Fatal Prolapse

[thepanesars]

Hi All,

Im really hoping you can help me because atm I am confused and gutted. One of my hens died this morning. She had been acting a bit off for a few days, I had my suspicions she was egg bound but when I checked her over her vent and everything seemed fine but last night her vent looked swollen and had a bit sticking out of it. I identified it as a prolapse but decided to leave stressing her out any further after examining her last night and check it again this morning. There was no change, so I gently washed down the back of her with warm water which brought on some bleeding then after applying some Vaseline set about gently pressing the bit sticking out part back in. As soon as I touched the area loads more fell out! She started wriggling, so I set her down for a second but she immediately fell over and died.

What did I do wrong? Should I have taken her to a vet instead? I was really gentle with her. I don't understand what has happened.

Has anyone else had experience with this?

Thanks

 

[Judy]

I don't see that you did anything wrong, at all.

Certainly, your approach would have been very reasonable for an eggbound hen. Sometimes all we can do is treat them for what is "probably" or "possibly" wrong, and hope.

There is certainly no guarantee a vet could have saved her. On the contrary, for that amount of blood to have appeared after gentle examination, I think it's very unlikely. There was obviosuly somthing going on inside her that you would have no way of identifying. Unfortunately, ovarian cancer and internal laying are fairly common among hatchery birds, affecting something like 1/4 of them by age 4, just as a "for example." The bleeding suggests the possibility of a tumor inside her, to me. I'm sorry this happened to you, but I don't think you should feel you failed her.

 

[ten chicks]

Did she have a prolapse or was she egg bound? If she was egg bound,pressing egg(may have been mistaken for a prolapse) back in would not have been a good idea,if she had a prolapse using either sugar/honey or prep H often results in prolapse resuming normal position.

If you ever suspect a hen may be egg bound,do a cloacal exam to determine for sure this is the problem and never wait,start treatment immediately,same applies for a prolapse.

You did the best you could for your girl. My condolences on her passing,it is always heartbreaking to lose a beloved pet.

 

[thepanesars]

Thank You both for your responses. She was a hybrid chicken and in my search for answers i have read that Egg Peritonitis is a common problem with them?

A few of the symptoms fit with what happened, so if i mistook that and gently pressed what i thought was a prolapse what damage did i do? Did i cause the mass to fall out? If i taken her to a vet instead would he have saved her?

What do you think?