Another prolapse - ugh!

[Gypsy07]

Last year I had a 9 month old BC Marans who suffered a prolapse. I took her to an avian vet who collapsed and removed a stuck egg and put her innards back inside. He kept her for observation and she got another stuck egg. He did the same again but she wouldn't come good and after nearly two weeks she had to be euthanised. Oh well.

Last thing yesterday night I saw that one of my old white Leghorns had also suffered a prolapse. It looked much worse than the first one I saw. There was a lot of blood and she looked really miserable, all puffed up and lethargic. Seeing as the best avian vet I could find didn't have any luck fixing the first one, I thought it was kindest to just put her out of her misery, and so I euthanised her myself.

Now I'm wondering if two hens suffering prolapses in six months is something I should be worried about? They were different breeds, different ages, and came from different places. So the only thing they had in common was ME. Was it something I did? Something I didn't do that I should have? All my birds are fed layers pellets ad lib, they free range all day, and they get a small amount of corn each morning. I get the very occasional soft shelled and/or weird shaped egg, but apart from that everything seems normal.

So what exactly causes prolapse and is there anything I can do to prevent it happening again?

 

[ChickyLaura]

I am so so sorry about having two hens with a prolapse. I just had to put one down a few days ago, and it was hard, but she wasn't getting any better.

I'm not really sure what to say about having two hens with a prolapse. Maybe it's just a coincidence, because you have other hens that don't have it. I'm sorry that I am not much help, but

 

[Miss Lydia]

If you'll go to the top of the page right side and under log out you'll see Google custom search type in prolapse you'll get all kinds of information which hopefully will be useful.. sorry this has happend.

 

[Raven81]

i kinda know how u feel as im in new zealand we are at the end of the laying season & this year ive lost 4 to laying problems & i still dont know if they were linked in anyway.
2, an older girl like 8+ yrs & 1 in 1st year of lay went slowly & i put down coz i couldnt help them & they were getting worse. 1 went fairly quick also young 2nd yr - another young 1 died on the nest within hrs of sitting
they all came from different places & were different breeds
so i am subscribing to see if you get answers

 

[Gypsy07]

Quote:
Wow! I didn't know that the 'custom search' thing only searched this site. I thought it was just a shortcut to google and the whole web. D'oh!

Thanks for that tip - I'll now be able to hunt around for loads of useful bits of information.

So I've gone off and read a lot of stuff on BYC about prolapse...

I don't think mine could have been caused by nutritional issues and low calcium. My birds are fed on high quality layers pellets and also free range every day so they supplement their diet with a whole load of bugs and worms. I do give them some extra treat corn every day, but just one cupful amongst 27 birds, so each bird only gets a very small amount...

I don't think it was excess fat that caused it either. My Marans pullet was actually smaller and thinner than the rest of my other fat Maranses who are all still fine, and my Leghorn was fairly average sized too. And like I said they all free range every day so it's not like they're just sitting around getting tubby. They're very active, all of them...

So I'm just not sure now. But I did find the custom search thingy very useful anyway