What to do with a prolapsed hen when I am leaving for the weekend

Weeg

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Jul 1, 2020
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I wasn't going to post this thread, but I’m truly stumped at this point, and have absolutely no idea what I’m going to do.

I made plans in advance to leave tomorrow to go out of town until Monday. Well of course, I came home this afternoon to find my bantam hen Lacey with a relatively sever prolapse. Me and her have done this once or twice before, and she’s a fighter, but I don’t know what to do if I’m not going to be here.
She’s peppy as ever as if nothing is wrong other than the huge prolapse coming from her vent. I have high hopes for her recovery, but I don’t know what to do if I’m planning on leaving.

We have a great neighbor who loves to come feed, water, and let birds out twice a day, but I can’t give her the entire prolapse protocol, and I don’t know anyone who has the time for it. That’s a soak twice a day, calcium daily, antibiotic herbs daily, honey/hydrocortisone/Veterycin application twice daily, and whatever else she needs depending on her condition. I have absolutely no idea what I’m going to do.

I don’t know how to stay home, that’s barely an option, but I don’t know how to leave either. Is there something I’m not thinking of? I don’t think taking her off the property is a good idea for obvious reasons, so I can’t take her to someone’s house. I don’t really trust just any chicken person I know with this either. I have no idea what to do at this point.

Thank you for any recommendations, Im feeling really defeated at this point.
 
:hugs Is everyone leaving, no family members will be home at all?

Is there an egg in the prolapse?

If nothing can be worked out, can you separate Lacey while your gone and the neighbor just spray the tissue with Vetericyn once daily. The worry would be tissue drying out, so think out of the box of something oily that she could spray that may stay on a bit better and keep tissue moist.

Crush up a few of your calcium tablets and just mix those with her feed, that way she may get the extra while you're gone.
 
:hugs Is everyone leaving, no family members will be home at all?

Is there an egg in the prolapse?

If nothing can be worked out, can you separate Lacey while your gone and the neighbor just spray the tissue with Vetericyn once daily. The worry would be tissue drying out, so think out of the box of something oily that she could spray that may stay on a bit better and keep tissue moist.

Crush up a few of your calcium tablets and just mix those with her feed, that way she may get the extra while you're gone.
No one will be here unfortunately.

I actually just called her and talked her through everything I would do. She loves doing all the chicken things and was up for the task. She’s willing to soak her and everything. Im going to set everything up for her so she can soak her once a day, then apply honey and Vetrycin spray. Hoping the honey will stick better. I walked her through giving the calcium as well, and if she can’t get it then she can crush it over the feed. I’m feeling lucky that she’s so willing to help, I just hope it’s enough.

Now we cross our fingers.
 
Update:
Got back this afternoon and Lacey is doing very well! I didn’t get a good look since we had a lot do unpacking to do, but the prolapse has shrunk, and she’s just as spunky as ever. I’ll give her a good soak tomorrow and a real look over, but I’m really happy with how she’s doing compared to how I left her.
Feeling super lucky to have such a committed poultry sitter, she did an awesome job!
 
Update:
Lacey is still doing well. Our sitter did a great job with the minimal instruction and experience she has with chickens, but definitely some downfalls. I had to soak her for a hot minute yesterday to remove a layer or two of build up. It was pretty nasty. I got about half of it peeled off, but she started to get really squirmy and I didn’t want to overdo it. So I lathered it in honey and we’ll try again today. Otherwise she’s acting just fine and everything seems pretty good. She’s pooping just fine, and the prolapse is smaller. Hopefully we’ll start to see more improvement soon.
 
Update:
Yesterday I thought the mayer was just build up, but today I’m not so sure. Just got finished soaking Lacey, and trying to remove the layers. Not much success. The layers didn’t want to come off, and when I tried to remove the yellow parts it bled a bit. What do I do from here? The prolapse is beginning to retract and I don’t want the build up going with it. Tissue underneath looks healthy, thoughts?
 

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