HELP! I don't know what to do now

[micstrachan]

Great information. I would follow Wyorp Rock’s advice. I was trying to help determine the cause for the prolapse. Perhaps her egg system hasn’t quite worked things out yet if she just started. There could be a soft egg she is trying to push out. You may want to keep her in the dark for a few days to shut her laying down for now.

 

[Loppy Lobster]

Thanks for the replies... at least I got the basics right away. We took her out of the coop this afternoon and she resting in a carrier in the house. She has water but we might force feed her with a syringe to make sure. She's got for prep H on the bulge and I'll get vitamins tomorrow.

How many times a day should we bath her?

 

[micstrachan]

Heads up, syringe feeding water is risky due to the possibility of aspirating her. Some chickens like to sip from a little cup or similar. I had a sick hen who liked to sip from a plastic water bottle lid. Go figure. Not sure on the soaks, but someone else will know.

 

[Wyorp Rock]

Her crop seems to be working well....Her cheat seems fine....She does not appear to in distress yet...

Thanks for the replies... at least I got the basics right away. We took her out of the coop this afternoon and she resting in a carrier in the house. She has water but we might force feed her with a syringe to make sure. She's got for prep H on the bulge and I'll get vitamins tomorrow.
How many times a day should we bath her?

If she is not in distress and alert - then I would see if she will drink on her own and not try to force feed her. Syringing can be tricky and you can risk them aspirating.
If you have the correct equipment, that's great - here's some informative links for you to look at https://www.backyardchickens.com/th...ures-updated-9-15-2016.1064392/#post-18827506
https://www.backyardchickens.com/th...d-pics-for-visuals-very-detailed-post.805615/

Keeping her separated is very good, so she can rest and she's protected from being picked at.

You can soak her a couple of times a day in an epsom salts bath, then reapply the prepH.
She would benefit from being in a darkened room or limit her light exposure to around 8hrs a day to discourage laying. She may already have an egg in the works, so keep watch for that, I would think she would have a hard time laying with a prolapse.

Even though calcium can be found in foods and possibly the soil, depending on where you live, it's always a good idea to may oyster shell available for extra calcium.

 

[Loppy Lobster]

Sooooo, slight turn of event... she was also egg bound. After bathing her a few minutes ago, she slipped out of my hand and fell/glided while wet from about 2 feet off the ground and ruptured the appendage when she landed on the floor. The egg... minus the shell... came out. Not to worry... she does not seem in distress... she was actually picking at the yolk dripping out (again, apologies for the graphics). While looking for the shell pieces, this whitish/blueish/yellowish/reddish thing was sticking out (see pic).. it came out with a very slight pull. The egg was still in its premature state (soft) hence why we could not feel anything hard. But we found it odd that the appendage actually looked like an egg.

So now I have a ruptured appendage and wondering what to do about it (see pics, the rupture is on the left lower portion). We put her back in the bath tub with clean water until hopefully we figure out a way ahead.

Do I stick everything back in or does she need sutures for the ruptur?

I still don't quit understand the anatomy and how an egg can gets trapped like that.

Thx for the help in advance.. you guys have been fantastic.

 

[rebrascora]

Hi

The sac that came out is the egg membrane. That is normally inside the egg shell but this egg obviously skipped the shell making stage for some reason. It explains why she was spasming and struggling to pass it as shell less eggs are really hard for them to push out and can sometimes take a couple of days. Was it just this that ruptured or is there a part still attached to the chicken that is also ruptured?

I'm having difficulty working out what you are referring to as the appendage. Is that the lump on the left. When you got it cleaned up, did it look like intestine?
It is some time since you posted so I am guessing she is not still bathing but at this stage. If it appears that a part of the chicken has ruptured then I would advise you take her to a vet.... preferably an avian or exotic pet vet. If your funds so not run to veterinary care for chickens then you have the option to continue to treat and see what happens but be ready to euthanize if she takes a turn for the worse or euthanize now. I have seen some pretty bad prolapses miraculously recover but something rupturing is concerning and with the vent serving a joint function with egg laying and elimination of waste, infection is a real risk.
She will no doubt be relieved to be rid of that soft shelled egg but there may be others backed up behind it..... could that be the appendage you are seeing? sometimes they are not always egg shaped and can very occasionally be sausage shaped. Can your wife glove up again and apply lots of lubricant inside the vent and see if she can feel behind that appendage.
Keeping her clean and moist with cream/ointment is going to be important and monitoring poop output quite closely, if you continue to treat her. She will probably be more interested in food now that that is out.

