what is wrong with my chicken?

[brewwerks]

Today, my chicken laid 2 eggs in one day, and i noticed this afternoon her bottom was wet. I picked her up to look at her, and she has white stuff coming out her bottom...does anyone know what this is?

 

[faykokoWV]

could it have just been some white poo?

 

[purpletree23]

If it looks like (sorry) cottage cheese it could be pus from an infection.

 

[brewwerks]

Yes, it looks cottage cheese like. If it's infection, what do I do? Is this something the vet would have to look at, or can I buy something at the feed store to treat it?

 

[dlhunicorn]

I would suggest you separate her to control what she eats and better monitor her symptoms... sometimes you get weird things like this and the bird rapidly recovers from whatever it is causing it.
If she doesnt recover soon, has more symptoms then you can report here as they occur and we will be better able to help you.
While she is separated you can offer her just her normal age appropriate feed (and a general supplement like Avia Charge 2000) and free choice (not mixed through her feed) live culture yogurt (plain non-flavored).

 

[purpletree23]

I personally (just my opinion) would take her to a vet. I don't think this is something you can treat at home. Sounds like she has an infection of the reproductive tract.

 

[threehorses]

The very first thing to do is deal with the infection. but the cause of the infection sounds like a problem with laying. Before the two-eggs in one day, did she lay every day - or skip days?

If she dropped two eggs in one day, that means she retained one. If she retained a whole egg, her laying system is off. That means if she's ever missed eggs, it's possible that they might not be all making it down to the cloaca, maybe not even into the 'egg funnel' from the ovary.

You hadn't mentioned how old she is, what she eats, etc. She should be getting at least 95% of her diet in a completely fortified 16% or higher protein laying pellet or crumble. The other 5% can be treats, grains, etc. She should also have oyster shell available free choice at all times.

The white droppings (in combination with the laying issues) indicate a probable infection. A vet visit is highly recommended. If you absolutely cannot, you can treat with injectable penicillin. There's a certain way to do it, so if you choose to please ask here and we can tell you about what syringes (as pen is different than other meds), etc. You cannot use just regular feed store foil package antibiotics for this type of infection.

I also second the recommendations of using yogurt daily to help her digestive tract as portions of the digestive and reproductive tracts are shared.

Furthermore, I would give her a daily vitamin supplement to boost her immunity (and to provide vitamin D to help with the oyster shell). That can be as easy as a poultry vitamin/mineral in the water, aviacharge if you can order it (it's not readily available here). Or polyvisol vitamins 3 drops a day in the beak for a week.

If she has ever had leathery, shell-less, or soft shelled eggs or more than a few missed eggs, I would put the 'flour' from the oyster shell in her crumbles for a day. The 'flour" from crushed oyster shell is simply the dusty heavy parts, the smallest flour-like section.

 

[brewwerks]

The hen is probably around 2 years old. She eats layer feed with oyster shell, and occasional scratch. I have two hens, and they free range in the yard, so they obviously eat some other plant matter and bugs. She is showing no signs of feeling ill other than her bottom appears wet, and when you look at it close there is white cottage cheese substance around the vent. She has been laying regularly, about 1 a day or every other day, except for the one day there was an egg in the morning when I let them out, and then one later in the afternoon. The eggs appears normal, the shell is good. Her back end looked drier yesterday and I started her on yogurt yesterday so it is too soon to know if it helps. Her poop looks normal too. I wish I could post a picture, is it possible to do that here?

 

[threehorses]

Yes, you can post a picture if you can upload one. I use photobucket.com as its' free and easy. You sign up. Then it says "upload photos" or something therelike. You do that. It'll show the photos there in the same window. If you cursor over them, you'll get some options including one that says "IMG" with a box beside it. Select all of the text in the box, copy, then paste that into the typing box for this forum. It'll look something like [ IMG ] blah blah blah [ IMG ] when you're done. It won't look like a photo until you read it on the forums, so don't think you've messed it up if you only see text. (Like I did. )

The diet looks good. Sometimes getting older they just need "more". I'd just freshen the oyster shell a little, keep her on the layer. It's good to keep some cod liver oil around. If you see weird things happening with their laying, put some of the 'flour' from the oyster shell in their feed, and spray their feed with cod liver oil twice during that week (2 days apart) to give her a sure source of calcium and vitamin D. Sometimes that helps the "bobbles" like this.

The diarrhea could have been from that weird bobble she had. How's she doing now? Any eggs? GOOD on the improvement on the droppings. Sometimes also that can be an indication of a yeast infection. Or bacterial. In those cases I definitely do the yogurt for at least a week daily, and then I'd also think that using organic apple cider vinegar in the water helps all around in digestive issues. 1 teaspoon per gallon of water. The pH of the OACV gets the digestive tract pH back on track for good bacteria, unfriendly for bad bacteria and devestatingly unfriendly to fungal/yeast blooms. Plus the organic has yet more live bacteria (lactobacilli) and a little fiber in the bottom if you shake it up.

It might not hurt to give her system a gentle flush with a tiny bit of applesauce and cooked oatmeal in one feeding if she'll take it. The fibers of oatmeal (and it's soothing nature) and the pectin of the applesauce (and its cleansing nature) cleanse without causing diarrhea. They actually help with diarrhea because of the fibers and pectin acting as PREbiotic, something that increases the PRObiotic activity as the live bacteria thrive if given a little good stuff to eat.

I think she's on her way back to health without the extras, but they're there if you'd like to try them or to use later if you ever need them.

I'd love to hear how she does for you.

 

[brewwerks]

I've given the hen yogurt for 3 days now and I will try some of the other remedies. Her bottom still looks wet and she still has some cottage cheese looking discharge around the vent. her poop is solid and looks okay. the eggs still have some blood on them. she is laying regular, about 1 a day. she does not act like she feels bad, still roams the yard, makes her usual noise and lays eggs. My question is do you think we should eat the eggs? i've been separating them. Also, is the other hen suspectible to getting this? I don't really want to take the chicken to the vet. I'm not trying to be callus, but I don't want to spend hundreds of dollars on a chicken that cost $25. I'm also more curious about how she could have got this....am I doing something wrong or is there something in the environment? I would like to understand what is going on in order to prevent it in other hens we might have. I will try and post a picture later today.