Is this a vent prolapse? *WARNING* GRAPHIC PICTURE

[takesallkinds]

Just bought this hen today sight unseen and was told that she is molting. I'm not an idiot! Is this a prolapsed vent? If not, what is it? She was very, very dirty and poo covered. I bathed her in ACV and saline water, then covered her in my homemade salve. She acts fine, and seemed very appreciative of the bath and special treatment. I don't want to put her in with my other chickens just in case she's contagious. He did tell me she has been recently wormed. I've never had to worm ours, so I don't have any experience with I'll effects from that.

 

[ten chicks]

Just bought this hen today sight unseen and was told that she is molting. I'm not an idiot! Is this a prolapsed vent? If not, what is it? She was very, very dirty and poo covered. I bathed her in ACV and saline water, then covered her in my homemade salve. She acts fine, and seemed very appreciative of the bath and special treatment. I don't want to put her in with my other chickens just in case she's contagious. He did tell me she has been recently wormed. I've never had to worm ours, so I don't have any experience with I'll effects from that.

Poor girl,what a mess,this must be incredibly painful. Looks like vent gleet and prolapse. Any whitish discharge and or poop stuck to her bottom,if yes then it is vent gleet. Here are a couple of links,explaining prolapse and vent gleet.

http://www.the-chicken-chick.com/2012/04/prolapse-vent-causes-treatment-graphic.html

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

 

[BantamLover21]

Doesn't appear to be prolapsed vent. Its difficult to tell in the photo, but, as ten chicks mentioned, she could have Vent Gleet, which is a fungal infection characterized by white sores, runny droppings, and general droopiness.

 

[Farmer Viola]

I do not think this is a prolapse. When they prolapse, the inside of their vent actually sticks out of their body.. it looks like an internal organ.. you will know when you see it >.< The link posted above has good pictures of prolapse.

She is missing a ton of feathers on her butt and the skin looks very red and irritated. Are feathers missing from anywhere else on her body? It's good you separated her from the other chickens, she needs a quarantine time.

I don't know that it is necessarily vent gleet. Is the wetness in your photo from her bath, or is her butt wet all the time?

Actually, just saw that you said she was very poo covered, so it could be gleet. The treatment for gleet is rather simple, so you might as well treat her for it.

The vent gleet link posted above is a great resource. Here is my condensed version:

• acidophilus capsules spread into dry feed *
• ORGANIC apple cider vinegar WITH the living mother* (organic is important): 1tsp per 1 gal water
• bath. you already did this, yay! you might have to keep bathing her depending on how it looks each day. make sure that she has a roost to sleep on where you are keeping her indoors. If she is forced to sleep on the flat ground, the poop butt problem will get worse. I recommend diluting epsom salt in the bathwater instead of soap or vinegar. Alternatively, I had the best luck creating a garlic brew by boiling/simmering water and 4-6 cloves for several hours.
• garlic douche using garlic brew - natural disinfectant
• 24hr fast followed by 24hr laxative diet (OACV water), then reintroduction of feed+acidophilus

* = appropriate for overall health of all chickens in your flock

Fresh gloves of garlic minced up and added to water dish is also a natural immunizer and protector against disease, adding to the overall health of your flock in general, or helping out a sick one. I feed garlic to my birds all the time. They get their choice of garlic+OACV water or regular clean water daily.



Aside from the vent gleet treatment, I just discovered a product called NuStock. It's made from pine oil, mineral oil and sulfur. "It has proven to be effective for fast relief of all types of skin problems. Nu-Stock also helps to eliminate certain types of growths on animals." This stuff is good for all farm animals and even pets!

You are supposed to apply it to the red irritated area, but do not bathe/rinse it off for 3 days. After 3 days, rinse it off, and if the area still looks red, you can choose to re-apply it. It helps the skin to regrow, and the old layer will come off after 3 days, leaving nice healed skin underneath. I've used it for abscesses, infected skin, vent gleet, and bleeding C/W's.

It's also good to cover up any little blood spots on combs/wattles to keep them from getting pecked, since nustock is yellow. Good luck!



edit:
here is what my natural chicken keeping book says about excessive moulting and regrowing plumage:
Quote:

 

[takesallkinds]

Okay, based on your all's descriptions and links, I don't think that it's prolapse, but vent vent gleet sounds like a winning diagnosis. She has white ulcerlike sores, watery poo, and is bloody around her anus. She was wet from the bath, before hand all you saw was redness and poo. She doesn't seem to be missing feathers any place else, and seems to be in otherwise good health. Should I feed her any kind of special diet while she's recovering? Thank you all for your help!

 

[takesallkinds]

Now I have another question.... Should she be laying even though she has Gleet? She hasn't laid since I got her, and since she is new to us I don't know her normal laying schedule. She's isolated in a small dog crate, but she hasn't laid at all. I'm not sure if it's because the Gleet is so bad or if she's not comfortable laying in the crate. Otherwise, she is ding much better. Her bottom is much less swollen and red, and the sores are beginning to scab over. Thanks again for the help!

 

[BantamLover21]

Now I have another question.... Should she be laying even though she has Gleet? She hasn't laid since I got her, and since she is new to us I don't know her normal laying schedule. She's isolated in a small dog crate, but she hasn't laid at all. I'm not sure if it's because the Gleet is so bad or if she's not comfortable laying in the crate. Otherwise, she is ding much better. Her bottom is much less swollen and red, and the sores are beginning to scab over. Thanks again for the help!

Most chickens don't lay under stress, whether the stress is due to overcrowding, heat, injury, or illness. And I assume that being infected with Vent Gleet is a stressful experience, so I wouldn't worry if your hen isn't laying eggs. Glad she's doing better!