Well, our first chicken to lay an egg laid a full size egg. It got stuck and we soaked her in epsom salt and helped it out.
She was a bit swollen but things started returning to normal (ie, closing of the vent) pretty quickly so we put her back in. The egg was on the 18th. The next day she looked to be mostly ok with just minor swelling. Yesterday she was covered in poo and I cleaned her up to find that the vent just is not closing back up and the flesh just inside the vent is exposed. I tried to push things back in but they won't stay. I held the vent closed, that is not working either. I did not feel an egg but was afraid of how far to go and not sure how far in another egg should be. An inch? Few inches?
She acted just fine and was not bothered but today she was a little "off". She was sitting in a nesting box when I went down which she has not done but maybe that is the egg laying instinct kicking in?
Things are not improving with her and her poo is now watery.
I have done the reading on prolapse and am not sure if this is exactly what prolapse is because it is not like things are really hanging out. Just the vent is not closing allowing the inner flesh to be exposed. I am not sure if muscles tore during the egg process or not.
I am not sure what to do with her and being we have plenty of hens and are looking to breed for meat as well as egg production, should we just go that route with her since we have plenty of others that will soon be laying?
All I know is a vet bill is out of the question at this point after a recent chop in hours.
She was a bit swollen but things started returning to normal (ie, closing of the vent) pretty quickly so we put her back in. The egg was on the 18th. The next day she looked to be mostly ok with just minor swelling. Yesterday she was covered in poo and I cleaned her up to find that the vent just is not closing back up and the flesh just inside the vent is exposed. I tried to push things back in but they won't stay. I held the vent closed, that is not working either. I did not feel an egg but was afraid of how far to go and not sure how far in another egg should be. An inch? Few inches?
She acted just fine and was not bothered but today she was a little "off". She was sitting in a nesting box when I went down which she has not done but maybe that is the egg laying instinct kicking in?
Things are not improving with her and her poo is now watery.
I have done the reading on prolapse and am not sure if this is exactly what prolapse is because it is not like things are really hanging out. Just the vent is not closing allowing the inner flesh to be exposed. I am not sure if muscles tore during the egg process or not.
I am not sure what to do with her and being we have plenty of hens and are looking to breed for meat as well as egg production, should we just go that route with her since we have plenty of others that will soon be laying?
All I know is a vet bill is out of the question at this point after a recent chop in hours.
