Chicken vent red and swollen, and yellowish inside. Stinks!

[Sunshine Chick]

Okay, the basics: she eats layer crumbles, sunflower seeds, occasionally yogurt, free-choice grit and egg/oyster shell. Lives in a hoop house with around 40 other chickens, with access to a large mulched area. Today they were given lots of greens, and baked eggs as well.
For the past few days she and a few others have tended to stay in the hoop house more than normal, but with the cold, and with everyone fighting off Mycoplasma gallisepticum, I didn’t think a whole lot of it… I figured maybe she was just tired from fighting off the illness and was trying to stay warm. Then I noticed a strong smell coming from her this evening as everyone was getting on their perches for the night… I’ve included pictures of her vent and poo, and her face and comb as well, which are swollen. Again I thought that was from the Mycoplasma gallisepticum, but it’s worth mentioning anyway.
Her appetite is healthy, her crop is currently full. She didn’t seem lethargic really, except for staying in the hoop house more than most of the others did. But she seemed just as interested in walking about and racing over to gobble up the eggs and greens. I’m withholding food and water until tomorrow morning and will check her crop again then. I haven’t noticed her losing a significant amount of weight… if she’s lost any, I don’t think it’s been much. She’s already kind of light from bouts of illness over the summer and fall.
She has also had a bad infestation of lice/mites which I have managed to heavily reduce with regular dust baths of diatomaceous earth.
In a previous post it was believed I may have had coccidiosis in my flock… I’ve read it can cause permanent damage to the intestines. Could that have happened here? Or is it some kind of wound? I tried picking some of the stuff out… some would come out easily, while most of it seemed stuck to her vent, or like it was part of her actual insides, and would bleed if I tried to take it off.

I brought her inside and washed her butt clean (poop had gathered on the feathers right under her vent) with hydrogen peroxide. She’s in a rabbit cage.
I hope you all know what’s going on, because I sure don’t! My first instinct is to give her corid treatment for coccidiosis, and an antibiotic. But I would like some advice before I pump her full of stuff that might do more harm than good if I’m addressing the wrong problem. Thank you in advance for any input! Though she herself isn’t allowed to breed because she’s struggled with so much illness, I hope to save her, as she is my only good, consistent broody hen so far.

 

[Perris]

I'll flag up some experts who may recognize the signs, @azygous @dawg53 @Eggcessive @Wyorp Rock

 

[azygous]

First, I appreciate your thorough information and informative photos. And that you've give us your location! You have saved me and others that are trying to help the tedious frustration of trying to drag all that information out of you. It allows us to get right down to business. Thank you!

I'm wondering about what appears to be poop stuck in the swollen vent. Have you tried soaking this gal's butt and trying to remove it? Or is it scabby tissue?

If the scabrous buildup washes away after soaking in a basin of soapy water for ten minutes, then this may be vent gleet. That would be treatable with this. https://www.jedds.com/shop/medistatin/

If the scabby stuff is actually tissue, then it may be squamous cancer. https://wagwalking.com/bird/condition/squamous-cell-carcinoma-

 

[Wyorp Rock]

Looks like she's pooping ok(?)
Hard to really tell in the photos, the upper part of her vent looks to have material in it. Can you tell if that's been damaged and festered with debris in it?

I would clean out all that material. A soaking as mentioned may help loosen it up. Use saline to help keep flushing out. QTips or even a blunt popsicle stick may help you work the debris loose.

Do you have a helper to help you remove material and take more photos?

 

[Eggcessive]

I also would recommend bringing her inside while giving her bottom a shallow soak in either warm Epsom salts or soapy water. Put on a disposable glove and insert it inside the vent to clean out any dried poop or material. It looks like there is some yellow material inside the vent. Which may be yellow urates, a sign of liver involvement in internal laying (salpingitis.) This may need to be repeated to get it all. Constipation could be a possibility, and that can be related to previous vent damage from laying large eggs, egg binding, vent pecking, or from vent gleet. Giving some probiotics, perhaps a little coconut oil to soften droppings, and perhaps trying the Medistatin powder may help.

