Prolapsed vent?

[jgiajnorio]

Today I noticed one of my hens was acting weird. She was standing there like she was trying to lay an egg, not really moving much and clearly in some kind of pain. Then she would just walk around like nothing was happening. At one point we noticed a large bump around the whole exterior of her bum. It gave the appearance of her internals being pushed out and folding over as the exited. It was when she was pushing, her pain was at its highest and you could tell she was quite uncomfortable.

What I have done so far:

1) multiple warm soaks for about 10-20min a time
2) applied honey to her bottle
3) inserted a finger gently into her to try and find any blocks or egg shells
4) separated her from the flock


Does anyone have any suggestions or idea as to what this may be. I have lost two young birds already this winter and I'm hoping she wont be the third. As of this time, we still dont know how the other two died

Thanks

 

[Deerfield Acres]

She looks as though she is having a creamy, gleet like discharge? NuStock for gleet from the feed store. Since she has missing feathers and red skin I'm thinking NuStock would help her. Put some of it gently up into her vent as well as applying it liberally around the vent area. Has she been inside a lot due to weather? Gleet, I believe is caused by birds being inside on dirty bedding which is not so tough a thing to happen this time of year. I don't know if gleet causes a bird to bear down in pain, however. You might do some investigating into gleet.

A prolapsed vent usually happens when they lay an unusually large egg and the oviduct is pushed out with the egg, blocking the vent. This doesn't exactly look like that to me, but I'm no expert on prolapsed vent.

Has she been having runny poo? Does she maybe have coccidiosis which is painful and can cause eventually cause bloody stool. If that is the cause, then she would need amprolium or Corid from your feed store. Again, this time of year when birds are spending more time than usual indoors can cause that sort of thing.

I really don't know for sure, but that is where I would start if it was a bird I really wanted to save.

 

[Deerfield Acres]

Oh, excuse me, you said huge bump around the external area of her bum. Speed reading strikes again. Prolapse is back on the table, but I did have a bird that did that sort of thing and ended up being constipated. She finally passed the most gigantic poop ever. It didn't pass until I had soaked her for 45 minutes and then blew her dry and deposited her back in the chicken yard. If you can't feel an egg, perhaps a little vegetable oil would help her pass whatever it is. Try to check for an egg again first and if you still don't find one, I would give her the vegetable oil, soak her and blow her dry. Then let her rest.

Hope she does okay.

 

[jgiajnorio]

Thanks for your help. There was quite a bit of droppings in the crate this morning. I think the soaks and honey helped whatever was going on. She seems to be better today but I appreciate all the tips. I'm still curious as to what happened to my two other hens. A couple of my hens are bare around the bottom, but a handful aren't. They have about 600sq/ft outdoor run and we make sure it's shovelled with hay and wood chips during heavy snow, to encourage them outside. As for the coop, it's usually cleaned every couple weeks, it was given to us, so the design isn't what I'd do. Maybe it's something to do with that?

Any thoughts on the bare bums? We do straw and wood chips.

 

[Deerfield Acres]

Were the droppings normal looking? Not runny, formed but not hard?

Bare bums could be either feather picking by the birds due to boredom or the usual suspect in such a case would be mites. Even if you don't see any mites, it could be those that come out at night to feed and then hide under roosts and between boards during the day. If you have some plain wood ash for them to dust bathe in, that would take care of it. Put wood ash in their bedding also. If you don't have a source of wood ash, then get some Sevin and dust up the birds and the bedding. Putting NuStock on their poor bums would soothe the skin and suffocate any remaining mites/eggs. You can get NuStock at the feed store. I make up my own since I have so many birds, but with smaller numbers, just pick up a tube. It's great for any wounds, bumblefoot, etc. You might consider giving the bird some grated garlic to help with the antibiotic effect. Good luck! Glad she's better.