Chicken with vent prolapse, possibly vent gleet, appears recovered, wondering how long until she lay

[kuntrydazy]

I have a chicken that had an issue with her vent and so I brought her inside and gave her fewer hours of light and took her off layer feed while she recovered. She is 6 months old, Columbian Wyandotte, and on a day when we had a high of -1 I found her in my open barn with a sheet of something covering her entire bottom. My chickens are free range and don't mind going outside in the cold. However they are all 6 months old so this is their first winter and as it progresses they seem to be choosing to spend more time during the day in their coop, though they all go outside for at least a little while. I bathed her and most of it melted, but there was a plug of some sort stuck to her cloaca (which was slightly protruding from her vent) that I could not get off without I think causing serious damage to her cloaca. It was like concrete and I could not remove it despite multiple baths and soaks over multiple days. The first day she tried to lay and I was there and the egg was not going to come out unless I ripped the plug and possibly cloaca, so I tapped the small end of the egg and cracked it, then pulled it out (I know that is dangerous to do but I couldn't figure out how else to get it out of her). I got the whole egg and contents out. Since then I've been able to keep her from laying. I used many ideas from this site and the Chicken Chick website in treating her, and today the Vet said she looks great (in fact he said without me telling him he would never have known she was sick), and the mini prolapse has been gone for 5 days now. However, I was never able to fully remove the plug; it just went inside her with the cloaca. My hope is that it disintegrated while inside her, but I can't be sure until she lays again. I'm starting her back on layer feed and turning the lights on all day now so that she can lay again. My question is, how soon will she start to lay most likely after my doing this? I want to keep her in the house until I see her lay once so that I know she won't relapse before I put her back with the other chickens as they would probably worsen her problem (I have 24 others). She was really at deaths door when I found her the first time so I want to be sure I give her enough time to fully recover before I send her back out. Thanks!

 

[kuntrydazy]

Update: She seems pretty tired of being locked up in the bathroom and pretty bored so even though she hasn't laid yet I think I'm going to move her into the coop. I'm putting her in a large dog crate in the coop because she has been out of the flock for a week and a half. Still interested if anyone has an idea of how long it might take her to start laying again, as hopefully I can keep her in the dog crate until she lays. She lays generic brown eggs so once she is out of the crate it will be difficult for me to tell if she has laid or not as I have about 7 other chickens that lay brown eggs like hers. Just don't want her to end up egg bound and me miss it. Thanks!

 

[BayBay Peepers]

It's hard to say how long it will be. There really is no time limit. It could be anywhere from a few days to several weeks. And depending on where you live it could also alter the time frame. Keep a close eye on her as much as you can.

 

[Eggcessive]

If the plug was dried droppings, it might have dissolved, but if it was dead tissue then it may still be inside. I can't really give you any advice, other than to say, I would keep her inside to watch her. If any of her cloacal tissue was necrotic or dead, she could get egg bound, or prolapse fairly easily. Does she pass droppings easily? If you pick her up and handle her, does the prolapse tissue come back out of her vent? Sorry, but maybe others can advise you on what to do. Many people sometimes have to put hens down after complicated prolapse.

 

[BayBay Peepers]

You may also want to consider antibiotics if the vet didn't already give you some. I had a hen with a sever prolapse. We did epsom salt baths, honey rubs, prep h, neosporin, tried to have a vet stitch it twice, you name it. We did have to put her on antibiotics and that helped it shrink up and go back in, but every time she tried to lay it happened again and we had to put her down.

There is a chance she will make it alright, but once they prolapse there's a good chance they will prolapse again down the line. You said yours was small so maybe she'll be fine, but just in case you should prepare yourself.

 

[kuntrydazy]

Thank you all! The vet does not recommend antibiotics because then her eggs can't be sold. I'd have to sell her if I used antibiotics as I sell my eggs and I wouldn't be able to tell hers from the others, and if can't imagine I'd have much luck selling a sick chicken. She has been passing droppings fine for a week now and the prolapse tissue has not come out for a week either. The vet thought the plug was most likely dried droppings but I can't be sure. She is getting pretty upset about being inside now - she originally had a chicken in with her that kept her company, but that chicken had such severe frostbite on her legs that I had to put her down (we had a really severe cold snap, high of -1 for two days, and it was all my chickens first time going through that as they were born this summer) so now she is alone and pretty annoyed. She has been active, eating well, normal droppings, etc for a week. She had the prolapse for about 2 days, then one day where it went in and out a little, and it was always only a small amount of tissue that was out. I did Epsom salt and chamomile baths, dropper fed her probiotic yogurt and liquid probiotics, and put emu oil on her vent and the prolapse when it was out often. I also did the Epsom salt flush and it could be coincidence but she made dramatic improvement after that. The article I read said to do it twice and I only did it once and the next day the prolapse started to recede and her activity level picked up. I haven't done any treatments for four days now because aside from the plug she seems all better, and the plug is inside her and I can't get to it now so there doesn't seem much I can do about it. Anyway, if it could be awhile (and I live in Montana and it is the middle of winter so if it varies then I'd imagine I'm more likely to see it take a long time), I'm going to try reintegrating her with the other chickens. I know which chicken she is so I will check her twice a day for issues. I think she will end up with more issues if I keep her cooped up much longer. If she does end up prolapsing again or becomes egg bound I will probably have to cull her anyway unfortunately (unless I can fix it myself) as I can't keep her as a pet in my farm. There isn't a place for her if she can't be with the flock (again that's why I can't do antibiotics). With the winters we have she has to be able to hold her own in the coop with the other chickens. Thanks again for the responses! I had a feeling that there wouldn't be a set amount of time, but it's good to know that moving forward. Good luck with your chickens!

 

[BayBay Peepers]

I'm glad things look good so far. I really hope it works out and I understand your reluctance to use antibiotics. It's too bad we don't live closer, if she were to need antibiotics I would have no problem separating her for you until they ran their course

 

[kuntrydazy]

Thanks, that's nice of you! She seems to be doing well still, though I'm pretty sure she hasn't laid yet.