Something wrong with her butt

[howcanweknow]

1) What type of bird , age and weight (does the chicken seem or feel lighter or thinner than the others.)
Golden comet hen, almost 2 years old. Not lighter or thinner than others in her flock. She looks and acts normal at the moment, except for her butt.
2) What is the behavior, exactly.
Her behavior is not different than any of the others and it was very difficult catching her for the picture. She's fast.
3) How long has the bird been exhibiting symptoms?
I pay close attention to these hens daily. I just noticed this issue this morning when I was refilling water.
4) Are other birds exhibiting the same symptoms?
No other hen has any apparent issues.
5) Is there any bleeding, injury, broken bones or other sign of trauma.
See picture.
6) What happened, if anything that you know of, that may have caused the situation.
No idea.
7) What has the bird been eating and drinking, if at all.
I assume she's eating the 16% pellet chicken feed she has available at the feeder and drinking normally.
8) How does the poop look? Normal? Bloody? Runny? etc.
I don't think I can tell her poop apart from any of the others unless I isolate her. I just saw this minutes ago.
9) What has been the treatment you have administered so far?
Nothing as I have no idea what is wrong.
10 ) What is your intent as far as treatment? For example, do you want to treat completely yourself, or do you need help in stabilizing the bird til you can get to a vet?
I'd like to treat myself. These are laying hens. And for what it's worth, they are not pets to me. My white Chinese geese however, are my pets and I did take one of them to the vet when she hurt her foot.
11) If you have a picture of the wound or condition, please post it. It may help.
Attached.
12) Describe the housing/bedding in use
They have a coop I bought from Tractor Supply. It's adequate for 7 hens (says it's for 8-10 hens but I'd never put that many in there). They have an outdoor area inside the coop for roosting at night, and indoor area inside the coop to roost when it gets cold (it only gets in the 20'sF* here at night and maybe in the 50'sF* during the day right now.) I keep their bedding clean (it's fine pine shavings). They (7 in her flock) are in a paddock of about 800 sq ft until about noon every day, then I open the paddock and they get to forage on about 1 acre of land. They return to the paddock at sunset. I put the fence back up and I return at night fall to turn on their electric poultry fence. I've never seen this issue in any of them (24 hens total) in two years of raising hens. Any help appreciated.

 

[Themellowyellows]

Seems like prolapsed vent. Do you know how to treat this? To start off, get her away from the flock, and away from where flys can get to her.

Once you do that, clean her butt and make sure its not dirty (use gloves.) Apply a mild antiseptic over it, after you clean it some people put raw honey over it to keep it from drying out. Then, with your finger gently try to push it back in. It most likely will not stay, so you might need to repeat multiple times.

Here are some pros:

@Eggcessive
@Wyorp Rock
@azygous

Also, welcome to BYC!!

 

[howcanweknow]

Seems like prolapsed vent. Do you know how to treat this? To start off, get her away from the flock, and away from where flys can get to her.

Once you do that, clean her butt and make sure its not dirty (use gloves.) Apply a mild antiseptic over it, after you clean it some people put raw honey over it to keep it from drying out. Then, with your finger gently try to push it back in. It most likely will not stay, so you might need to repeat multiple times.

Here are some pros:

@Eggcessive
@Wyorp Rock
@azygous

Also, welcome to BYC!!

Hi, thank you for the reply. I do not know how to treat prolapsed vent, if that's what she has.

 

[Themellowyellows]

Hi, thank you for the reply. I do not know how to treat prolapsed vent, if that's what she has.

Seems to be the case, is she isolated inside?

 

[azygous]

https://www.backyardchickens.com/ar...ng-from-vent-prolapse-oh-my-what-to-do.76124/ This will tell you how to treat a prolapse. Usually, prolapse is caused by an obstruction, either an egg or poop. Once the obstruction clears, the prolapse retracts on its own.

I would pop a calcium tablet into her beak along with a teaspoon of coconut oil. The first one stimulates contractions in the oviduct and the second softens any compacted poop.

 

[howcanweknow]

https://www.backyardchickens.com/ar...ng-from-vent-prolapse-oh-my-what-to-do.76124/ This will tell you how to treat a prolapse. Usually, prolapse is caused by an obstruction, either an egg or poop. Once the obstruction clears, the prolapse retracts on its own.

I would pop a calcium tablet into her beak along with a teaspoon of coconut oil. The first one stimulates contractions in the oviduct and the second softens any compacted poop.

I went into town and bought some calcium citrate +D3, after reading that post thread. Came back to give it to her and her butt was back to normal when I caught her and picked her up (it's still a dirty mess back there). So I put that pill in her beak. She wouldn't swallow it. So I opened her beak again and closed her beak. Then she swallowed it. I then let them all loose around the farm so they can get some foraging in. I then checked the nesting boxes. I'm at a record low from both flocks. 2 total eggs from that flock (with this hen that has the issues) out of 7 golden comets. They usually lay 7 per day. A slow day would be 5. But never 2. One of the eggs had blood on it. I can only assume it was this problem hen that laid that egg. Don't know. Just putting any and all details out there. I also found a thin shelled egg that was broken in the nesting box for this flock yesterday. Appreciate the responses.

 

[azygous]

You wouldn't be foolish to just assume the bloody egg is responsible for the hen's prolapse, especially if the prolapse stays retracted.

This is the time of year with the shortest days. That would account for the drop off in egg production.

 

[svbergie]

Seems like prolapsed vent. Do you know how to treat this? To start off, get her away from the flock, and away from where flys can get to her.

Once you do that, clean her butt and make sure its not dirty (use gloves.) Apply a mild antiseptic over it, after you clean it some people put raw honey over it to keep it from drying out. Then, with your finger gently try to push it back in. It most likely will not stay, so you might need to repeat multiple times.

Here are some pros:

@Eggcessive
@Wyorp Rock
@azygous

Also, welcome to BYC!!

Thank you for posting. I haven’t had to deal with this yet, but I’m sure I will. Great info. And thanks for the pro info as well.
Good luck with your hen. You’ve got this!

 

[howcanweknow]

You wouldn't be foolish to just assume the bloody egg is responsible for the hen's prolapse, especially if the prolapse stays retracted.

This is the time of year with the shortest days. That would account for the drop off in egg production.

But last year they didn't slow down at all through Winter. I'm guessing the slow down is because they are almost 2 years old...since they are golden comets I would assume that's when they start to slow down, based on internet searches. They also have not molted yet. They were born Feb 28, 2023. They didn't slow down at all during Winter 2023 (Dec 2023 - Mar 2024). I'll give an update tomorrow after I've picked her up and evaluated. Thanks again.

 

[azygous]

First-year layers often lay through winter as long as they begin to lay in fall. I had the good fortune to have four first-year layers last winter, but the spigot was shut off this year during the shortest days. Most layers are beginning to lay again by the end of January.