swolen vent????

[ChickeNatalie]

Hi! i have a problem with one of my chickens! shes been laying eggs with no shell around the coop. alot of it is sticking to her butt fluff. We tried to clean it, and found under the egg a very swolen vent. looks like a bubble of blood. HELP!!

 

[ChickenCanoe]

soft eggs can cause egg binding because there's nothing solid to push against.
How old is she? What makes up the total food intake?

http://www.alltech.com/sites/default/files/alltech-egg-shell-quality-poster.pdf

 

[ChickeNatalie]

we got her in june, at one day old. we have not changed to laying food, they are still eating grower food. is that bad?

 

[ChickenCanoe]

She may be close to the point of rickets.
She's been pulling calcium from her skeleton to build egg shells and now she has none left.
Have you been providing oyster shell in a separate container?
Normally a chicken's need for calcium is quite low, until they have to build shells. 2.5-3 grams of calcium are needed to build an egg shell.
All feeds are about 1% calcium except layer feed which is about 4% calcium, intended to replace that lost in the medullary bone used to build a shell.
Layer feed was designed for flocks that all start laying at the same time. If your birds are all laying, by all means, switch to layer immediately.
For mixed flocks where they're not all laying, the best course of action is to feed a grower or all flock feed and provide oyster shell on the side. I keep a container next to the nests and another next to the feeder.

She may need some layer feed in addition to oyster shell till she gets back on track - if it isn't too late.

Good information in the following article. I would read it start to finish - twice.
http://www.nutrecocanada.com/docs/s...-formation-and-eggshell-quality-in-layers.pdf

 

[ChickeNatalie]

all my chickens are laying. Our chicken store thict we go to was closed, but open today. we will go get layer food today. why is her vent all red and big? i am worried

 

[ChickeNatalie]

Oh, what do mean by " if it's not too late??

 

[ChickenCanoe]

Not sure about the vent. It could be a few things. The soft eggs are going to be hard to pass so that could be one thing.

By too late, I mean that if no calcium was available and egg laying commenced, they could have extracted enough from the bones to cause rickets.

Did you read the eggshell link and put 2 & 2 together?

Most people have a problem with too much calcium, (mixing oyster shell with layer feed or giving layer to birds not laying).

http://www.nutrenaworld.com/knowledge-center/poultry/when-pullets-start-to-lay-eggs/

You didn't answer my question.
Have you been providing oyster shell in a separate container?

 

[ChickeNatalie]

Hi! thank you!
we just brought our chicken to the vet, and she has a prolapsed vent. they cleand her feathers that were poopy and gave her some medicine.
and to anser your question, we were not giving them eny oyster shell but we just bought some

Thank you for all your help!

 

[ChickenCanoe]

Good. Chickens don't need anything special until commencement of laying. Then they need much more calcium. Layer feed (4% calcium) or oyster shell separately or both.

 

[Cindy in PA]

In my opinion you should also limit her protein & light to take her out of lay for now & give her time to heal. You can feed her scratch, oatmeal & some greens to do this.