Vent Gleet?!? Hen very vocal...

[ADKChickenChick]

Hi all...

I have a 10 month old Light Brahma who is feeling under the weather. Three days ago I came home from work and found her isolated in the coop. She had been slightly pecked at her vent which is why I think she had hidden herself. She had a swollen vent and was trying to push, with some milky clear diarrhea like discharge. I scooped her up and brought her up the house. I set up my hen hospital and in she went. I initially thought egg binding, but couldn't feel a thing. I gave her a warm bath, feed, and water. Also put some antibiotic ointment on the pecked area of her vent. The next day the condition of her vent has worsened. She was still very swollen, the discharge was worse...mixing with greenish poop. She also was prolapsing a bit when she pushed.

I researched more on BYC and think she may have vent gleet? Her feathers are matted with discharge and the smell is horrible. Far from a normal chicken poop smell. Her regiment has been Epsom salt baths, yogurt with an acidophilus capsule mixed in, and fresh water with ACV. She will eat the yogurt if I feed her with a spoon through her hospital slats...spoiled much!? She hasn't had much to drink...I've given her water with a dropper 3 times in the last few hours. She is active and alert...comb is bright. She has pooped very little other than the discharge that I wash off her backside. My biggest concern is her vocalization. Everytime she tries to push she makes this chuckling "churk churk churk churk churk". After her last bath I was able to clean up quite a bit of poop/discharge stuck to the sides of her vent. I applied Preperation H to reduce the swelling and then anti-fungal cream. Am I missing any steps...and has anyone else ever had a chicken make these noises when they have Gleet? She seems in great spirits, other than the occasional noises while trying to push.

 

[ADKChickenChick]

My hen seems better today. I was able to clean her up quite a bit after her bath last night with a Qtip. She is trying to push less than yesterday, but still making her "chicken grunt" noises when she tries to go to the bathroom. She's having a hard time because she is so swollen.

My question - Will her swelling continue to go down with treatment for the gleet...or is there something else I could be doing to speed up the process? Not being able to go to the bathroom seems to be most bothersome for her right now.

 

[Eggcessive]

I haven't treated vent gleet or prolapse before, but I worry more about it being prolapse that started this causing the other chickens to peck her vent. I would try bathing her vent in warm epsom salts, and trying to scrub off any poop around the vent. Honey works for helping the swelling, and lubricant may be needed to try to push the pink tissue back inside. It may come back out and be soiled, but keep pushing it back inside. By pushing the vent tissue back inside, it may help her poop. Try to stop her from laying by placing her in a dark room or covered cage for 16 hours out of every 24 hours. Reducing her feed a little may help too, but it takes 2-3 days to stop. Here are a few links for you: http://www.tillysnest.com/2012/12/vent-gleet-prevention-and-treatment.html
http://www.the-chicken-chick.com/2012/04/prolapse-vent-causes-treatment-graphic.html

 

[casportpony]

Have you checked inside the vent for an egg or obstruction? That noise she's making is an obstruction noise.

-Kathy

 

[ADKChickenChick]

I've checked inside her vent and don't feel anything like an egg. I've been doing Epsom baths, applying preparation H, and cleaning off all the poop I can. It doesn't look like she prolapsed. I can clearly see her "tract" if you will. I know the noise she's making is because she's straining to poop. Today she didn't really strain at all...and when she did she would poop small solid green poops. She's alert and active - pecking at her cage, eating yogurt, and drinking water w/ ACV. She is looking better by the day, but I would like to reduce her swelling faster. Everything looks normal, but swollen. Would a prolapse noticeably protrude from her vent or could she be internally prolapsed?

 

[Sarevan]

One of my EE's recently had a very large egg, and she is making the same noises when she is laying or pooping in the hour or so before she gets around to dropping the egg.

Her vent isn't damaged externally from the egg but she does have vent gleet now. She has a bit of white discharge stuck to her insides when she strains and it protrudes out of vent. It is hard and crusty and can see where the big egg tore a bit of the skin when she expelled it. I can massage her and it will act like prolapse and extend out of vent, I use qtips to clean off the discharge and crusty. She does bleed a little bit from the cleaning. The side the egg comes out is very swollen and red. I apply non commercialized pasturized honey to her insides with some antifungal mixed with it. It recedes back inside of her and I apply more of the mix to the outside of her vent where it is irritated and red. Her butt feathers are cleaned from the smelly poo and some fuzzy butt trimmed so it won't stick as bad.

It has been a few days now and it does not protrude like a prolapse when I massage her. She is still making the noise when she lays an egg but is not taking as long as before. The tissue no longer looks as swollen as it did before and recedes quickly after laying an egg and doesnt appear to be blocking the poo side anymore. Her poo has gotten more to normal and she isn't making noise to poo anymore. The vent gleet is almost gone. I still use a qtip to insert the mixture inside her vent after she lays an egg and outside of her vent. Before she lays an egg now I try to apply a thin coat of vaseline on the outside of her vent, and ky inside of her vent to ease her laying the egg.

I tried to have her in the dark after the big egg to rest her from laying but didn't do much good as she was stressed from seperation, and would squawk for ages to be put back with her sisters. I am going to watch her for quite awhile as I think the large egg may have damaged her more internally. It was hard to believe the egg was able to pass through the pelvic area without more visible damage. As for internal prolapse I "think" it can be swollen enough to interfer with pooping and making them strain. Keep using the items to reduce swelling and it should resolve the problem.

I hope your girl gets better.

 

[ADKChickenChick]

Thanks, Sarevan! First off...WOW at that egg! The poor girl! I don't know if egg laying led to this problem or not. We aren't sure who's laying in our coop of 25 hens and who hasn't started yet. My girl is doing well...pooping quite a bit this morning - all hard green solid poops. Still making noise when she pushes. I've been doing the same steps as you. When I was cleaning her after her disk yesterday, I notice that it seemed like one side was more swollen than the other. She would poo a bit out of the side that wasn't swollen. I was thinking it was gleet related, but now I'm wondering if she layed in the coop and it all led to this issue. I guess we'll never know. But, I've been doing everything but the honey which I will began after her bath today. I am seeing improvement, which makes me happy. I've ever only had two other chickens in my " hospital"...both of which passed away. The thought that I may actually be able to save one of my girls makes me smile. I'll give this all a go tonight a keep posting her progress.

 

[ADKChickenChick]

Initially posted 2 weeks ago with this problem. After daily Epsom bathing, ACV in water, yogurt, anti-fungal treatment, etc. my girl still has a smelly discharge. While her vent is healed from pecking...she still appears to have gleet. Yesterday she was doing great...so great in fact I reintroduced her to the coop. Now today, the gleet appears to be back as it was before treatment. Why is this...and what else should I be doing??

 

[casportpony]

What antifungal did you use and how did you use it?

-Kathy

 

[casportpony]

Let me elaborate a little. If all you did was apply an antifungal cream to the vent, you did not treat the infection properly. To treat yeast you need to give something orally. Some have had luck feeding Monistat, but a vet would prescribe fluconazole, ketoconazole or maybe nystatin. Nystatin and cream only work if they actually touch the yeast, which if it is yeast, could be in her entire digestive tract. but if the yeast is in her repro tract, Nystatin and Monistat won't work, 'cause the intestines are separate from that, right? A drug like fluconazole or ketoconazole would be the better choice and would work on yeast in any part of the body. You can buy both online for tropical fish without a prescription.

There is also the possibility that it's a bacterial infection.

-Kathy