A Bielefelder Thread !

[DesertChic]

Can you guess??? I gave Schnitzie a sitz bath in a brand new dishpan - never owned one before! This time I did it right covering the coffee table with a vinyl outdoor tablecloth and putting the dishpan on that. Much easier on the back and arms than sitting on the floor reaching into a 24" deep rubbermaid tub with 5 " of warm water and an unhappy hen!


I kept her in the warm water until it was almost cool, and I massaged her abdomen - she did not like it - but I did it anyway. When I took her out, I had two towels, one around her dripping body, and one around her head which kept her really calm. I laid her down on the water absorbent mat by the front door, kept the towel over her head,and and used olive oil to push the prolapse in and spent about 5 minutes rubbing the oil around and massaging the egg. It has already moved closer to the cloaca which was a great sign. then I got out the blow dryer. With the towel over her head it was much easier to make her nice and fluffy, and at the very end, she was standing up while I gave her the final touches.

Then I put her back in the crate with a handful of weeds and covered the crate completely. I checked her at 7:30 and while I was trying to coax her out to check her, I saw the egg!!! It looks completely normal.

Best news of all, the prolapse has withdrawn itself! I gave her a handful of chick kibble and the Nutridrench that I ordered from Amazon this morning and covered the crate again. I am hoping that the whole thing was successful! If I have to treat another hen, I won't be in quite such a panic next time.

Never thought that I'd have to midwife a hen!

I will keep an eye on her for the next couple of days to be sure that she is ok. I suspect that I should keep her away from the roo!

Thanks guys, for all your support! I couldn't have done it without you!

Almost forgot! I got 1/2 of a Tums Smoothie into her by breaking it up and basically putting it in her throat. The calcium helps with contractions.

WOW! I am beyond impressed with you. Fantastic news!!!!!

 

[DesertChic]

I don't know if you have horses but that is an ultimate experience in AZ. Go riding with a group and have one horse back into a jumping Cholla. It is a Remington painting wreck in real life. One horse bucking and running off and then they all start. Then you have to remove all the cactus balls stuck to the horse, even in delicate noses. Terrible. Go under a dry creek bridge and just listen to what seems like hundreds of rattlesnakes, the horses just back right out on their own and you let them. I could go on and on and I would if you let me. I loved it and all its peril.

Oh, wow. No...no horses for me, and after that story I think that's for the best. I'm so clutzy on my own...I'd be a disaster on a horse! LOL! I have had a lot of experience with Cholla though. One of my dogs was notorious for sticking her nose into the cactus, and once we had to pull 3-4 inch long thorns out of her tongue with a pair of pliers. It wasn't pretty.

 

[Coop de Grass]

Oh, wow. No...no horses for me, and after that story I think that's for the best. I'm so clutzy on my own...I'd be a disaster on a horse! LOL! I have had a lot of experience with Cholla though. One of my dogs was notorious for sticking her nose into the cactus, and once we had to pull 3-4 inch long thorns out of her tongue with a pair of pliers. It wasn't pretty.

I can't decide if I should

or

for your puppy!

 

[Coop de Grass]

WOW! I am beyond impressed with you. Fantastic news!!!!!

No need... she is prolapsed again this morning. Unfortunately she will have to wait a couple of hours for me to take care of her... more soaking and perhaps there is another egg??? She is still in the crate, going to get a whole TUMS down her this morning, and back into the dark she goes!

I now have 2 Biel pullets and 1 Cockerel that hatched in the last 2 days, waiting for a couple more. Not sure if that is good or bad!

 

[Faraday40]

No need... she is prolapsed again this morning. Unfortunately she will have to wait a couple of hours for me to take care of her... more soaking and perhaps there is another egg??? She is still in the crate, going to get a whole TUMS down her this morning, and back into the dark she goes!

I now have 2 Biel pullets and 1 Cockerel that hatched in the last 2 days, waiting for a couple more. Not sure if that is good or bad!

