Emergency Chicken Vent Prolapse

[Dsauce91]

Caution: Photos attached to this post may make some of you uncomfortable.

Yesterday I found one of my pullets with this large black mass on her underside. She had a piece of an egg and lots of poop attached as well as a full formed egg stuck inside. I did some online research coupled with what little I know and decided to safely break and remove the egg and wash away the area as best as I could. I applied an antibiotic spray for wounds, including vent prolapse. I called a vet but they want too much money to even look at her.

Can anyone offer me any sort of help? I’m not sure if the black area is bruised/dead tissue or what… it’s soft to the touch. She’s been fairly active and it looks like she’s pooped somehow since yesterday since I had more to clean. I’m not sure if she’s eaten or not since I’ve kept her separate and been at work.

Any help or guidance would be greatly appreciated on how to proceed, even if you think just making her remaining time comfortable is my only course of action. Thank you.

Photos: first photo is the first day after I cleaned the area. Second photo is one that I just took after another soak and cleaning.

 

[Show Sebright]

If the mass/ poop is able to be cut off I advise to do that. She might have gotten the egg out and just got some nasty sticky poop.

 

[Dsauce91]

If the mass/ poop is able to be cut off I advise to do that. She might have gotten the egg out and just got some nasty sticky poop.

I’m not sure it’s poop… I feel like it’s the inner lining or something. It feels like skin.

 

[Show Sebright]

Is it hard or squishy? Maybe some sort of mole type thing? Idk if fatty tumors ever get black like that but maybe that is it??? Let me tag someone..

 

[Show Sebright]

@Eggcessive can you help

 

[MysteryChicken]

@Wyorp Rock
@azygous

 

[azygous]

It's not easy to tell from a two dimensional photo exactly what we're seeing. But it seems there's some pink tissue peeking out from under the blackened layer. That would lead me to conclude this hen is still in prolapse, and the tissue is necrotic (dying). It's not poop. Cutting it off will be disastrous.

A prolapse is a tricky thing to deal with. It requires constant care from the time it occurs in order to keep the tissue, which belongs inside the hen's body, from drying out and dying. It appears this is what's happening.

Again, this is just my interpretation of the photos. Someone else may have a different interpretation.

So, if my guess is correct, your hen doesn't have much of a chance of recovery. That tissue will not be able to retract into her body with it dead as it appears to be. It will be just a matter of a few days and infection will make her fate pretty obvious. This isn't easy for me to say, but I suggest you consider euthanizing her before she gets to the point of really suffering.

 

[Dsauce91]

It's not easy to tell from a two dimensional photo exactly what we're seeing. But it seems there's some pink tissue peeking out from under the blackened layer. That would lead me to conclude this hen is still in prolapse, and the tissue is necrotic (dying). It's not poop. Cutting it off will be disastrous.

A prolapse is a tricky thing to deal with. It requires constant care from the time it occurs in order to keep the tissue, which belongs inside the hen's body, from drying out and dying. It appears this is what's happening.

Again, this is just my interpretation of the photos. Someone else may have a different interpretation.

So, if my guess is correct, your hen doesn't have much of a chance of recovery. That tissue will not be able to retract into her body with it dead as it appears to be. It will be just a matter of a few days and infection will make her fate pretty obvious. This isn't easy for me to say, but I suggest you consider euthanizing her before she gets to the point of really suffering.

I kinda feared for the worst… thank you for your input though.

 

[Dsauce91]

Just to give everyone an update, I was gone for a few days this weekend. Before I left, I had let her soak a few times and also cleaned and sprayed the area with an antibacterial spray.

Today I noticed that the unidentifiable black mass on her vent was gone. There wasn’t any blood or anything and I saw her regularly preening that area. She’s been eating and active and even pooping. Not sure she’s 100% ok or not but it’s look better than I thought. I’ll continue to monitor her and see how it all goes

 

[Eggcessive]

It looked like that black material was necrotic (dead) tissue that had dried out. Does she still have a prolapse, or is her vent back inside? Do you have any updated pictures?