Dead Chicken

[tequillared]

I came home today and one of my hens was dead. She had a large intestine looking something coming out of her butt (Sorry, I guess I haven't spent enough time on the forum. I don't know know the proper term). She's only been with us for a few weeks. She's about nine months old. Any ideas what that might be and if I need to worry about the other hens?

Thank you for your help.

 

[bairo]

prolapsed vent. The others were probably picking at it and caused her to bleed as well as so stressed out that she finally gave in

 

[willowbranchfarm]

I'm not an expert but it could be a prolapsed vent. You can look it up and see if that's what it was. I'm sorry that this heppend.

glad you joined.

 

[AinaWGSD]

My first guess would be prolapsed cloaca. The cloaca is the organ through which eggs and waste travel to get to the vent. Sometimes if a hen has too large an egg, or has to strain too much to pass an egg (or in severe cases of parasites, feces) she can literally turn the cloaca inside out, what is known in medical terms as a prolapse. This can be fatal if not corrected quickly, and once it has happened once it is more likely to happen again. Poor nutrition also increases the chances of this happening, although some hens will do this even with optimal nutrition. If the other chickens saw blood from the prolapse, they may have picked at it causing it to bleed more and causing more of it to come out.

 

[tequillared]

Thank you for the quick reply. Is there anything you can do to prevent something like that from happening?