The Recommended Treatment for the Dreaded Prolapsed Cloaca (An Egg Stuck in Your Chicken Drags her Insides Out):
One of my young (5-month-old) Buff Orpingtons began laying...and one day had a prolapsed cloaca with an egg stuck halfway out and a lot of poo just behind it. Panicked, I broke the egg to get as much off as I could, brought her inside to sluice her sore, nasty bottom with warm water (the temperature you'd use for a baby human, tested on my wrist), and then....took her to my veterinarian. She couldn't help, knowing nothing about chickens, but referred me right away to a country vet trained in livestock.
But he was honest enough to tell me he didn't know what to do, either! He said that in vet school, they don't teach anything about treating sick chickens, because their main customers will be people with flocks of 10,000, whose approach to an ill chicken is culling (i.e. KILLing).
But he went off and did some research, and here's what we did, which saved my chicken and cured the problem:
She needed a tiny shot every day for two weeks of a bird-safe antibiotic that doesn't linger in the system. You want Naxcel, 1 cc per day; my doc loaded a syringe [25x5/8] with several doses, and the medicine had to be kept cold, even during the drive, so take a cold pack and a little cooler with you to get it. Also, not every vet stocks it, so phone your vet and ask whether they have the medicine you need. (Be careful what you get, because the first-choice livestock antibiotic lingers for 18 months--fine for beef cattle, perhaps, but terrible in a bird whose laying life will only be two or three years.)
Also, DO NOT push the cloaca back into the hen. As it heals, it will withdraw on its own. Pushing it causes pain, damage, and puts bacteria (hers AND yours) into her body.
Keep the hen in a small or medium-size dog kennel, indoors and nice and warm (warmth is critical, I'm told; I actually added a little space heater to my warm bathroom for her), with her own food and water supply and protein treats like hard-boiled eggs, for about 72 hours max. (Any more and it's hard to get her re-introduced to her flock.) Sluice off her sore bottom with body-temperature warm water a couple times a day for the first few days, then leave her alone except to keep the kennel scrupulously clean for her, since part of her insides are in contact with it. Dead tissue is going to slough off, so don't be freaked out when there are gross fleshy dark strands in the kennel, as well as poop.
Re-introduce her back into the flock by putting her in the coop at night, when everyone's asleep in there. A "stealth return" helps keep them from picking on her so much, although my flock did give my sick girl a few pecks the first day, the little brats!
You'll still be needing to catch her to give the shots once she's back in the flock, and it's wonderful that after a few days, you won't be able to tell which chicken has the problem! So notice SOMEthing different about your sick girl's appearance, besides that sore behind, so you know who's supposed to get those shots! Alternate which breast you place the shot into and have a helper hold the bird for you. (My helper was a Physician's Assistant neighbor, who actually made house calls every morning and administered the shots. We looked up where to put the injections on the Internet. She gets free eggs for LIFE!)
Anyhow, my little gal is perfectly well and laying eggs nearly every day. I am so relieved! Finding her with part of her insides hanging out was one of the most awful pet animal experiences I've ever had, in my long life!
I hope this helps anyone whose much-loved hen has this terrible problem. (The whole veterinary extravaganza cost me $61.50, so I want you-all to help me get my money's worth. The medicine itself is very cheap--totalled only $8.00.)
Last edited by Lee-in-Iowa (Today 8:17 am)
