[karlooben]

i have mentioned on here about one of my girls always having a mucky rear end well i bath her and she stays clean for about 4 days then becomes mucky again but for about a week now shes seems fluffled up all over but is eating fine an drinking , i have felt inside her and cant seem to feel any egg  { although she seems quite tight } stuck but she seems to feel large in her tummy .

there is another girl with a lump under her eye its only small but i have an idea of what that is as i have dealt with it before so shes of to the vets tomorw for antiboitics but i am not sure if to take this one with the mucky bum with me can someone give me any ideas with the first girl as i am getting worried that i'm doing something very wrong and sometimes feel like giving up and re homing them all  which i dont want to do .

[beulah59]

karl - you've been an inspiration to me on here ... you don't really want to give up ... just do your best.

[karlooben]

thankyou for saying that  i have to say roll on spring hopfully all the probs will end .

[karlooben]

i found this >>>>>>There's a few things that might be causing the problem- worms is my first guess. Treat with flubenvet, as you said you were going to do and if that doesn't clear it up, your hen may just have a chronically mucky bum! There's a condition called vent gleet that can cause a mucky bum, but usually the muck is so chronic that the hen needs cleaning up every week or so (my rooster was so bad I needed to wash him up almost every second day). Vent gleet is usually caused by weak sphincter muscles around the cloaca and thus urates and fecal matter will drip out, mucking up feathers and sometimes chapping the skin and causing infection. Some books say that vent gleet can be caused by a fungal infection, but no antifungals did anything for my affected birds. Keep scratch and sunflower seeds to a minimum and don't overdo lettuce and greens or yogurt - see if the mucky bum clears up. Lastly, hormones can sometimes cause loose droppings- hens just coming into lay will often have looser droppings (and muckier bums) than those not layer.


anyone here heard of vent gleet ??

[GrannieAnnie]

I think Joyfull knows a bit about vent gleet Looby, but I don't.  But you don't want to give up, you know you don't!

[joyfull]

Looby, I have had problems with 6 little ones who had vent gleet, there are various causes of it: -
1) hatching problems (either unclean incubator of unclean infected eggs going into an incubator) - so that rules that out with yours.
2) damp and mouldy food - either stored incorrectly or what they find on the floor and so knowing you I doubt that this is the cause either.
3) infection from a cockerel - ooh err misses    and your girls don't have access to one of those.
4) kept in very soiled damp litter and you clean yours out regularly I think.

If a bird has vent gleet then a broad based antibiotic should not be given as antibiotics will flush out the good bacteria needed to help fight it. A probiotic is good and treatment
with  nystatin or similar (treatment for human thrush but vet needs to work out dosage).

Having just a mucky bum doesn't necessarily mean she has got thrush perhaps she doesn't drop her fluffy knickers far enough - I have a bluebelle like that. Does she have any other symptoms - gaping, unable to eat drink etc (it can infect from the beak all the way through and makes eating and drinking painfull for them) and consequently loss of weight, hunched up etc.

Call me if you want to chat  xxx

[joyfull]

A good probiotic for chickens Looby is avipro plus (lactose free and specially formulated for birds) I get mine from a local pet shop but failing that I should imagine that it is available online.

[karlooben]

thanks guys , i have let her out this morning and she seems fine although still a little fluffed up .i had her and another girl in the smaller house for the night { which they hated } so i could see what the poos where like and i think the one with the mucky bum had done some very small quite dark green poos but in the dark its differcult to tell . will check properly later on and thanks joy i might just be calling later about this vent gleet  what would i do without u lot on here 

[joyfull]

Ok Loobs my little fruitcake - talk later but defo think she will be ok 

[Bonniebean]

Looby don't get fed up! You are great with your chooks and take a lot of care with them. You are great with advice and talking others through problems, just stick with it and it will hopefully come right. I have had two of my Wyandottes come into lay in the last few days and they had slightly loose tums before, but it has now stopped. Hugs x

[Jeanette]

Looby please dont even think of giving up. Every time someone needs advice you are always so helpful we could not manage without you.

[karlooben]

i have checked her over and washed her bum and let her soak in the warm water for 10 mins or so { pray her butt warms up though i cant bring her indoors } she had a realy good towel dry though which i think she enjoys . i checked her temp and she felt just slighty cooler then one of my other girls who was quite nice an warm to the touch  found a perfect spot to place frozen finger tips  .

i have asked at the bird centre where i got her and one guy suggested giving her chick crumbs for about a week as they have antibiotics in ?? an also give her yougurt etc .

i very much doubt i'll give up think i was having one of those days 

[meterman]

look at the whole picture chucks are just like us, we have hospitals full of all ages some dying some being reprieved. So why should our pets be different.so long as we care and look after them as best as we can, job done . Enjoy them as they enjoy the life they would not have had without you.
PS average life of chicken 10 weeks for plate 72 weeks layer how old are yours?