Do you always cull a prolapse?

[sommrluv]

I have a "hatchery" mix from Moyers. We have four, actually, and they are all good hens, but one of them has been laying thin shelled weird white eggs (they are brown layers) for a few months now. About 20% they lay shell-less. Now, I've tried every trick in the book for that, and I have titanium shelled eggs from my other 6 ( I also have BR & RIR) but no change in her.

I'm lucky that I have so few chickens, so I get a good look at them several times a day. Today She had a very poopy bottom so I grabbed her up to take a look, and sure enough her vent is round, bulbous, and throbbing. It looks to me like all the pictures of the more minor prolapses I've seen (not fist sized, not bloody, etc).

She's eating, drinking, and seems comfortable, and I've separated her out from the other girls.

I'd like to know how many of you have had repeat prolapses? Am I better off just culling her, especially with her history? I honestly will say I don't want to go through the process of fixing this a few times a year. I have some physical limitations that make the normal care of chickens with the run cleaning & such about at my max.

Thanks for any insight.

-Summer

 

[sommrluv]

Eh, thought I'd update my own thread. On other forums the consensus seems to be that once prolapsed, they will continue prolapsing.

Seeing as it's caused by calcium deficiency and I suspect this hen already has some sort of natural calcium deficiency, I do see this happening again. She is also young, not yet 30 weeks old.

I had separated her right away, and a few hours later took a look, and it was double the size, and pus-y. It looks so bad at this point I would feel uncomfortable putting it back in her body. My husband will cull her tomorrow, poor thing.

Not sure if anyone is reading...but....should I bother to tell the hatchery? They are local so I thought maybe just a heads up? Is it bad genetics? Or does it just happen?

 

[SaltLakeSpice]

Sorry to hear about this situation for you. I hope your other chickies stay healthy and happy.

 

[sommrluv]

Here's something amazing....I checked on her this morning to make sure she had food, water.


It's gone. Completely. And she seemed completely fine, but a little hot as most of that pen was in the sun. I was going to keep her seperate for another day, but because she seemed a little heat stressed, I put her back in the house. One hour later, no visible signs of stress. And there was an egg in the crate. Wild!

She's very docile and sweet, so I'm glad I don't have to put her down.

 

[Kittymomma]

That's great news! I'm mostly just "typing out loud" here, but I wonder if adding vitamins, specifically vit. D would help. Most milk is fortified with vit. D because it aids in calcium absorbtion so I wonder if her issue has more to do with her not producing enough vit. D then it does lack of calcium itself.

 

[crazyhen]

I had a Brahma that would prolapse and it would retreat. This went on for about 2 months before it got really bad and I had to cull. Broke my heart. I hope yours does better. Gloria Jean

 

[sommrluv]

Well, I spoke to soon. I'd been checking her every hour (it's a good thing I'm home) and there it was again.

 

[sommrluv]

That's a good thought about the vitamin D.

 

[Kittymomma]

Quote:
It doesn't sound like a very bad one. I bet if you smeared some prep h on it or sprinkled white sugar on it that it would go back in. Does anybody know why sugar makes the tissue draw in? I know it works, but darned if I can figure out why.

 

[sommrluv]

I read on some other places to use honey.

When I checked her this evening, it had receded almost all the way again, but she seemed very stressed. Dh made the decision for me.