So sorry.
How do you get TUMS into her? I tried adding it to water & soaked feed, but she wouldn't eat it. The only thing that worked a tiny bit was adding crushed pieces to bread & smushing it together. Even then, very little got in.

(I had a 3-yr-old hen with very thin shells. She never ate oyster shell. The only times I got decent eggs was when I forced her to eat calcium. I was always getting smashed eggs in the nests which caused the other hens to eat them. I couldn't risk the flock becoming egg-eaters, so I had to cull my old hen.)

 

[DesertChic]

So sorry.
How do you get TUMS into her? I tried adding it to water & soaked feed, but she wouldn't eat it. The only thing that worked a tiny bit was adding crushed pieces to bread & smushing it together. Even then, very little got in.

(I had a 3-yr-old hen with very thin shells. She never ate oyster shell. The only times I got decent eggs was when I forced her to eat calcium. I was always getting smashed eggs in the nests which caused the other hens to eat them. I couldn't risk the flock becoming egg-eaters, so I had to cull my old hen.)

I had a few chickens that refused to eat the oyster shell too with the same results. I eventually started saving the eggs shells from the eggs we ate, washed them and let them dry, and then crushed them up and added them to the feed. I soak/ferment their feed, so mixing in the eggshells was a cinch and the birds got their much needed calcium. Oddly, after they'd consumed enough of the eggshells to improve the eggs they were laying, all of those girls started eating the oyster shell. Crazy, silly chickens.

 

[CrowHollowFarm]

Ok, I am guilty as well. But I think we have gotten way off topic for this post. Most of these post would be very beneficial to all users if posted in the appropriate category.

 

[DesertChic]

No need... she is prolapsed again this morning. Unfortunately she will have to wait a couple of hours for me to take care of her... more soaking and perhaps there is another egg??? She is still in the crate, going to get a whole TUMS down her this morning, and back into the dark she goes!

I now have 2 Biel pullets and 1 Cockerel that hatched in the last 2 days, waiting for a couple more. Not sure if that is good or bad!

Well, I'm still VERY impressed by your dedication and I truly hope she survives this. Prolapse is a tough one, and you're an incredible chicken mommy for putting so much effort into saving her.

And congratulations on the Biel hatch! Hopefully when things slow down you'll be able to post some baby photos? (Hint...hint.

)

 

[Cynthia12]

Ok, my girl is going to be 5 months next month, is there a teensy tinsy possibility that she could start laying next month..at 5 months of age? Looking forward to some large eggs I've been hearing about. She is still a very sweet girl! Getting prettier, and bigger, lol..than my other laying hens. Well, most, most are started pullets. But still, she is going to be big, I can tell!

 

[Coop de Grass]

So sorry.
How do you get TUMS into her? I tried adding it to water & soaked feed, but she wouldn't eat it. The only thing that worked a tiny bit was adding crushed pieces to bread & smushing it together. Even then, very little got in.

(I had a 3-yr-old hen with very thin shells. She never ate oyster shell. The only times I got decent eggs was when I forced her to eat calcium. I was always getting smashed eggs in the nests which caused the other hens to eat them. I couldn't risk the flock becoming egg-eaters, so I had to cull my old hen.)

I tried adding it to wet crumbles but she wouldn't eat it! I think that fruity smell isn't attractive to them, I broke it into pieces, and then opened her beak and dropped in a piece at a time... She is a pretty good natured hen so it wasn't all that difficult!

My hens don't like the oyster shell. I have everyone in the house rinsing their egg shells and dropping them into a container on the counter. I crush them a couple of times a week by just crumbling them in my hands until the pieces are about 1/4" at the most. They absolutely love the crushed egg shells. They vanish almost overnight. The reason that you need to make the pieces small is that you don't want them to know that they are eating an egg shell because they might begin eating their eggs.

I am going to try to find liquid calcium. I'll let you know the info when I find it.