Extreme prolapsed vent, disembowelment

[Kiki]

Done. Thank you very much again everybody! I've never killed a chicken before - I read repeatedly that they convulse immediately after, but my god I questioned for a second if I'd done it right! But I had and she's out of her misery now. I won't pretend that there weren't any tears, she was a pet after all, but I feel if I ever have such a tragic circumstance again I'll be more prepared thanks to the help of people here - Thanks again everyone! <3

Good for you. Please take a good look at what you feed your birds to try to help prevent stuff like this in the future.

Diet, a balanced diet, with minimal treats is best.

 

[Pampered chicken girl]

Sorry for your loss, I am almost always against ending a bird but in this scenario absolutely nothing could be done to save her.

 

[klb25]

*I'm sorry in advance, this is graphic*

Title says it all. Earlier one of my hens had a slightly prolapsed vent which I thought I had solved for her - I come out a few hours later and I find her guts are hanging out of her back end. I don't know if it's only the ceca or the intestines as well, but long stringy organs are hanging out at about the length of my forearm, I think I even the liver or kidney is out. I'm shocked by the whole scene but she is still very much alive and alert, she is not bleeding out. I'm guessing there is no solution to this? I know I won't have the physical strength to euthanise her myself, there is nobody around to help me and I won't be able to get a vet until the morning now. Obviously I have her completely separated from the other animals right now. A really unfortunate situation in which I'm not sure what to do. If by some chance anyone can think of anything I could do about this I would greatly appreciate it!

I'm so sorry. Thank you for having given her a good life, and for not letting her suffer. It's never easy. We just had to do the same two days ago after an opossum attack.

 

[Morrigan]

I am so sorry for your loss, but you did the right thing for this hen. ((hugs))

 

[jodievaughan]

I'm so sorry. Thank you for having given her a good life, and for not letting her suffer. It's never easy. We just had to do the same two days ago after an opossum attack.

Thank you for saying that! I couldn't have left her like that, I wouldn't leave a wild animal to suffer if I found it in such a state, definitely not my own pet. I'm sorry to hear of your loss, but I'm sure you did the right thing as a responsible owner, well done!

 

[jodievaughan]

Sorry for your loss, I am almost always against ending a bird but in this scenario absolutely nothing could be done to save her.

Thank you! I agree - I've taken on many ex battery hens that often come with their own ailments, I've had my fair share of experiences with ill chickens... but this is the only time I didn't even attempt to fix it. If I had tried to put things back inside, I don't even want to imagine the pain and infections that would've ensued! I think ending her misery was the only option here.

 

[jodievaughan]

I am so sorry for your loss, but you did the right thing for this hen. ((hugs))

Thank you, I agree!

 

[jodievaughan]

Good for you. Please take a good look at what you feed your birds to try to help prevent stuff like this in the future.

Diet, a balanced diet, with minimal treats is best.

Thank you! I don't want to give the product a bad rap here, but I feed my hens Allen and Page Layers Pellets and minimally supplement with veggies and corn, and
occasionally a little bit of fruit as a summer treat/warm porridge as a winter treat. I remember once in the past I had another hen with slight cloacal prolapse, but that resolved with very little intervention from me. With the hen this post is about, I may be mistaking a part that's meant to be there, but I did notice a 'growth' on her intestine, it looked like a tumour about the size of the end segment of a pinky finger. Perhaps there was an internal issue there that caused this to happen? She had been acting totally normal right through yesterday though, so I'm still shocked that this happened.

 

[RoyalChick]

Done. Thank you very much again everybody! I've never killed a chicken before - I read repeatedly that they convulse immediately after, but my god I questioned for a second if I'd done it right! But I had and she's out of her misery now. I won't pretend that there weren't any tears, she was a pet after all, but I feel if I ever have such a tragic circumstance again I'll be more prepared thanks to the help of people here - Thanks again everyone! <3

So sorry you had to go through that. But we’ll done. It takes courage.
I am sorry for your loss but also glad she is now out of pain and won’t suffer any more

 

[SmiYa0126]

I don't think that any diet could have caused this, there had to have been some kind of malformation inside of her...to prolapse like that. Again, I'm so sorry, yes the movement after death is very jarring. I still remember my first one.