 

[Sunshine Chick]

I'll flag up some experts who may recognize the signs, @azygous @dawg53 @Eggcessive @Wyorp Rock

Thank you!

 

[Sunshine Chick]

First, I appreciate your thorough information and informative photos. And that you've give us your location! You have saved me and others that are trying to help the tedious frustration of trying to drag all that information out of you. It allows us to get right down to business. Thank you!

I'm wondering about what appears to be poop stuck in the swollen vent. Have you tried soaking this gal's butt and trying to remove it? Or is it scabby tissue?

If the scabrous buildup washes away after soaking in a basin of soapy water for ten minutes, then this may be vent gleet. That would be treatable with this. https://www.jedds.com/shop/medistatin/

If the scabby stuff is actually tissue, then it may be squamous cancer. https://wagwalking.com/bird/condition/squamous-cell-carcinoma-

You’re welcome! Thank you for that encouragement. I’m learning as I go. It took a few emergencies before I learned what info is needed right off the bat.

I will try soaking her butt and see how that goes. Some seems stuck on, as though it’s part of her insides, other parts come off easily. I used lots of hydrogen peroxide hoping it would help loosen it up, but not a whole lot came out.

If a good butt soaking doesn’t work, I’ll try anti-fungal and antibiotic treatment next.

 

[Sunshine Chick]

Looks like she's pooping ok(?)
Hard to really tell in the photos, the upper part of her vent looks to have material in it. Can you tell if that's been damaged and festered with debris in it?

I would clean out all that material. A soaking as mentioned may help loosen it up. Use saline to help keep flushing out. QTips or even a blunt popsicle stick may help you work the debris loose.

Do you have a helper to help you remove material and take more photos?


View attachment 2923226

I might be able to get my dad to help me hold her so I can get better pictures. She seems to be pooping alright. She certainly pooped a lot last night and this morning!!! She does seem to strain some when she poops.

I will compare her side-by-side with the healthy chicken vent of one of the other birds, and hopefully that will help me see if it’s a festering wound or something stuck inside. After I’ve soaked her butt and tried to remove the debris first, of course.

 

[Sunshine Chick]

I also would recommend bringing her inside while giving her bottom a shallow soak in either warm Epsom salts or soapy water. Put on a disposable glove and insert it inside the vent to clean out any dried poop or material. It looks like there is some yellow material inside the vent. Which may be yellow urates, a sign of liver involvement in internal laying (salpingitis.) This may need to be repeated to get it all. Constipation could be a possibility, and that can be related to previous vent damage from laying large eggs, egg binding, vent pecking, or from vent gleet. Giving some probiotics, perhaps a little coconut oil to soften droppings, and perhaps trying the Medistatin powder may help.

Hmm… okay, thank you! That was very informative. Knowing more possible causes as well as some more things to try as solutions is helpful. I will do the coconut oil and probiotics as well.

 

[Sunshine Chick]

Okay, so I took some more pictures early Friday morning, after I soaked her in warm epsom salt water for 20 minutes and removed as much of the stuff as I could.
Some of it seemed like whitish-yellow dead skin, that peeled off easily. Other parts were firmly attached and bled if I tried to take it off. After I removed as much stuff as I could, I flushed it with hydrogen peroxide.

Her appetite is still good, maybe a little less than normal. I’ve been giving her yogurt, and baked eggs. I gave her too much yogurt though, and it gave her diarrhea… I figured with all the stuff that might be in her making it hard to poop, maybe it wouldn’t hurt to have some really soft poo. Her poo color is light to dark green, sometimes brown, with a white cap. Good consistency except when I give her too much yogurt.

I have not examined the other hens yet to see if any of them exhibit similar symptoms, but I hope to by tomorrow.

My next comment will be an update on how she looks today, BEFORE I removed the tissue stuff.