some pictures today and share them.

 

[LittleDinosaur]

Also, since it is most likely a spreadable issue, should I isolate all the Australorps? Clean the coop? Should I put Probiotics in the water? I use the deep-litter method so it would mean shoveling out the composting bedding and putting down new litter (dry leaves, large wood shavings, straw, etc).

 

[junebuggena]

Missing feathers on birds that are almost a year old, combined with pale combs and a lack of eggs points to seasonal molting, which is completely normal and nothing to worry about.

 

[LittleDinosaur]

Missing feathers on birds that are almost a year old, combined with pale combs and a lack of eggs points to seasonal molting, which is completely normal and nothing to worry about.

What worries me is the yellowish goop on their vents and that one hen is swollen while another has a blue vent. Only one hen has a pale comb which led me to do a quick inspection of the others despite not appearing sickly.

 

[junebuggena]

Yellowish goop could just be poo that got stuck in fluff.

 

[LittleDinosaur]

Yellowish goop could just be poo that got stuck in fluff.

It is on the vent skin directly, not stuck to any feathers. Their feathers are quite clean. I suppose after watching them run around today perhaps they are just molting, but two hens still worry me in that one is bloated and the other has a blue vent. Also, they are a year and a half old now.