buttons broke a soft egg inside and is bleeding tonight

[taxus812]

My 7 year old just came in the house covered in blood. She said Buttons had laid an egg without a shell. She then said she said she saw something hanging out of her vent and it was covered with blood she also said she pulled some shell out of her vent and that is how she got covered in blood.

I immediately went out to look. Buttons had expelled the egg but not the currently soft shell (she last had an egg this morning is an very regular) . I saw the corner of the shell sticking out of he vent and with the help of my seven year old we were able to pull out what appears to be the the entire soft shell (HUGE egg).

What concerned me is a lot of the vent was now outside of her and bleeding (looked like a monkey butt). We washed her in cold water and the inners pulled back in and the vent closed. I couldn't tell if the bleeding stopped .

In the morning we are going to wash her again and build a hospital coop. It this fatal ? I cant imaging it not getting infected with the anus in the same place. Also I dont know why she was bleeding was it from trying to push out the shell ? (hemoroid ?)

Advice appreciated

 

[dlhunicorn]

your instincts for dealing with this was basically correct although sterile saline is ideally advised to wash off the prolapsed "innards" you reinserted.
This condition is termed "prolapse" and if you use that term in the search function and specify the emergency forums you will get lots of links to threads with information that will help you and in many are links to info explaining the various causes.
How old is buttons, what breed and what feed is she on and do you have oystershell available (free choice) for her/
Keep a good eye on her... personally if possible it might be best if you separate her from the others in a nice calm clean spot aas sometimes they will prolapse again and often the birds will start pecking at those exposed "innards" and once that happens you have a situation it is really best to avoid.

 

[purpletree23]

Put her in a box on some old clean towels. She needs to rest away from the other hens because they will be attracted to the red color of the blood and could pull her intestines out. The bleeding could have been caused by pulling the broken shell out. See if she makes it through the night and evaluate her again in the morning.

I would get some Preperation H (without the pain relief ingredient) and after gently washing her in the morning put a little on a gloved finger and put a little inside her. The medication is for inflammed tissue and will help keep the inflammation down. Keep her quiet and well fed to bring her blood volume back up. You might want to give her vitamins also. Poly Vi Sol liquid baby vitamins can be found at any pharmacy. Get the formula WITHOUT IRON. Give 3 drops by beak every morning and 3 again at night.

All the best.

 

[taxus812]

Thanks
I appreciate the help.

My baby girl is the real one with the instincs she handled it like a pro. She knew what she needed to do but came to me for help getting it accomplished. (I was in a state of disbelief )

Buttons is a red-sex link and is about 24 weeks old. She has been layng since 16 weeks. She is pastured all day but has access to LOTs and LOTs of layer feed throught the day. (They are a bit manhandled by the kids but mostly in the form of carrage rides, waggon walks and keeping them company eating peanuts)

Normaly they have very thick hard shells on the eggs. She lays in the early AM daily(and she did today) but for some reason she popped the egg tonight while it was still soft. Lately one of the girls has been laying 2.5 - 3 oz eggs.. Judging by the soft shell it looks to be buttons.

The reference helped. Im going to bath her in the am and get a good look. We will put some anitbiotic ointment on the cloaca area. I hope it stayed inside (didnt look even close to some of the pics I seen) We also are going to put togeher a "hospital" in the garage with lites out for a few days.

 

[catwalk]

Good luck! A prolapse tears the duct away from where it is suppossed to be attatched, and it needs time to heal. The nature of egg production, though, does not generally allow that time. The straining and effort of passing another egg may make the situation worse. I hope it's a small prolapse, and I hope she makes it. Tell your daughter she's a good chicken steward, and that she's Buttons' hero!

 

[taxus812]

OK midnight bath complete. My wife and I decided to pull her out of the coop and place her in a makeshift hospital in the house for the night.

We dont have saline on hand but we washed her in the sink with warm water really good and inspected her vent. It is fully closed and not bleeding or red (cant tell if it is swolen though). We then put antibiotic cream all around and <yuck> inside a bit

She is wet and annoyed but seems fine. My wife on the ohter hand is not so fine (very attached) and will be sleeping beside her tonight. I guess I prepaired the kids better or the fact that chickens will die or can be eaten by animals.

Im going to the feed store in the AM. should I pick up some antibiotics for her ?
I will bring Dr Kennedy (daughter) with me.

 

[catwalk]

Is she eating and drinking?

 

[taxus812]

Good new for now. She seems fine. she is eating and drinking chnasing bugs in the yard. No signs of blood and everything is where it is supposed tot be. We will know tomorrow. She is going to get put back in the hospiltal coop in our room again tonight so we can see how she does with the eggs in the am. Im going to give her another bath tonight as well.

 

[taxus812]

oh yeah she is pooping normaly as well.

 

[catwalk]

Nice! Let us know how her next egg comes out.