Weird Symptom: Excess Calcium?

[Aunt Angus]

So I've got these two new rescue hens. One is what appears to be a Golden Comet who came about 1lb underweight with a badly impacted crop and a worm overload. That's been treated.

She had white buildup on her vent feathers. I'm thinking vent gleet. But when I bathed her, it was actually calcium. I'm pretty sure it was, anyway. It was white and gritty and very unlike poop. She also laid an egg that was completely coated in white powdery calcium. It's a new problem that's developed over the past 3 days.

She is eating grower pellet right now, not layer. Calcium is on the side as freely available oyster shell.

Can't find info anywhere about what might be wrong or what I might do. The only suggestion I've found is to stop layer feed. Help?

 

[Eggcessive]

I think that what you are seeing is uric acid (urates,) the white part of the dropping, and is kidney waste. The hen may be suffering from vent gleet (cloacitis) where the urates are mixed with the fecal material and constantly dripping out. Here are a couple of articles to help you figure out the problem:
https://www.birdhealth.com.au/vent-gleet

https://www.backyardchickens.com/articles/vent-gleet-aka-nasty-chicken-butt.64647/

 

[Aunt Angus]

I think that what you are seeing is uric acid (urates,) the white part of the dropping, and is kidney waste. The hen may be suffering from vent gleet (cloacitis) where the urates are mixed with the fecal material and constantly dripping out. Here are a couple of articles to help you figure out the problem:
https://www.birdhealth.com.au/vent-gleet

https://www.backyardchickens.com/articles/vent-gleet-aka-nasty-chicken-butt.64647/

Ok. That I can deal with. I actually started treating her for gleet yesterday. It was just like find sand coming off those feathers.... I thought maybe I'd misdiagnosed gleet and was headed down the wrong treatment path. But that makes sense with what I've been seeing.

Thanks, @Eggcessive !

 

[Aunt Angus]

Ok. I fed plain yogurt. Got ACV in the water. Bathed her day before yesterday and today, will probably bathe again Saturday. Treating 3x day with monistat.

Any idea how long I should keep up treatments or how long it can take to heal? Just curious. As soon as this has cleared up, I'd like to start the "look but no contact" phase of integration. I'm getting anxious!

 

[Eggcessive]

You could treat her twice a day with the Monistat morning and evening, and start the integration now? Have you kept her in quarantine for a month?

 

[Aunt Angus]

You could treat her twice a day with the Monistat morning and evening, and start the integration now? Have you kept her in quarantine for a month?

Not yet a month. That's why I was going to wait for this depending on how long it will take. If it takes 2 weeks, I can wait. If it takes 3, I'd like to start integrating sooner because her flockmate is healthy (so far). But I wouldn't want the stress to set her back. I think that's what brought the gleet on this time because her vent was fine for the first 2 weeks after I brought her home.

These two have never seen grass. I c a.c n keep my established flock in the run and let the new girls out, but if they have anything communicable, I don't want them to "share" free range areas.

 

[Aunt Angus]

Well, golly. My other new hen is showing signs of vent gleet! Her vent was red and swollen this morning.

Their area is clean, and their water is changed daily....

It could be stress. And I had to change their food because they were only getting corn and wheat grains at their last place.

Could it be that they sleep while sitting on the ground? Where they were before had only bare, hard packed dirt. I use pine shavings. Could that be a cause? I don't want to fight this forever.

 

[Aunt Angus]

Well, now, tonight I was treating Jessamine, the Golden Comet, for vent gleet and found LICE. Ew. Both girls will get baths and permetherin treatments tomorrow.

And of course I JUST cleaned the coop and run YESTERDAY. Thank goodness they are quarantined and don't share anything with my other flock!

The saga continues....

 

[Eggcessive]

How is the crop emptying overnight ? I discovered one of mine the other day who developed vent gleet from a sour crop problem. Lice require retreatment at 7-10 day intervals several times to get the live lice and the newly hatched ones before they lay eggs.

 

[Aunt Angus]

Her crop has been fantastic since I treated her for the impaction. I have been checking every morning. But I will keep an eye on it. Do you think it'd be worth giving her anti-fungal meds orally just in case? The gleet is being very stubborn.