dirty smelly butt feathers

I have a 2 year old leghorn hen. she has always had an issue with a dirty butt. she is an excellent layer. recently she laid a huge egg, the next day she had vent prolapse. the huge egg had a bloody tinge in the white. I brought her in and soaked her in warm water. tried to put her tissue back in but was not possible cause it was out really far. I put prep H on it and put under heat and in the dark. the next day she had punctured the big bulge and it was bleeding. so I tried putting it back in and when I pushed on it this little bubble popped out of the puncture area. it was the size of a large marble and it was like bloody white part of an egg. after that I was able to push everything back in. I kept her inside for a week. she's eating well, drinking out and about but hasn't laid an egg since then. that was about 3 weeks ago. now she has black sticky smelly stuff on her feathers on her butt and it has seeped into her tail feathers. I should say she is in with my silkie pullets so she has been eating a mix of starter/grower feed and layer feed. the reason she is in with my silkies is she's blind and the big girls would pick on her.

I would bring her inside once a day, and soak just her bottom in some warm epsom salts mixture, or in soapy water with hibiclens or betadine. She could have an infection in the prolapsed tissue that was exposed, and now is inside. You may want to insert a gloved finger inside the vent an inch or two just to check for any pus or abscess. Dry her bottom completely before putting her outside again. Put either some probiotics or a small tablespoonful of plain yogurt in her feed every other day, until it seems better.

thanks for the advice. unfortunately my husband found she had passed during the night.

I'm sorry that you lost her, but many hens who have experienced a prolapse will have complications and die. The cloaca (where oviduct and large intestines meet) can become necrotic or dead if they dry out , especially if it happens without realizing it for awhile. Plus with yours having the puncture and bleeding, more infection may have occurred. Sometimes the vent doesn't work properly after a prolapse.

Eggcessive said:

I'm sorry that you lost her, but many hens who have experienced a prolapse will have complications and die. The cloaca (where oviduct and large intestines meet) can become necrotic or dead if they dry out , especially if it happens without realizing it for awhile. Plus with yours having the puncture and bleeding, more infection may have occurred. Sometimes the vent doesn't work properly after a prolapse.

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that's what I kind of thought too. I told my hubby this morning I thinking it's more humane to just put them down when it's a bad prolapse. but that's just as hard.