Chicken was attacked, how can I help her

[CatBarr]

It would be helpful to see pictures of her wound and vent. I would clean all wounds with warm saline and apply plain antibiotic ointment twice a day. The vent area should be soaked in warm soapy water or Epsom salts daily. Apply a mild ointment or cream to the area, and keep the prolapse moist until it can be pushed back inside, so that the tissue does not dry out. Honey, sugar syrup, vaseline, or hydrocortisone cream are some examples. Do you think that she was attacked and the predator attacked her vent? Is there any damage around her vent?

These are awesome tips for keeping her vent from drying out, thank you! The vet believes she somehow suffered a blunt force trauma rather than a predator attack.

 

[Wyorp Rock]

When you can, get some photos.

Yes, you will likely need to push the prolapse back in. It will need to be cleaned as well as possible before going back in though.
Do keep any exposed tissue moist with anti-inflammatory cream, honey, sugar pack, etc. You don't want it drying out and turning necrotic.

Do give her extra calcium once a day. Caltrate would be good to give, but if you don't have that then 1 Tums a day for several days would be fine.
Calcium can help with retention.

Keep her hydrated too.

 

[CatBarr]

An update on my girl: We successfully got her prolapse back in last night and she seemed to have a relatively comfortable overnight inside. She is able to stand today, which is such a big improvement! However, during her big morning poop, she prolapsed again. I called the vet and asked what I should do. They wanted me to bring her back in every time it came back out. 45 minutes drive there, plus $160 for each visit. I felt so bad telling them that I can't afford that if it's going to be prolapsing so often, plus taking work off, it's just too much. They advised me not to do it myself so now I'm so confused on what to do. I think it's probably safer for her to have everything inside and not hanging out but now I'm conflicted because they told me not to do at home. Any advice?

I'll get photos up in a bit. I'm about to give her a backside cleaning.

 

[CatBarr]

When you can, get some photos.

Yes, you will likely need to push the prolapse back in. It will need to be cleaned as well as possible before going back in though.
Do keep any exposed tissue moist with anti-inflammatory cream, honey, sugar pack, etc. You don't want it drying out and turning necrotic.

Do give her extra calcium once a day. Caltrate would be good to give, but if you don't have that then 1 Tums a day for several days would be fine.
Calcium can help with retention.

Keep her hydrated too.

I got some liquid calcium from the vet yesterday and she gets that twice a day. She's doing well with water so far and I mixed in some electrolytes but didn't eat too much this morning

 

[Wyorp Rock]

Get some photos so we can see what you are dealing with.

 

[Eggcessive]

Soaking her vent area in warm water to clean it and soothe her, and then placing the cloaca back inside would be good. Apply ointment or cream to the cloaca when it is outside to keep it moist. They do have a tendency to pop back out when straining to poop or to lay. This may happen for a number of days. I would have elected not to have gone back to the vet as well. Hopefully, it will soon stay in. I hope that she gets back to normal before her accident.

 

[Katanahamon]

I got some liquid calcium from the vet yesterday and she gets that twice a day. She's doing well with water so far and I mixed in some electrolytes but didn't eat too much this morning

If possible do try the tip of only giving eight hours of light to discourage laying..pushing out an egg will probably not be helpful..

 

[CatBarr]

So sorry for the silence lately! It's been a crazy household with this girl going through her stuff and our puppy developing a massive life-threatening lump on his neck. So many vet visits and long nights checking on everyone these past couple of weeks.

Anyways, I thought I'd update. After the third time of me putting her prolapse back in, it finally stayed! It's been a long couple of weeks with keeping her inside crate incredibly clean, keeping her clean (lots of baths), and trying to make sure she's eating, drinking, and getting her meds. I've been spending lots of time with her helping her exercise her leg that she wasn't able to put weight on and it seems like that's helping a lot. She's walking almost normal. Her wing got a new cast and it will continue getting new ones for another couple of weeks. In the beginning she was really down, clearly in lots of pain. Now she's eager to try to sneak past me when I open her crate, she tries to run away when I have to catch her, and she's finally back to being enthusiastic about treats, and her poop is consistently looking normal. I'm finally getting hopeful that she might actually recover, which is huge because I considered euthanasia when we went to the first vet visit.

The only big concern I have right now is that she's losing a lot of feathers, like a molt. But I don't think it's a molt because new ones aren't coming in yet. It could be from a lack of nutrients over the past couple of weeks because she wasn't eating much at first. And maybe the feather loss will slow, as she continues to eat more and be more excited about food?

You guys have been so much help so far, thank you! If anyone has any insight or advice on anything I've mentioned here, please let me know. I'm still unsure of how certain a full recovery is but like I said, I finally have some hope <3

 

[Eggcessive]

She may well be molting. Stress, and this time of year can produce a molt. Glad that the prolapse stayed in and that she is doing better.