Egg bound+prolapse=I'm not sure what to do?

Aloishhh

Chirping
Dec 5, 2021
38
58
56
Bellevue, Nebraska
Hello, long time reader, first time poster. I need help. I think, no i know she's egg bound and prolapse, i just don't know what I'm looking at and now she's not doing well at all. How can I help her? Can I even help her?
Here's the timeline so far:
2 mornings ago(Friday morning) i noticed my 9mo old hen, who has laid eggs for the last maybe 3 or 4 months, with a nasty butt. I, of course, gathers info from this forum's wise and helpful members and decided to wash her with some epsom salts assuming it was vent gleet or whatever it is. Upon further soaking in the milk house sink i saw and felt what could only be an egg. Looking at it, it was for sure an egg. Red, bulging and round. But then it felt a bit like fleshy? I didn't want to touch it more so I dried her up, got her some food(layer feed+scratch grains coated with powdered calcium+D3) and water. She began pecking away at the grain and sipped some water. I visited her later in the day and again soaked her, freshened her water and checked her butt. No change on all fronts. Saturday morning, i checked and soaked her again. Epsom salts, fresh water and calcium on her feed. She was eating again. Making her normal chicken noises, butt looking a little different. Not worse, or better i don't think. Just different. By then I'd googled and YouTubed as much as I could find and decided it was definitely prolapsed vent with egg bound. Her intestine hole is showing and working bc i could see green poop squeezing out of a red fleshy hole on the side of this egg shaped mass, but there's this white crap all over and i can't figure out what it is. I'm assuming it's the white part of an egg? Again, idk.
Another 2 soaks yesterday and now I'm here in this bathroom with her again. We just soaked and i examined her egg situation. It hasn't improved. If anything, she's getting more lethargic and pushing pretty hard to get it out.
Here's my issue. I don't have any idea what the flock I'm looking at exactly. Like, it looks like it's thru the vent(think bubble being blown) but hasn't been able to detach. But from another angle, it looks like it's inside her flesh but that flesh is outside of her body. She's pushing and i can hear either the sound of a shell being squished or it's the squish of her vent hole bc it's wet from the bath. I just don't know. I wish I would have posted yesterday or even earlier than now.
I'm just not confident i understand what my eyes are seeing. Can someone tell me what it is I'm seeing? What i can do? What i shouldn't do? I'm definitely bringing her to my vet Monday morning, but with her Almost sudden decline from this afternoon I'm worried.
Any insight would be appreciated. TIA.
Alex
 
Do you have any pictures of her vent? Have you repeated the calcium with vitamin D, and how many mg of calcium is there in your powder. Most calcium tablets are about 600 mg and that is what I would give. Being egg bound with a prolapse is a very serious problem. She could die of this. I would try lubricating the vent with oil and try to find the opening for the egg. Some have successfully pushed the egg back inside where the hen could lay it normally. I have not experienced this, but this video is one that I have seen:

 
I have had luck with this issue by putting the hen on heat(heating pad) in a warm moist environment (steamed up bathroom) Some baby oil applied around and in the vent may help. Keeping the hen in the dark for a while will limit her activity and help with the prolapse. With the couple times I've dealt with this, once the egg was laid the prolapse corrected itself.
 


Video Video 2
Do you have any pictures of her vent? Have you repeated the calcium with vitamin D, and how many mg of calcium is there in your powder. Most calcium tablets are about 600 mg and that is what I would give. Being egg bound with a prolapse is a very serious problem. She could die of this. I would try lubricating the vent with oil and try to find the opening for the egg. Some have successfully pushed the egg back inside where the hen could lay it normally. I have not experienced this, but this video is one that I have seen:

 
I saw your video just now. I really hope that you can get the egg out, or see a vet soon. Nchlhs had a good suggestion of placing her on a warm moist towel in a warm room. Trying to massage the egg out through the opening, if you can find it might help.
 
I saw your video just now. I really hope that you can get the egg out, or see a vet soon. Nchlhs had a good suggestion of placing her on a warm moist towel in a warm room. Trying to massage the egg out through the opening, if you can find it might help.
I mean i don't even know where it is. It's not like that video at all. It's not just under a thin layer of flesh where i can see the egg. And the shell doesn't feel as hard as a normally laid egg is but more like soft and almost squishy.
 
Sometimes they can get egg bound with a shell-less egg, and that could be the case. Does she seem worn out or lethargic from all of this? Is she drinking fluids? Have you repeated the calcium today? Can you try to find the vent opening, and insert a lubricated finger inside? I am not a vet, but if you could see one soon, it might save her life.
 
I would recommend speed but with care.

I am not a vet, but I have successfully dealt with a prolapse before.....

Whatever is outside should be kept from drying and lubricated. Olive oil will suffice. It should be cleaned with clean, warm water. You need to better identify the various parts you're looking at. Un-stick and trim any feathers that are trying to stick to it.

I would suggest doing all that, gently, and then seeing if you can identify a fold in the tissue around the egg somewhere that maybe would be the opening.

If she was a chicken that laid an egg a day, it could be that her system is currently backed-up with another egg or two, which is not good. Still, I would think that she might have a better chance of ridding herself of that egg if everything back there is well moist and lubricated, and, if possible, back inside of her body, and then massaged well with oil in all nooks.

It's best if you put-on a clean rubber glove when you massage her and oil her back there. You might not have immediate access to it, but if you had an tetracycline-hydrochloride-based antibiotic cream, that would be ideal to rub onto the exposed tissue, in addition to the olive oil. (-Another cooking oil will probably be okay if that's all you have.)

Again, work on gently cleaning, identifying, and lubricating her. And if it seems possible, gently working the egg back into her. This might help loosen the tight tissue around the egg. Lubrication is really key here I think.

If you're deeply concerned, you can always stop in the process, post some new pictures/info./updates, and 're-group' so to speak.

Keep trying and researching! -Don't give-up hope!
 

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