Infected Prolapsed Vent

On the 15th I discovered my hen with a prolapsed vent. I dont know how long she has had it before, since I wasn't home for 3 days. I cleaned her up as much as I could and let her rest in the basement. I didn't try anything because she was bleeding (there was also infection). The next day I tried pushing the vent back in several times after cleaning it and putting honey on her, it fell right back out every time. So I decided to leave her alone as another post stated, and she is feeling much much better. She is actually scratching and making a mess of my basement, but her vent is still hanging out. It is still infected and the antiseptics I rub on her doesnt help. Now her vent has black hardened, something on her vent that wont wash off along with the infection. I'm so frustrated as to what to do, and I would really rather not have to put her down because she's my pet.

Any suggestions? Thank you.

Is the vent fully prolapsed, or partially? Is she able to pass any feces? Has she laid an egg since you've been watching? If she cannot pass feces or an egg, all will impact and become septic and she will die a horribly painful death. Much better to put her down than to watch that happen to your pet...

On the other hand, if you can clean it and get it to stay in and she is able to pass things, she may pull thru. You'll have to watch carefully to figure out what has to be done. If there is a black hardened spot, the tissue is likely dying... Do you have any pics? Maybe someone that knows more than I do can look and tell you what to do.

I haven't gone through this with chickens, but I am going through it now with my ducks. You can read my post by searching prolapsed duck vent, and it should bring you to the post. I am in the process of updating it with pictures and information regarding the ducks. They rebounded, and are doing well.

I hope you can find information to help you. Good luck!

I too have a chicken with what appears to be a huge prolapsed vent - you may have seen my post on here a couple of weeks ago - despite all of my efforts to (gently ) push back her vent, it too, keeps coming back out again - I have applied honey - enough cling wrap to cover all of my animals and the cling wrap and veterinary wrap fall off after a few minutes _ I have resigned myself to the fact that despite my best efforts ( i.e. spending an hour plus every day trying to bathe and push back what does not belong in the open air ), nothing has any possibe effect!

She eats well - poo's and is drinking water with Tetracycline, she has two other companions that take no notice whatsoever of her "problem" - I would have no hesitation in euthanasing her if she showed any signs of distress - she amazes me!

I have no solution for you - it is very sad for me that I cannot resolve her issues - while she has a will to live I can only abide by her, keep her as comfortable as I can and see what nature dictates.

I wish you well whatever you decide to do for your unlucky chicken

Suzie

No, my hen is not laying, but I did put her in a dark place with a ruduced amount of food so that she wont. She doesn't act like she is in any pain whatsoever. In fact she's been throwing fits because she can't go out and walk around (but I do let her every so often). The black hardened stuff is looking like waste...today I bought her some antibacterial that I put into her water (in hopes to help with the infection) and I put some old fashioned healing vaseline on the hardened spots to help soften it. Then maybe I can clean it off more easily...I do not have any pictures but I will give you some once I wash the vaseline off.

If she does start acting sick, I will put her down. I'll hate doing it, but I'd feel worse knowing she suffered.

Today my dad told me I've been too gentle and he helped me out with my hen. He did what I did and got out warm soapy water and a wash cloth, but instead of being gentle, he scrubbed. A lot of the waste and infection started coming off. Then he waited until she had been scrubbed and soaked up some of the water, and peeled off the dried waste and infection off of her vent (which I had been scared to do because I didn't want her vent to tear). It all came off, but she kicked, flapped, and pecked me to death (I was holding her). Then my dad put some vaseline on his pinky finger, and pushed it in. He said he could feel where she was pumping inside, and wiggled his finger around a little until it opened up and accepted the tissue. Afterwards we sprayed her with peroxide and continued to give her the antibacterial water I had been giving her. She's definitely in pain, but her vent is still inside and she looks a whole lot better. Now we are going to keep her in the basement for a few more days so that she wont lay an egg and she can heal up. I'm also going to spray her with peroxide about 3 or 4 times a day. Now I will wait and see what happens, and post the results later.

I wish you all the luck in the world - hopefully she will be fine!

Suzie

Can I ask how she is?

How was your chicken after you scrubbed the area? We have the same problem with our hen. It has blackened, poop, and is dirty but I can't get it off by soaking or rubbing gently. Do you recommend scrubbing hard to get all that stuff off?

I'd love an update as I am experiencing this with one of my hens.