The Accidental Smallholder Forum
Livestock => Poultry & Waterfowl => Topic started by: beeches4791 on August 24, 2019, 07:06:10 pm
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One of my little chooks has been a bit off colour for a few days with black runny poo and has just been looking a bit out of sorts. I brought little Veronica inside this afternoon to give her a bath as I thought she might feel a bit brighter with a fresher rear end and noticed some odd ‘material’ in her vent. It looks a bit like crushed up shell that’s compacted into a pointy lump. I’ve not seen anything like this before so wondered if anyone else had and could offer some advice? She flinches a bit when I feel around that area and I don’t want to try and remove it incase it is bone that is connected to her. Or could it be something odd that she’s eaten? She doesn’t appear to be in any pain generally and is bright and alert, just not quite herself. The vets are open on Tuesday so I will of course ring them then if I need to but just wondered if anyone had any thoughts on what this could be in the meantime. Sorry for the long ramble!
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I guess it is better out than in. Perhaps it is an egg that broke inside her. Can you run a gloved finger around inside the vent to feel if anything is caught? If not, have you tried to pull it out gently, with tweezers for example?
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Use a bit of vegetable oil to lubricate before you try to remove it.
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Perris and Possum, thank you both so much for your replies and I'm so sorry that I've not replied before now.
It's been a very sad few days as, after my last post, a huge wound opened up overnight, just above her vent and we rushed her to the emergency vets on the Sunday morning. The vet advised us that the wound had been caused by flystrike and very sadly, we had to make the tough decision to have Veronica put to sleep.
The vet pulled out the material from her vent and it did turn out to be an egg that she had laid internally. The vet thought it might have been inside her for a while as it was so compacted and difficult even for the vet to pull out. I know that I would not have been able to pull that hard, for fear of really hurting her.
It was all such a shock as, although not herself, she had still been fairly perky and there was no sign of a wound there at all on the Saturday. It all happened frighteningly quickly.
There have been lots of tears shed this week and the other girls and I really miss Veronica's inquisitive nature and busy little ways as she went about her day.
A bit more knowledge has been gained though in my quest to give these lovely little ex-bats some true happiness in their twilight years....
Thank you again for your responses, I really appreciated your thoughts and help xx
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:'( :'( :'(
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:'( so sad :hug: thanks for letting us know what it was, so we all learn from this unhappy experience
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Sorry to hear that :-[
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Beeches - this was a very unusual event that most of us would have had difficulty dealing with. You did the right thing in taking her to the vet and ending her pain. Over the years we all have these unhappy experiences. One of the good things that comes from them is learning from them and sharing that learning with others. :bouquet: :)
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Thank you all for your kind words. This is a really lovely forum, full of such kind and supportive people :wave: