Prolapse - looking better. How long for feather regrowth?

We have two hens who have been laying since August or so. With the freezing cold weather they have been keeping themselves "cooped up" so to speak. They have food and water in both the enclosed (and warmed) coop and in the run below. Because of the close quarters, one hen, Patsy, has been pecked a fair bit. We've been BluKoting quite often and providing black oil sunflowers, toys, etc. It actually seemed to be improving.

Today my husband went out to get them fresh water and came back in a rush. Patsy has prolapsed, and it looked like there was "scrambled egg" stuck to her butt as well. As if she had tried to lay an egg without a shell, and it froze to her butt. They have food, water, grit, and oyster shell. Eddy (the bully) doesn't seem to be affected.

We've set up an old dog crate on the kitchen table and have Patsy in there now. I just spent some time holding a warm, damp rag to her bottom to try to get it cleaned up. So now I've read that we can massage in Preperation H or witch hazel and try to push it back in. And we should try to keep her in the dark to prevent laying.

Is there anything else we can do at home for her? Is it going to keep happening from now on? Is Eddy going to be okay in the coop alone until we (hopefully) get Patsy healed? Will Eddy be okay if Patsy doesn't make it?

How is she doing?

How's your hen this morning? Were you able to get her cleaned up and how's the prolapse doing? My hen that prolapsed had that eggish like material also. I just cleaned her well, kept her in the dark and worked on repositioning the prolapse 2 or 3 times a day.

I left my hen in a hospital cage covered with a blanket in the coop. Maybe that would help your two birds not miss each other if you are worrying about that.

My hen recovered well from this and has continued to lay.

Well, she was awake and alert this morning, and had gone through a lot of water overnight. The prolapse is still out, but looks cleaner and a bit better. So far we've been massaging it with witch hazel but I'll get Preparation H from the pharmacy by work today. (I had a migraine yesterday so had to make do with what was here.)

Unfortunately our coop isn't big enough for the crate to go in. Plus, it's eight below out there and Patsy is likely to get much better attention in our warm kitchen. (Don't worry, Eddy has a heat lamp on plus a heated water base in the coop.)

We'll keep working on her a few times a day and see how things go. I think I read somewhere (here or elsewhere) that there's a different diet to give them if you don't want them to lay while they heal. Wheat and oats?? Does anyone know?

I kept Henny Penny in the dark when she prolapsed. Just make sure to keep things moist and keep putting the prolapse back in.

You can reduce the amount of feed to help promote molt which in turn can help slow up egg laying. I kept mine in a darkened cage, replaced the prolapse 2 or 3 times a day for 2 days. On the third day it finally stayed in place. I didn't have anything to work with at the time either and used raw honey. It worked well. Fluke or not that it worked, I don't know for sure.

We had one pullet prolapse she was in the house all ready so we caught it pretty quick. You need to find the little whole in the part that is outside her and make sure there isn't egg in it still. If there is egg in it she will keep pushing it back out. After I got the egg all out and the membrane from it I pushed everything back in and up and help it there with my finger for at least 5 minutes. Yes it was an experience I never thought I'd have. After that I rolled one ice cube in a paper towel and held that on her bottom to help the swelling to go down. I held that ice there from 11 pm till 2 am while she roosted on my shoulder and I slept(a Little) My son did a bunch of searches on prolapse and they all said if that internal organ With the egg inside dries out it's to late.

Hope you can help her!

Cindy

I hope your hen gets better soon, pansophia. I just have to ask, though...Pasty and Eddy? Are they "Absolutely Fabulous"?

Quote:
I just had a prolapse happen this week to one of my favorite hens. What I suspect is she had the egg freeze to her egg duct on the way out and that is what caused the prolapse. When I found her the egg was froze hanging on her egg duct, pretty gross.

I have read the other helpful hints on the board

Gave her a warm bath, disinfected. Pushed in the prolapes (now I know how proctologists feel) added lubricant and am feeding her wheat only. Hopefully she will be fine. She definitely does not mind being in the warm house.

Best of luck to you both. I feel like, after having read so much about prolapses, I'll be better able to handle it if I ever have one with one of my girls. Hope both of your hens are feeling better soon! This is awful weather to be feeling poorly, for sure!