Guts hanging out of one of my Hens? Possibly due to laying larger eggs?

[aplott2]

For the first time I had to put down one of my hens the other day. She hadnt quite been acting right the last couple days Kinda staying off to her self away from the other hens lately but Saturday I noticed she had something hanging out from her rear end and upon closer examination I found it to be her guts. Now the last couple weeks she had been laying abnormally large eggs, close to the size of a baseball and one was double yolked We couldnt even get the eggs to fit inside of the carton. Could these eggs possibly been the reason for her guts to come out like that? Is there anyway to prevent it? Is this something that since my other hens were exposed to that I need to worry about? The hen was only about a year to year and a half old so Im not sure if it was prolapse or not Ive always read that was more common in older hens. Im still kinda new to raising chickens and this is the first health problem we have come across in the last year. Thanks ahead of time for any insight.

 

[rachlore]

I'm so sorry! I haven't ever heard of anything like this. It must have been really hard on you

 

[aplott2]

Thanks. Yea it wasnt the easiest but it was much easier than watching the poor gal suffer. Seeing the pain and how pitiful she looked was the toughest part

 

[logontome]

I had to euthanise my chicken today as guts hanging out. Laid an egg the day before but was small so do not know why this has happened!? She was raised from a chick by me and was small and fluffy white lovely girl, so sad to have to do this but could not see her suffer any more. She was swollen at the front as well?

 

[Peplers chicks]

I have never seen something like that. I do not really see that the size of the egg can be the cause, due to the fact that the egg is kind of rubber when it comes out. I would say that it is something like a dry birth, if you hear what I try to say

 

[purpletree23]

I'm very sorry you had to put her down....you did the right thing. Thinking about her and not the horrible job you have ahead of you if the right thing to do. Taking the best care of our flocks is our job and that includes putting them down when the time comes. I had to put one of my own down last night and sobbed like a baby. I'm not sure if it ever gets easier.

Anyway.....I think the size of the egg is a cause for prolapse. Chickens were bred to of course be meaty for the dinner table and to have nice size eggs but with man fooling around with genetics and such the eggs can sometimes be to large and cause damage. It's not something you did or can control it just happened.

So sorry for your loss. You were very brave.