Vent Gleet Help!!

[HannahL]

Hi all. So I have a 2-year-old Partridge Olive Egger hen who has had chronic diarrhea for at least the last couple of months. It almost comes out in a stream and her vent is almost always dirty. At first I thought that that was just her, but after a little more research, I’m pretty sure she has vent gleet. She’s had it for quite a while so I’m a bit concerned about recovery rates. She’s eating and drinking fine but her egg cycle is a bit off. She isn’t noticeably more lethargic than usual. I’m treating her by giving her a 20 minute bath in Dawn dish soap to get the poop off and then I’m applying Monistat and Betadine cream to her vent area. I’m feeding her 1/4 cup of wheat germ, 1/4 cup of straight scrambled eggs, a couple tablespoons of plain yogurt, and a bit of mashed layer feed for food. I’m also adding apple cider vinegar to her water. I have her separated at night so I can monitor her food but I’m letting her out in the pen with my other hens during the day. I have the rooster separated right now so he doesn’t stress her out with the mating. I heard some people say that they give their hens an epsom salt bath or even put a bit of epsom salt in their water as a one time thing. Some people also recommended giving cut up suppositories or flushing out the vent with saline solution but I’m not sure about doing that quite yet. Any other suggestions about treatment? Is advanced vent gleet usually a problem that results in death? From what I’ve read, it isn’t usually fatal but I figured I’d get a second opinion. Thanks in advance for any replies!

 

[Lady of McCamley]

Is her vent area red and swollen? Does it look drippy and wet? Do you have cottage cheese type discharge? Those are signs of vent gleet, and what you are doing is very helpful. You can even use tinactin spray on the vent. I'd continue feeding the yogurt with ACV in water.

However, very loose diarrhea is not exclusive to vent gleet. If the vent simply looks soiled from poo, not swollen or red, if feathers haven't fallen out, then I'd look at the possibility of worms or even coccidiosis for the underlying cause of strict diarrhea.

A photo would really help.

LofMc

 

[HannahL]

Is her vent area red and swollen? Does it look drippy and wet? Do you have cottage cheese type discharge? Those are signs of vent gleet, and what you are doing is very helpful. You can even use tinactin spray on the vent. I'd continue feeding the yogurt with ACV in water.

However, very loose diarrhea is not exclusive to vent gleet. If the vent simply looks soiled from poo, not swollen or red, if feathers haven't fallen out, then I'd look at the possibility of worms or even coccidiosis for the underlying cause of strict diarrhea.

A photo would really help.

LofMc

Thanks for your reply! I’ll make sure to attach a photo when I get home. I bathed her last night so I was able to get a closer look. She has quite a bit of feather loss on her bum and her abdomen/vent area is swollen. The cottage cheese-like discharge is also there along with a clear water-like discharge. I did notice this morning that her crop was very doughy (I could literally knead it.) I don’t smell anything like sour crop but I wasn’t sure what to do for her. I’m gonna give her the night to see if the extra fluids help whatever it is to move out and check to see if her crop empties in the morning. Any suggestions on how to treat the doughy crop?

 

[Lady of McCamley]

That definitely sounds like vent gleet. You may have to go to a vet to get nistatin which is prescription only and necessary for severe cases.

As to the sour crop, that may be the root or part of the effects of yeast overgrowth. I've not personally had a case of sour crop, so all I can do is link a good article on it. https://www.thehappychickencoop.com/sour-crop/

Getting rid of the yeast infection is key to both the gleet and sour crop.

I hope things work out better for your gal.
LofMc

 

[hayley3]

Hi all. So I have a 2-year-old Partridge Olive Egger hen who has had chronic diarrhea for at least the last couple of months. It almost comes out in a stream and her vent is almost always dirty. At first I thought that that was just her, but after a little more research, I’m pretty sure she has vent gleet. She’s had it for quite a while so I’m a bit concerned about recovery rates. She’s eating and drinking fine but her egg cycle is a bit off. She isn’t noticeably more lethargic than usual. I’m treating her by giving her a 20 minute bath in Dawn dish soap to get the poop off and then I’m applying Monistat and Betadine cream to her vent area. I’m feeding her 1/4 cup of wheat germ, 1/4 cup of straight scrambled eggs, a couple tablespoons of plain yogurt, and a bit of mashed layer feed for food. I’m also adding apple cider vinegar to her water. I have her separated at night so I can monitor her food but I’m letting her out in the pen with my other hens during the day. I have the rooster separated right now so he doesn’t stress her out with the mating. I heard some people say that they give their hens an epsom salt bath or even put a bit of epsom salt in their water as a one time thing. Some people also recommended giving cut up suppositories or flushing out the vent with saline solution but I’m not sure about doing that quite yet. Any other suggestions about treatment? Is advanced vent gleet usually a problem that results in death? From what I’ve read, it isn’t usually fatal but I figured I’d get a second opinion. Thanks in advance for any replies!

I'm having a similar issue...I cut all the feathers on her backside and that area was very red and inflamed, so I sprayed with Vetericyn and that is all cleared up now. I wormed her also and will again in 10 days because they say parasites can cause vent gleet. My hen had a white line of runny stuff going downward from her vent down the bare part, but it has no odor that I could detect. I bought some Monistat and am rubbing it on her vent and trying to get a dab inside. I am also giving yogurt. After two days she had a semi-solid poop.

 

[Bocktobery 10]

I never had any luck in treating vent greet so I probably shouldn’t be talkin’ but I am wondering if kefir, or water kefir wash of the backside (or even given orally) would help with this. I didn't try it with my birds because I never got the kefir to continue (granted this was because I couldn’t get to the store to get more milk- twas during the first days of Covid shutdown). Kefir did work miracles on sour crop in a couple of cases for me- I don’t see why it wouldn’t help with vent fleet too. I heard apple cider vinegar rinse back there helps too? Not sure..just chiming in with thoughts. Hope your birds recover..it’s such a nasty thing to deal with! Oh, and if you ever get the kefir grains yo grow..just feed them the kefir grains. You can also order it online ..Etsy even has kefir grain sellers.