egg bound and prolapse vent

[ndjili]

I'm having the worst luck with my chickens. Earlier this summer lost all but one to an attack, took in a chicken from my mom and bought 3 pullets. The pullets had coccidiosis and I was able to take care of it as well as save the last of my original flock from the injuries she sustained from the attack. then found out the chicken i saved from my mom was aggressive and i found one of the pullets dead (this was after months of waiting until they were large enough to deal with her and they all seemed to get along. After getting rid of the mean hen another pullet hurt herself and nothing could be dome. I added 2 more pullets and things went great until today I found the last of the 3 pullets in the coop trying to lay an egg and bleeding from the vent. She hadn't started laying and hadn't acted strangely until today. She's been running around with the other chickens and eating. Today I watched her trying hard to lay an egg, puffed up and looking and sounding miserable. I put her in the tub and washed her back end and could see her vent is swollen and prolapsed. She's in a kennel drying and I'm not sure if i should put lubricant around it, try to push in the prolapse or what. Any help would be great.

 

[TwoCrows]

Get her all dried off and yes, push the tissue back inside of her. Before you push it in, get some preperation H and slather it all over her vent and inside on the tissue too. This will help reduce the inflamation to help keep it inside her. Keep stuffing it back in as it comes out and use the prep H on her as needed. This might take a day or so. Keep her inside for 24 hours after you have the prolapse back inside of her as if the others see this, they can pick and kill her. If she is only gone a day or so, she should be easy to get back into the flock.

I would also suggest you keep her in only 7 or 8 hours of daylight for the next week. The rest of the time complete darkness. This should shut off her egg laying machine for a while so she can heal. You can do this and not remove her from the others by removing her in the afternoon and letting her sleep some place else in the dark. First thing in the morning return her to the group so they don't know she was ever gone.

Make SURE you have enough waterers out for all the birds. If she became dehydrated because she is being run off from the water, she may have become egg bound. Dehydration is the number one reason a bird becomes egg bound.

 

[ndjili]

She hasn't laid an egg yet. Not sure if that makes a difference. I thought I saw some yolk coming out earlier but wasn't sure. Took me forever to catch her and it was gone by that time.

 

[TwoCrows]

If she laid a thin or no shelled egg, these are hard to push out and she probably pushed her uterus out. Young layers can also have laying issues and many clear up on their own, but just the same, I would follow these suggestions just in case she does try to lay tomorrow or the next day. If she is prolapsed and tries to lay, she could permanently damage her uterus and she will never heal. In which case she will need to be put down.

 

[ndjili]

Thanks for the advice. I've got a second very small coop with attached run that i use for pullets and injured chickens so i was able to set her up in the henhouse on some comfy towels and her own water. I ran out of vitamins so I'm going to buy some tomorrow. So far the vent seems to be staying in place. I'll update tomorrow. Hoping for good news for once.

 

[TwoCrows]

Thanks for the advice. I've got a second very small coop with attached run that i use for pullets and injured chickens so i was able to set her up in the henhouse on some comfy towels and her own water. I ran out of vitamins so I'm going to buy some tomorrow. So far the vent seems to be staying in place. I'll update tomorrow. Hoping for good news for once.

This is good news things were staying in place as of last night! How is she today?

If she has been doing well all day, I would get her back outside. Watch her carefully and if she prolapses again, you will need to get her to shut off the eggs using the darkness technique.

Keep us posted!

 

[ndjili]

things looked good until this afternoon she prolapsed again. Not as severe as yesterday. But more cream and putting it back. Hoping for a miracle.

 

[TwoCrows]

things looked good until this afternoon she prolapsed again. Not as severe as yesterday. But more cream and putting it back. Hoping for a miracle.

Just keep doing what you are doing. You might also give her some aspirin to help with inflammation. If you have any baby aspirin, you can give her 1/2 to 1 baby aspirin. If all you have is adult aspirin, you can give her a 1/4 of an adult aspirin. You can break it in half and put them inside of a raisin.

 

[ndjili]

Well Cinnamon died Wednesday. I only have 3 chickens right now. 2 are laying and I have an Easter Egger that is looking like she's getting close. I'm paranoid that this could happen again. Right now the water in the coop is freezing within a couple of hours. I'm going out every 2 hours and chipping away the ice and adding new water. They are eating a higher protein winter feed and have oyster shell next to their food. Is there anything more I can do?

 

[TwoCrows]

Well Cinnamon died Wednesday. I only have 3 chickens right now. 2 are laying and I have an Easter Egger that is looking like she's getting close. I'm paranoid that this could happen again. Right now the water in the coop is freezing within a couple of hours. I'm going out every 2 hours and chipping away the ice and adding new water. They are eating a higher protein winter feed and have oyster shell next to their food. Is there anything more I can do?

I am so sorry you lost her.

This water freezing issue you are having is no doubt contributing to the egg binding and prolapse. Dehydration is the leading cause of egg binding, which leads to prolapse. You can't let them run out of water for so long. You can bring out warm water every couple of hours so that the birds have constant drinking water, or you will need to get some heated water bases. Even heated dog water bowls will work. You can get these at hardware stores and even walmart. But the birds need water ALL day long that is not frozen. When they dehydrate, so does the oviduct, eggs get stuck, the bird pushes too hard all day long and the birds uterus and oviduct tube comes out. So try to keep them in water at all times.