There is no shortage of chicken diseases that can affect your bird, but sometimes, some symptoms of diseases overlap, because of this, knowing what disease your bird has can be confusing.
If you’re wondering whether your bird has vent gleet or is egg bound this article will help clear that up.
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Vent gleet or egg bound?
There is some overlap between the symptoms that you’ll see with a bird that has vent gleet and the symptoms that you’ll see with a bird that is egg-bound, but there are also some clear differences between the two diseases.
Here are some to look out for:
Vent appearance:
The vent of a bird that has vent gleet will look very dirty, the feathers on this bird’s vent will be soaked with a whitish-yellow sticky discharge.
The vent of a bird that is egg-bound will be clean but the vent will be sealed-off because an egg is stuck there. Usually, the solid matter won’t be able to pass and thus the vent will look normal, at most, the bird will release a little bit of liquid
Smell:
A bird that has vent gleet will smell strongly and very badly, the bird’s white-yellow discharge is the cause of the strong smell.
A bird that is egg-bound won’t pass a normal amount of feces but it may pass small amounts of liquid that will smell. That being said, an egg-bound bird won’t smell as strongly as a bird with vent gleet.
Differences in movement:
How your birds walk will also indicate whether the bird has vent gleet or is egg bound. A bird that has vent gleet will walk around relatively normally despite what’s going on with its vent.
A bird that is egg-bound will have more decreased activity and will frequently sit on the cage floor. She may also shake from time to time in an effort to expel the egg.
Straining:
A bird that is egg-bound will be seen straining to release the egg from its body. A bird that has vent gleet will have a drop in egg production but it won’t strain when it does lay eggs.
Comb and wattle:
The appearance of the bird’s comb and wattle can sometimes give you an idea of the health of the bird, this is true in the case of an egg-bound bird but not true in the case of a bird with vent gleet.
The comb and/or wattle of a bird with vent gleet will usually have no change but the comb and/or wattle of a bird that is egg-bound may become droopy, depressed, and pale.
Vent color:
If left for too long, a bird that has vent gleet will develop a red and/or bloody vent, this change in vent color does not happen in a bird who is egg-bound. The vent of a bird that is egg-bound will look normal in color
If you enjoyed this article then you may also be interested in other chicken related articles. Here are some articles that you may be interested in: Chicken Bloated And Lethargic, Dead Chick In Incubator, Lethargic Chicken With A Dirty Vent, Chicken Swollen Below Vent, Swollen Chicken Vent