Chicken Keeps Reprolapsing

[chirpingstad]

Hello, a few months ago we had a chicken with a severe prolapse and was able to get her to a vet. They put stitches in her and she made a full recovery for about 3 months, until today. Last night I found her huddled into a corner with blood all over her tail feathers, I took her in and cleaned her off and her vent was fine so I released her back into the coop, though I noticed her poop was white and very runny with blood mixed in. This morning her comb was pale and her tail feathers were damp with white poop. Then she started to reprolapse and it is very bloody this time, which it wasn't the last time. I isolated her in the coop because her flockmates were starting to peck at her butt and plucking some of her feathers. When we took her to the vet the first time they said that if she keeps reprolapsing there isn't much we can do and her pooping out blood yesterday makes me think that there's something going on internally. We have thought about taking her to the vet again but I simply cannot afford to spend another $600 getting her fixed, should we put her down? This is her 3rd time prolapsing. The first time it was relatively small and went back in for a few days until she had reprolapsed so badly that you could see her oviduct, and now this. I'm really upset because she is the sweetest hen in our flock and my family's favorite chicken

 

[azygous]

Unfortunately, the vet is right. When a hen is having egg issues that cause the eggs to be difficult to expel, prolapse often keeps occurring, and this becomes a chronic reproductive issue. I had such a hen, and her prolapse episodes only kept getting worse and took longer to resolve. Eventually, she stopped laying, but all the prolapses turned into infection and she went downhill.

Prolapse doesn't happen all on its own. It's caused by a difficult egg and the hen straining to expel it. The prolapse can quickly turn into serious irreversible injury when the flock notices and pecks at it, turning it into hamburger. Sometimes it will heal, but most times, not.

I would take a cue from your hen's behavior about how to deal with this. If she's declining, not eating, is lethargic and only getting worse, euthanasia should be considered.

If she's strong and eating and interested in flock activity, then by all means treat her. The treatment is involved so I wrote an article on how to deal with it. https://www.backyardchickens.com/ar...w-to-know-which-one-youre-dealing-with.73607/

 

[chirpingstad]

Unfortunately, the vet is right. When a hen is having egg issues that cause the eggs to be difficult to expel, prolapse often keeps occurring, and this becomes a chronic reproductive issue. I had such a hen, and her prolapse episodes only kept getting worse and took longer to resolve. Eventually, she stopped laying, but all the prolapses turned into infection and she went downhill.

Prolapse doesn't happen all on its own. It's caused by a difficult egg and the hen straining to expel it. The prolapse can quickly turn into serious irreversible injury when the flock notices and pecks at it, turning it into hamburger. Sometimes it will heal, but most times, not.

I would take a cue from your hen's behavior about how to deal with this. If she's declining, not eating, is lethargic and only getting worse, euthanasia should be considered.

If she's strong and eating and interested in flock activity, then by all means treat her. The treatment is involved so I wrote an article on how to deal with it. https://www.backyardchickens.com/ar...w-to-know-which-one-youre-dealing-with.73607/

The prolapse ended up going back in on its own so I went to inspect her crop and it felt squishy but her breath doesn't smell sour plus I'm sure she's eaten today. Is that normal? Should I check again in the morning before she's eaten?

 

[azygous]

Checking in the morning is the only way to verify if the crop is fucntioning normally or not.