Well this is a new one for me. My neighbor recently got 4 Pullets, red hens. 1 seemed to have pasty butt, so I was helping her clean it & noticed the vent opening seemed very small. I thought it may be due to being so young & swollen having the pasty butt. She did put Braggs ACV in their water. The condition did not clear up & she asked me to take a look as the hen looked sick. It was brutal hot & the little hen did seem to be under the weather, pale, not eating or drinking. I took her & set her up in the a/c & when I cleaned her butt I got a good look at her cloaca, and yes it was very, very, tiny as compared to the other pullets.
They're all 20 weeks old now. I noticed her vent area had been irritated, so by cleaning it daily & applying Neosporin, the skin has improved, but the opening itself is still very tiny. I can barely get my pinky finger in to clean it out, & poop collects along the inside so I have to clean it out. Her feces is like sandy concrete mortar, weird. I have never encountered this. Her poop smelled horrible, too. I didn't know if she had bacterial infection or fungal or just so full of poop that couldn't get out. I did add Corid & enrofloxacin to her water. I had to hand feed her baby food the 1st 2 days but then she finally started eating & drinking on her own. She is extremely thin.
It has been 7 days as of today. Her poop no longer smells horrid, it is green & less like concrete mortar but still feels sandy, but she still can barely poop & I use Neosporin to lube the opening & gently get my pinky finger to open it, so poop can come out. I looked at the other pullets again today, their vents, and they are normal looking, like huge, compared to this poor hen. This pullet has a very tiny opening, I guess this is a deformity?
My question is, can the opening be made bigger, make very small cuts on either side just a bit, then insert a tube so it heals larger, or would that cause prolapse to happen? I realize there is the muscle, it is like a tight ring. Has anyone encountered this scenario? What can be done to help? Euthanasia can't be the only option.
I will update more photos later too, but this is her progress so far. I also removed a nasty ingrown feather cyst on her back. I guess this sandy stuff is urates in her feces, it does seem to be more diminished, as she is eating more now.
Her initial stool had some blood, either due to her small opening being irritated by the sandy feeling urates or coccidiosis, I was not sure which.
The ingrown feather clump on her back, it has scabbed up healing right now, will keep an eye for ingrown feathers.
They're all 20 weeks old now. I noticed her vent area had been irritated, so by cleaning it daily & applying Neosporin, the skin has improved, but the opening itself is still very tiny. I can barely get my pinky finger in to clean it out, & poop collects along the inside so I have to clean it out. Her feces is like sandy concrete mortar, weird. I have never encountered this. Her poop smelled horrible, too. I didn't know if she had bacterial infection or fungal or just so full of poop that couldn't get out. I did add Corid & enrofloxacin to her water. I had to hand feed her baby food the 1st 2 days but then she finally started eating & drinking on her own. She is extremely thin.
It has been 7 days as of today. Her poop no longer smells horrid, it is green & less like concrete mortar but still feels sandy, but she still can barely poop & I use Neosporin to lube the opening & gently get my pinky finger to open it, so poop can come out. I looked at the other pullets again today, their vents, and they are normal looking, like huge, compared to this poor hen. This pullet has a very tiny opening, I guess this is a deformity?
My question is, can the opening be made bigger, make very small cuts on either side just a bit, then insert a tube so it heals larger, or would that cause prolapse to happen? I realize there is the muscle, it is like a tight ring. Has anyone encountered this scenario? What can be done to help? Euthanasia can't be the only option.
I will update more photos later too, but this is her progress so far. I also removed a nasty ingrown feather cyst on her back. I guess this sandy stuff is urates in her feces, it does seem to be more diminished, as she is eating more now.
Her initial stool had some blood, either due to her small opening being irritated by the sandy feeling urates or coccidiosis, I was not sure which.
The ingrown feather clump on her back, it has scabbed up healing right now, will keep an eye for ingrown feathers.
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