Treating for vent gleet (warning: gross vent pic!)

[Kerntizo]

Hello,
We've been treating our Golden-laced Wyandotte for vent gleet. We washed her last weekend and let her air dry and she seemed better after eating yogurt and drinking probiotic water she seemed to be doing better. But I noticed yesterday and today she had a bit more discharge, so we washed her and I this is what we found this afternoon when washing her again. Not as much discharge but obviously this doesn't look good. We've been giving them probiotic water and yogurt twice a day and also washing her rear area but this worried me today. Does she need something stronger? Other than this, she seems in her regular good spirits, eating and drinking normally, and roaming our backyard happily with the other hens. We cleaned out the coop and put in fresh pine shavings last weekend. I'm a bit worried about her and not sure how to proceed. Thank you for help!

 

[Wyorp Rock]

Hello,
We've been treating our Golden-laced Wyandotte for vent gleet. We washed her last weekend and let her air dry and she seemed better after eating yogurt and drinking probiotic water she seemed to be doing better. But I noticed yesterday and today she had a bit more discharge, so we washed her and I this is what we found this afternoon when washing her again. Not as much discharge but obviously this doesn't look good. We've been giving them probiotic water and yogurt twice a day and also washing her rear area but this worried me today. Does she need something stronger? Other than this, she seems in her regular good spirits, eating and drinking normally, and roaming our backyard happily with the other hens. We cleaned out the coop and put in fresh pine shavings last weekend. I'm a bit worried about her and not sure how to proceed. Thank you for help!

Hi

Welcome To BYC

When was the last time she laid an egg?
Do you provide oyster shell free choice?
What type of food/treats do you feed?

It looks like she may have a bit of prolapse. Apply some hemorrhoid cream or honey to the vent to help reduce swelling and give her some extra calcium - crushed TUMS or dissolve a TUMS in a little water and syringe feed it with syringe or you can give liquid calcium (1cc). If you have poultry vitamins give her some of those as well. When you bathe/soak her add some epsom salts to the water to also help reduce swelling. Watch to see that the tissue that is slightly protruding goes back in, if not see if you can gently push it back in - keep it moist with ointment so it doesn't dry out, become necrotic or die.

Vent gleet is fungal/yeast infection and the discharge is usually white-ish looking for treating that it sounds like you are doing the right thing by giving yogurt and probiotics. You can also apply an anti-fungal cream topically to help.

If she still has the tissue sticking out like that you may want to separate her until it goes back in. Sometimes other chickens can pick at it, causing damage.

Keep us posted.

Prolapse
http://www.the-chicken-chick.com/2012/04/prolapse-vent-causes-treatment-graphic.html

Vent Gleet
http://www.tillysnest.com/2012/12/vent-gleet-prevention-and-treatment-html/
http://www.fresheggsdaily.com/2013/09/vent-gleet-symptoms-causes-and-natural.html
https://www.backyardchickens.com/a/vent-gleet-aka-nasty-chicken-butt

 

[Kerntizo]

Thank you for all the helpful info. I figured it was a bit of a prolapse but helps to have someone confirm it since we're still learning. It has gone back in by itself so far, especially after we bathe her. We do give all our chickens access to crushed oyster shells, I put it in wither their food. but glad to know TUMS is an option as part of treatment. I'm not always sure they eat the oyster shell. I have been putting a bit of apple cider vinegar in their water as well and I've been feeding my infected chicken some of that with a syringe about once a day.She seems to like it. She's been laying, not as regularly, but at least a few times a week, although I think she hasn't in the last few days.
Their feed is organic chicken feed I buy locally here, Ranchway Feeds Pellets. and they get some treats like leftover salad stuff and scratch feed with mealworms and sunflower seeds but not all the time. They mostly eat their regular chicken feed. We usually don't give them a lot of table scraps unless it's fresh fruit or salad scraps. Every once in a while I give them some dry oats. And while it's been really cold here I put out a couple of suet cakes for them.
My husband and I bathed the infected chicken yesterday in water with epsom salts and let her soak a bit in the warm water to loosen some of the dried stuff on her rump. It helped a lot. she didn't have as much discharge today. We'll keep bathing her until it's all gone and I can tell some of her feathers are slowly starting to return. I will definitely get poultry vitamins and the antifungal/hemorrhoid cream.
Thank you again for responding and giving so much helpful advice. It's a bit of a learning curve for sure but we really are enjoying having them. they are definitely very interesting and funny animals.

 

[Wyorp Rock]

Thank you for all the helpful info. I figured it was a bit of a prolapse but helps to have someone confirm it since we're still learning. It has gone back in by itself so far, especially after we bathe her. We do give all our chickens access to crushed oyster shells, I put it in wither their food. but glad to know TUMS is an option as part of treatment. I'm not always sure they eat the oyster shell. I have been putting a bit of apple cider vinegar in their water as well and I've been feeding my infected chicken some of that with a syringe about once a day.She seems to like it. She's been laying, not as regularly, but at least a few times a week, although I think she hasn't in the last few days.
Their feed is organic chicken feed I buy locally here, Ranchway Feeds Pellets. and they get some treats like leftover salad stuff and scratch feed with mealworms and sunflower seeds but not all the time. They mostly eat their regular chicken feed. We usually don't give them a lot of table scraps unless it's fresh fruit or salad scraps. Every once in a while I give them some dry oats. And while it's been really cold here I put out a couple of suet cakes for them.
My husband and I bathed the infected chicken yesterday in water with epsom salts and let her soak a bit in the warm water to loosen some of the dried stuff on her rump. It helped a lot. she didn't have as much discharge today. We'll keep bathing her until it's all gone and I can tell some of her feathers are slowly starting to return. I will definitely get poultry vitamins and the antifungal/hemorrhoid cream.
Thank you again for responding and giving so much helpful advice. It's a bit of a learning curve for sure but we really are enjoying having them. they are definitely very interesting and funny animals.

Sounds like you are taking good care of her

You may want to offer the oyster shell free choice - separate from the feed, this way they take what they need and don't have to bill through the feed to get to the layer pellets. Just my thoughts.

I hope she continues to recover. Keep us posted.