Bald butt and swollen below vent.

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Critter Nanny

Hatching
11 Years
Jan 11, 2009
3
2
7
Oakland, Ca.
Hi,
I am new to this group and this is my first post. Tonight as I locked my chicken coop I noticed one of my chickens had a very swollen, bald butt. The vent is not blocked from the outside, but the area below is soft and swollen to the size of a tennis ball. Most of the feathers below her vent are gone. She was active today and eating okay. I got an egg from her yesterday. She does not squawk when I touch the area, which is soft and ply-able, but I am not sure how she would react if it did hurt, so that does not tell me much.
She was a little dirty around the butt.( it is the rainy season here in California) and I put her bottom in warm water to clean her off. She is in the house tonight and acting a bit agitated at the new surroundings, but other wise no distress. Anyone have a suggestion as to why her belly is so swollen and what I should do about it?

Doris from Oakland Ca.
 
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Welcome to BYC!!
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A couple of questions come to mind. How do your chickens get along? Where is this chicken in the "pecking" order??

Could this be "prolapse"? You can search for this info in the search box on this site!!

I think that removing this hen from your other chickens is a good idea until you find out what is going on!!

Hopefully someone with more knowledge will also respond!!

Again, welcome to BYC!!
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Cindy
 
Hi California Chick, We are neighbors. I'm in Oakland.
Rizzo is at the bottom of the pecking order, but I do not see a lot of pecking going on. I was working around the pen today, and they were all getting along. Mostly I only see hens peck the next in line, they do not gang up on the lower cast hens.

If I understand Prolapse correctly, it is not that. Her little vent is at the top of the swelling and clamped completely shut as it should when I placed her bottom in warm water to wash her off. The swelling is soft, like a balloon full of water. The more I read, the more I do not want to squeeze it... I would not want to crush the next egg in the tube.
I was working around the pen and making noise, this usually means I do not get many eggs that day. Could this have messed her up? She is very sweet, but shy.

Doris
 
I am having this same issue with one of my Welsummers. I noticed a swollen butt area last night when I went to close the coop. Her rear area hanging over the roost looked extra big. I felt it, and it was a bit squishy, but it didn't seem to be bothering her. I thought maybe she hadn't laid that day, but was close.

This afternoon, I noticed she had poop on her feathers. No blocked vent. The under area is still swollen and squishy. It is not bald or picked at, but the swelling is making it look less feathered.

I washed off the poop, and palpated the area -- feels like a water balloon, almost. Does not visibly distress her to touch the area. Vent looks healthy. It does not feel like she is egg-bound from what I've read.

She was VERY interested to eat some yogurt and rice, and seems alert. Took water well from a dropper.

Her poop has gotten progressively more normal. No signs of parasites visible to the naked eye.

Keeping her indoors tonight.

Any advice?
 
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In more searching, this thread sounds similar.

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My girl is doing great this morning, after more normal poops. Still has a tennis ball-size swelling. I'll keep watching.
 
This happened to one of my chickens. I tried the treatment for a bound egg. Soaked in warm water for 30 min massaged and kept under heat lamp. No egg I then dusted her and all the ground and hay in the coup with diatomatious earth (make sure it is not what you use for swimming pools) which is supposed to treat mites. It worked! Swelling is down and she is getting back to normal. The other chickens were not affected.
 
My BO Fluff also has this same "ailment" only being a large breed the "water ballon area" below the vent is more like the size of a softball rather than a tennis ball. It is warm and red. She had poopy reside sticking to what feathers were left. She allowed me to clean her up and will let me touch. She is in the house in "sick bay". Her first night in she laid between 7 -11 pm -- off for her biological clock, but otherwise normal appearing egg. I used saline solution and hydrogen peroxide to clean her up and other than realizing just how badly chicken poop is inside the house smells
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there's nothing alarming. The remaining flock all has normal pale colored bottomsides and vents.
She's not very active as she's in a room with no windows -- she's politely chatty when I engage with her and doesn't seem to be in distress - none the less I'm worried. Any words of advice?
 
Good to know others are having this issue. 3YO Austrolorp waddling with swollen bottom and eating and drinking. no egg I can feel, lubed up and put away to rest. But she does occasionally breathe heavily. Hasn't layed in 2 days. Lost one 7 months ago to same problem. Would love to know what to do to keep from happening again.
 
This is exactly what was going on with my jersey giant girl before the bottom of her abdomen SPLIT OPEN! I hope someone figures out what exactly is going on here.
 

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