Hen not laying for a month, has dirty bottom and now limping.

[tennhensfarm]

We have a one year old New Hampshire Red who stopped laying about a month ago. We then noticed she had a poopy bottom, so we gave her an epsom salt bath and cleaned her bottom. We also gave her some yogurt and we put apple cider vinegar in the chickens waterer. But then today, about a week after the bath, her bottom is poopy again and she's limping. She's been eating and drinking normally from what I've seen, she free ranges all day long, so I'm not sure what her poop looks like. She also seems to have some feather loss, but it doesn't look like molting. At first I was thinking maybe it's mites, but we have 13 other hens and none of them are showing signs of mites or illness. I tried to get a picture of her feet and there does seem to be some redness, I'm not sure if that's normal or not. I really appreciate any insight you all might be able to give.
Thank you!

 

[coach723]

Its still possible she's molting. Sometimes it's so gradual that it's very hard to tell, and sometimes it's a feather explosion. Look her over well for any pinfeathers coming in anywhere, they may be hidden under other feathers. Look especially around the head/neck, tail/vent and under the wings. That would explain the stopping of laying, and sometimes it can make them seem a bit down.
For the dirty butt, have you ever wormed? If not see if you can get a fecal float test done to see if there are any internal parasites, which could cause runny droppings.
For the limping, check her feet for any signs of bumblefoot or injury. If there is nothing there, then I'd just keep an eye on it and see if it gets better. She may have just tweaked it and it will resolve on it's own. I don't see anything obvious in your pictures.
And it's best to check for mites at night after dark. That is when they come out to feed and you can check her over with a flashlight to see if you see anything, especially around the vent. Here is a link with pictures that may help in identifying that: http://www.the-chicken-chick.com/2012/08/poultry-lice-and-mites-identification.html
Hope this helps, and maybe some others will have more suggestions.

 

[tennhensfarm]

Thank you for the reply! After looking her over she appears to be molting and we didn't see any signs of mites, phew!

But then we discovered she is very swollen and red under her vent. It feels like a balloon. Poor girl! I don't know what to do for her. We gave her another epsom salt bath and massaged it some which didn't seem to bother her at all. I read some other threads that sounded similar to this that turned out to be hernias Hoping that's not what it is!

View attachment 1122036

Its still possible she's molting. Sometimes it's so gradual that it's very hard to tell, and sometimes it's a feather explosion. Look her over well for any pinfeathers coming in anywhere, they may be hidden under other feathers. Look especially around the head/neck, tail/vent and under the wings. That would explain the stopping of laying, and sometimes it can make them seem a bit down.
For the dirty butt, have you ever wormed? If not see if you can get a fecal float test done to see if there are any internal parasites, which could cause runny droppings.
For the limping, check her feet for any signs of bumblefoot or injury. If there is nothing there, then I'd just keep an eye on it and see if it gets better. She may have just tweaked it and it will resolve on it's own. I don't see anything obvious in your pictures.
And it's best to check for mites at night after dark. That is when they come out to feed and you can check her over with a flashlight to see if you see anything, especially around the vent. Here is a link with pictures that may help in identifying that: http://www.the-chicken-chick.com/2012/08/poultry-lice-and-mites-identification.html
Hope this helps, and maybe some others will have more suggestions.

 

[coach723]

If the swelling feels like a water balloon then it sounds like ascites. You can search for much info on that. Unfortunately most of the causes of that do not have good outcomes. It is caused by fluid buildup in the abdomen that is caused by another condition, like internal laying, infection, organ failure, salpingitis, or some cancers, etc. So I'd recommend reading up on that so you can determine your next step. I would still recommend testing for internal parasites if you can. A severe worm load could cause a secondary infection. They could also do a gram stain to see if there is any infection that might be treatable. I'm sorry to not have more positive info. That's my best guess based on your description.