Swollen vent area & horrible smell.

[Aundrea]

Hello,

I noticed this afternoon one of my hens was puffed up while all the other hens were not. I went and picked her up and noticed that one of her waddles was swollen and had a black spot on it. However when I went to flip her to immobilize her and inspect her further I found her vent covered in poo and had a horrible smell about it. I immediately went upstairs and gave her a 30 iodine soak and cleaned the mess off around the area. While trying to find out what the issue is via the internet I noticed a lot of the fly strike images look a lot like what her vent area looks like yet I do not see any larvae. The tissue is hard and swollen (more specifically to the right of her actual vent) and is incredibly uncomfortable to her. She appears to have some blood coming from her vent as well after I finished washing her. I have separated her from the flock and have her in an area with penicillin in her water. I am not sure what to do at this point. Do I investigate and poke and prod further? Attempt to bathe her each day to see if it gets better?

 

[Eggcessive]

Welcome to BYC. Could you post a picture of her vent area? You may need a couple more posts to post pictures, but it would be good to see what you are seeing. Does it look at all like she had a prolapsed vent? I would probably do another warm soak in the morning, but keep her warm and dry her thoroughly. Epsom salts or chlorhexidene is good to use. It is probably good to keep her inside while you are treating her. If there is fly strike, she may have maggots inside her. Put some plain neosporin or bacitracin ointment on the area which will help prevent infection as well as to help smother any maggots. Good luck.

 

[Aundrea]