What the heck did I just pull out of my chicken's butt?

[Kingheman]

I just pulled this out of my laying hen's vent! I have eleven hens and she is one of the ones I'm not sure is laying but am guessing not by this today. I've noticed the last two days she sleeps wherever she is, as though she is incredibly exhausted. We purchased this flock as adults who all checked out well, but turned out to be carriers of respiratory disease, as most are now fully sneezing and hacking etc. I did a full flock medical review of each chicken today, put them on aureomycin crumbles, gave each Polyvisol drops and a beak rub of vetrx.

I found her to be underweight and riddled with lice, along with the skinny end of this clump hanging out of her vent. She squirmed only a little and noticeably relaxed when it was over.
I dusted her with wood ash also.

Anyone seen this before? It reminds me of my cats hairballs.

Thanks in advance!

 

[CMV]

That would likely be part of the reason she is underweight. You just puled out a partial impaction. Thank goodness she was able to pass such a monstrosity. It looks like she ate a string or some long grass. Either way, I would also worm the flock. Since they are so obviously ill, they probably also have worms. You can probably send a message to dawg53 and he can give you the specifics of what you need to do about worming them.

 

[Kingheman]

Thank you for the feedback! I wormed with wazine when they came home to us three months ago. I do have ivomec pour on, though i question whether it's wise to worm while the flock is on antibiotics. Any suggestions?

 

[CMV]

Again, that's Jim's area of expertise, not mine. He's forgotten more about parasites than I ever even knew in the first place. He'll point you in the right direction.