Post Prolapse Surgery need Advice

[sirenaspring]

Hello everyone! My little blue old english hen is about 3 years and she’s not the most active egg layer. Recently though she had low calcium and the vet found a soft egg stuck inside. She took it out, gave me antibiotics and anti inflammatories and things were looking good. The next day she had a nasty prolapse and I rushed her back to the vet. My hen had surgery and she made it out okay. Wednesday was the surgery and I picked her up Thursday.

My vet said that they’re closed during the weekends so she might lay an egg then. She instructed me to snip a stitch open to let her pass it.

I have the next appointment on Monday noon as a follow up.

Today (Friday) I kept her indoors with minimal sunlight and with layer feed (along with cleaning and meds).

I also have a lot of anxiety about her producing an egg and the risk cutting the stitch out might do, the vet said there’s a risk of another prolapse if that happens.

There’s some vets opened on the weekends and I’ll make a round of phone calls, just as a precaution. Most of them don’t take in hens. I’m ready scared for my girl, I’m hoping for any advice I’d appreciate it greatly.

 

[Eggcessive]

Did the vet show you where to snip the stitch? She may have put in several single stitches. You usually would take a pair of pointed scissors and go under a stitch hold it with tweezers, pand snip it. If there are knots you just pull the stitch out with tweezers. It is best to do anything with sharp instruments when you have someone to hold. You can temporarily stop laying by keeping her in a dark room or cage for 16 hours each day. That can take 3 days. Your vet can also give a hormone implant to stop her laying for up to 6 months. Hopefully she will recover.

When a hen prolapses, you need to separate her and apply honey or a mild oil to her prolapse tissue while it is outside the body. Eventually, you will be able to push it back inside. It can come out with straining, but just try to push it back in. It might take a few days for it to stay. Prolapses can occur because of low calcium levels, dehydration, lack of a suitable laying area, and vent damage. Here is a good article about prolapses:
https://the-chicken-chick.com/prolapse-vent-causes-treatment-graphic/

 

[Eggcessive]

I found a video which shows how to remove a stitch:

 

[sirenaspring]

Did the vet show you where to snip the stitch? She may have put in several single stitches. You usually would take a pair of pointed scissors and go under a stitch hold it with tweezers, pand snip it. If there are knots you just pull the stitch out with tweezers. It is best to do anything with sharp instruments when you have someone to hold. You can temporarily stop laying by keeping her in a dark room or cage for 16 hours each day. That can take 3 days. Your vet can also give a hormone implant to stop her laying for up to 6 months. Hopefully she will recover.

When a hen prolapses, you need to separate her and apply honey or a mild oil to her prolapse tissue while it is outside the body. Eventually, you will be able to push it back inside. It can come out with straining, but just try to push it back in. It might take a few days for it to stay. Prolapses can occur because of low calcium levels, dehydration, lack of a suitable laying area, and vent damage. Here is a good article about prolapses:
https://the-chicken-chick.com/prolapse-vent-causes-treatment-graphic/

OMG thank you so much that’s really helpful. She did instruct me how to snip the stitch and was extremely helpful. So far Things are looking good there’s no egg, I accidentally did keep her in the dark for a bit just to keep my cats away from looking at her all the time. So I think that worked out in our favor. And I’ll asked for the hormone blockers that’s a brilliant idea.

 

[sirenaspring]

I found a video which shows how to remove a stitch:

Thank you so much! I hope I won’t have to do that at all and she can make it till monday

 

[sirenaspring]

hello everyone so I took my hen to the vet on Sunday because I noticed that she was having a really difficult time pooping and it was becoming harder and harder for her to push out anything solid.
The vet today said that the stitch was too tight and he recommended to take it off because the x-ray showed a lot of backed up feces that was kind of scary to look at. After getting the stitch out, in the car ride she was panting and she may have been in shock but she started relaxing because car rides for some reason relax her really easily.

Now she’s in her small crate in my room with some shade, feed and water. She’s been drinking and eating fairly normally but I do see that she’s trying to fall asleep a few times. Do you think that’s a good thing? Should she sleep because she’s tired or is this because of another reason?

So far no prolapse, I am keeping an eye on that. Tomorrow we’re going to follow up with the previous vet, the one who did the stitch. And I will discuss with her about everything that happened.

Hopefully that’s all for now and again thank you all for all of your support and tips. I really hope she gets better after this.

 

[sirenaspring]

Update! So yesterday I rushed her back to the vet because she had bloody stools. The vet took stool samples for testing and gave me more antibiotics and to continue with anti inflammatory meds. Her poop looks way better now, a bit runny but that’s expected with the medication, and is eating and drinking normal.

Came back from work today and she’s doing okay, my newest concern is the panting. She stops panting here and there. She’s inside, her cage is clean, ac and fan are running.

I also tried to feel for an egg, I think I feel it but I’m not sure. She’s a tiny chicken with tiny eggs so it’s hard to tell. If that’s the case I covered up her cage for privacy.

Could it be stress? What do you all think?