 

[rebrascora]

I also meant to ask..... was it definitely a rupture with torn tissue and blood or is it just that the cloaca membrane got suddenly retracted with the jolt of her hitting the ground.

I'm sure little tears do happen with young pullets when they start laying as you occasionally see an egg with a blood smear but an obvious rupture would be a much more serious matter.

 

[rebrascora]

It will be really important to restrict light to stop her ovulating and I would go so far as to keep her in the dark for most of the day for a few days, just bringing her out for a clean up and ointment application and food and water, so maybe just a couple of hours of daylight a day to try to shut her egg production down.

 

[Wyorp Rock]

Sooooo, slight turn of event... she was also egg bound. After bathing her a few minutes ago, she slipped out of my hand and fell/glided while wet from about 2 feet off the ground and ruptured the appendage when she landed on the floor. The egg... minus the shell... came out. Not to worry... she does not seem in distress... she was actually picking at the yolk dripping out (again, apologies for the graphics). While looking for the shell pieces, this whitish/blueish/yellowish/reddish thing was sticking out (see pic).. it came out with a very slight pull. The egg was still in its premature state (soft) hence why we could not feel anything hard. But we found it odd that the appendage actually looked like an egg.

So now I have a ruptured appendage and wondering what to do about it (see pics, the rupture is on the left lower portion). We put her back in the bath tub with clean water until hopefully we figure out a way ahead.

Do I stick everything back in or does she need sutures for the ruptur?

I still don't quit understand the anatomy and how an egg can gets trapped like that.

Thx for the help in advance.. you guys have been fantastic.

If you have a vet, that would be good.
Is she still able to eliminate waste?
I'm not quite understanding what you mean by the appendage that came out looked like an egg? She passed a soft shell egg that was basically deflated and spilled it's contents - that is what the whitish/blueish/yellowish/reddish thing is. There is a worry that egg yolk/white has been released into the oviduct and will cause infection - it might not hurt to ask your vet for some antibiotics. (most likely this soft shell membrane/egg was the cause of her prolapse on Wednesday - I can imagine it has been "festering" in it's warm environment)

Unless you take her to the vet, it would be best to continue what you have been doing - soaking, keeping the exposed tissue moist and seeing that she is drinking and eating. It's really hard to know whether to suture that or not.

I see where the oviduct or intestines is torn/split is this what you mean by ruptured appendage?

 

[Loppy Lobster]

Thank you so much for all of the help so far. We're really hoping she can pull through.

The "appendage" I was talking about is what is hanging out of her cloaca/vent and is on the outside of her body. It appears that what is hanging out of her is part of her uterus/vagina. I'll call it the "prolapse bulge" to hopefully avoid confusion. When she flew to the ground, the prolapse bulge burst and there is a tear in the tissue that was bulged out. The "membraned egg" (i.e no protective shell) broke and the white/yolk came out of the tear. The tear is approximately 5/8in long. There is a very small amount of blood that intermittently comes out of the tear. There appears to be a little bit of tissue necrosis near the edge of the cloaca.

Is a tear that size something that they can heal on their own or should it be stitched?

We now have a prolapsed vent chicken with no egg in her that We could find. We are keeping her warm, separated, soak her, dry her, keeping the prolapsed tissue moist with antibiotic ointment and preparation H. We are giving her poultry vitamin water regularly.

When we try to gently push the prolapse bulge back in, she pushes it back out immediately. The cloaca was significantly widened yesterday but is about half as wide today. it appears that her muscles were stretched out at that opening from the "membraned egg" being inside her but on the outside of her body.

Should we be continuing to try to get the prolapse back in ASAP and even put her bottom in a "sling" (with an opening for the vent so she can defecate) to help keep the prolapse bulge in? Or should we wait?