Vent gleet

[2dancingrats]

After lots of research, looks like my auracana has vent gleet. At first, thought it was prolapse, but lots of gunk there.
Tried Prep-H and Neosporin (non pain relieving). Looked better for a couple of days, but back with vengence.
Think I noticed smelly-ness yesterday.
Can't wash her, its about 10 degrees here lately. Can't bring her in, husband would not ever allow it.
She definitly can't go to the vet. She's a "working" hen who isn't a particularly good layer and would never make up the cost.
She's eating and drinking and running around like nothing's wrong.
My husband wants to cull her. I want to help her, if I can.
Anyone have any luck with home remedies? If yes, what were they?
Saw some medications listed on the internet, but even if I knew which ones to get and where I could get them, it would likely be too late for her.

 

[tammye]

vent gleet is a fungal infection, cured with monistat, same thing a women would use to clear up a yeast infection, also, yogurt would help. look mit up in the search engine, lots of info here on that topic. The things I just mentioned I have read here, never had to deal with it myself

 

[tammye]

by the way an antibiotic would make a yeast infection worse, kills the good bacteria that would keep the yeast in check, hence why she got worse after using the antibiptic, thats my guess

 

[2dancingrats]

Thanks, I'll try the Monostat and the yogurt. She looks a little better today. I'm wondering though, should I throw her eggs away?

 

[Kelly's Chickens]

I have a hen who isn't eating or drinking anything and hasn't for the last 4 days that I know of. I believe she has vent gleet but that shouldn't stop her from eating. I found these questions on a different thread and decided to use them since it helped me to know what info may be needed.

1) What type of bird , age and weight. Rhode Island Red, 22 months, about 6 lbs
2) What is the behavior, exactly. Vent Gleet suspected. Hen doesn't do much at all. She sits in one spot most of the time. I found her Thursday (2/24) morning just sitting on the roost after I let the chickens out to pasture at 7:30 am. She didn't resist when I picked her up and took her outside but she wouldn't eat. Then I noticed her vent and feathers around it were matted with a yellow gluey substance. I cleaned her up and have isolated her ever since.
3) How long has the bird been exhibiting symptoms? Since 2/24/11 as far as I know. All my chicken love to eat pecans every morning as a treat but this hen stopped eating them a few weeks ago. That could be when the symptoms started but just hadn't shown up yet.
4) Is there any bleeding, injury, broken bones or other sign of trauma. No
5) What happened, if anything that you know of, that may have caused the situation. the only thing I can think of is when we moved the chickens to the 2nd yard (out of 4) it rained for two days straight so everything turned to mud. I should have moved them to the 3rd yard then but it too was muddy.
6) What has the bird been eating and drinking, if at all. nothing since Thursday. I've been trying to get a mixture of garlic/kelp/keifer milk into her by syringe every hour or so but it gets harder each time to get her mouth open and still long enough to shot the contents of the syringe into her mouth. I have to put her beak in the water just to get her to drink some. The water (1/2 pt) has a garlic clove in it. Is there an easier way to get her to eat/drink?
7) How does the poop look? Normal? Bloody? Runny? etc. It's mostly runny yellow with little clumps of dark green intermingled.

8) What has been the treatment you have administered so far? I gave her garlic internally by syringe every hour for three days and then garlic/kelp/keifer milk by syringe for 1/2 a day so far. I also have been douching her vent with a strong garlic water solution every day.
9 ) What is your intent as far as treatment? For example, do you want to treat completely yourself, or do you need help in stabilizing the bird til you can get to a vet? I can't afford a vet so I'm treating her completely on my own. Her vent looks pretty clean as long as she doesn't sit in her poop. I try to clean the poop up as soon as I notice it in her box. She's just not eating or drinking anything. I don't want her to starve to death.
10) If you have a picture of the wound or condition, please post it. It may help.

11) Describe the housing/bedding in use She's usually in a 12x16 ft coop with 34 other chickens with a deep litter of oak and pecan leaves at night. During the day she is on pasture behind 264 feet of electric fence in 3 yards and 364 feet of electric fence in the 4th yard. I rotate yards every two weeks. Now she is in a big cardboard box in the house.

I did just have a broody hen die of a worm that my local exotic vet couldn't identify. He gave me a dewormer to use on her (she was alive at the time) and the rest of my flock. I've given them all two doses of it and don't plan on doing anymore. I will treat each chicken as the need arises per several threads on BYC.

 

[Kelly's Chickens]

I just noticed, as I held my hen with her head on my right arm, if I feel her abdomen with my right hand, there is a hard round thing there. The left side, up against my body, is soft. Can she be egg bound too? She hasn't laid in at least 5 days but she was a good layer. Would that make her stop eating?

 

[2dancingrats]

So sorry to hear about your ailing hen. The symptoms sound alot like what mine had. I tried preparation H when I thought it was prolapse (she started out with a lot of bleeding). I tried monostat 7, garlic, vinegar, although I just fed them to her. She did eat and acted lively some days and others, she stayed in on the roost. I had posted about this a couple of times. Unfortunately, she didn't survive whatever was ailing her. None of my other 23 hens were effected.
Wishing you much better luck.

 

[purpletree23]

I've had good outcomes using iodine in a spray bottle. Go to just about any drugstore and purchase provodone iodine. The store should have it under there generic label. Put some into a spray bottle. It's best to start with a clean hind end. If you can't bathe her use some baby wipes or old rags dipped in warm water that has a little shampoo in it. Use a new rag dipped in the water and wipe her until clean. Then dry. Make sure you throw away the yucky rags.

After you dry her spray her behind with the iodine until she is a bit wet. Make sure you spray her vent and not just the feathers. Continue to spray once a day for 5 days. She might not need to be cleaned up again but you never know.

Good luck and let us know how it worked for you.

 

[2dancingrats]

Doesn't iodine sting?

 

[Kelly's Chickens]

I have some Lugol's Solution 5% iodine that I take myself. I put one drop in a half pint of water with two cloves of garlic and I'm using it to douche my hen with several times a day. She stands in a dish pan quietly while I stick a syringe of the solution a little bit into her vent. I also put a drop in her drinking water but since she doesn't drink, she isn't getting much. She fights me when I try to stick her beak in the water.
Her vent looks much better but her poop is still a runny yellow with very few green clumps in it. Since she isn't eating either, I don't guess her stools will solidify any time soon? I'm still at a loss as to how to get her to eat. Anybody have any ideas?