HELP! 5month old White Rock with protruding behind (pictures inc)

[dgbehrends]

Hi,
I'm a first-time chicken owner/raiser and I have 3 chickens in my backyard I've raised since they were a day old on May 1st. Our White Rock chicken developed what looked like diarrhea last weekend. She seemed just a little lethargic but still was eating and drinking. I washer her but and then noticed something protruding from her. I caught her and poked it back in thinking she may be egg bound. I didn't feel anything in her butt and after I did that, she started getting better and her butt feathers started to clean up. This weekend she is back to looking like diarrhea butt and it is much worse with a lot more of what looks like her innards sticking out of her butt. We feed our three chickens (white rock, buff, easter egger) table scraps occasionally and their main food is Sprout egg layer crumbles. Their water is in a clean container with chicken nipples and doesn't get contaminated. I need some advice on how to help this chicken and have included some pictures.

 

[dgbehrends]

I found this thread which makes me think it is a prolapse.
https://www.backyardchickens.com/threads/my-hen-has-a-weird-thing-sticking-out-of-her-butt.267272/
I'm going to try to put some sugar on it, after I wash her down. If that doesn't work I will try to push it back in like I did before and put some vasoline on her but.

 

[coach723]

Preparation H may help get the swelling down. You can also use honey. Most important thing is to not let the tissue get dried out as it will become necrotic. You also need to separate her so that the other chickens do not peck at it and cause damage. Here are a couple more links with suggestions for treatment. Unfortunately sometimes this is a repeat problem with some birds.
http://naturalchickenkeeping.blogspot.com/2013/04/prolapsed-vent-cloaca-and-laying.html
http://www.the-chicken-chick.com/2012/04/prolapse-vent-causes-treatment-graphic.html

 

[dgbehrends]

Thank you for the links. They were very informational. I'm not optimistic my chicken is going to survive this but we'll see. Here is how the evening went.

I took a couple of mop buckets outside filled with warm sugar water and got to work cleaning her up. She cleaned up well. The first thing I found was that an egg was stuck in her prolapsed vent and it wasn't coming out. I crushed it and found that her vent had a hole in it and got most of the egg out. I then used some sugar to treat her vent and it reduced in size. Her prolapse seemed severed. I rubbed some vaseline on it and gently stuff it back inside her. Unfortunately, she kept pushing it out and I was unable to get it to stay in her. It was getting dark so I had to put her back in the coop. I have a coop cam and watched her for a while, the other two chickens were not bothering her and I never saw them pick at her butt while in the chicken run either. I bought some preparation H and will go through this same thing tomorrow. I'll isolate her in a pet carrier and give her some electrolyte water. I'll keep her isolated in in less light to prevent any further eggs from coming out.

 

[coach723]

I'm very sorry about your hen, it did look like a pretty large/severe prolapse in your pictures. All you can do is try, and hope for the best. If there are any tears in the tissue then that drastically increases the risk of infection, so I would be watching closely for signs of that. I'm very sorry to say that if you are not able to get it to stay inside, or if you see signs of infection it may be kinder to not let her suffer. You will know when the time is right if that happens. Again, I'm sorry, and hoping it has a good outcome.

 

[Eggcessive]

Coach has given you a lot of good advice. Are you seeing any black or dead looking tissue on her prolapse tissue, or is it mostly pink? A lot of people do a daily warm soak in soapy water or Epsom salts water to help clean and heal the tissue. I would use some plain Neosporin ointment on any torn areas, and you could always add a little sugar or some of the other ointment and mix. Keep it moist with oil. Could you get a new photo of her cleaned up vent? Good luck, but many hens with prolapses need to be put down. The prolapses can reocur, or they can suffer damage to the cloaca. It may help her vent to heal to stop her from laying for a couple of weeks. That is done by keeping her in a dark room or cage for 16 hours overnight each day. Reducing the feed a little while giving her all the water she needs may also help. Good luck with her recovery.

 

[dgbehrends]

I gave her another vent wash today. Afterwards I wrapped her in a towel and put her on her back while I went to work. I pulled the rest of the shell out of her vent but her insides are still hanging out. I coated everything hanging out in neosporin and preparation H. I was able to gently stuff her innerds back in her. Unfortunately she tried to poop and a lot of it came back out. I have her isolated in my dark basement in a pet carrier. She has some crumbles and fresh water. She is not interested in either. I didn't snap a picture because I had latex gloves on coated with goo. I'm not optimistic this will turn out well. I think her cloaca is badly damaged.

 

[dgbehrends]

FYI I'm colorblind but the tissue all looked like in the first picture. Very dark.

 

[Eggcessive]

Yes, any stimulation around the vent can result in droppings. Next time you try to push it back in, you may want to sit and hold her while holding the vent back in with your gloved hand for a bit of time. If you are seeing a lot of dead tissue, her vent may not function very well, and she could suffer infection there. If possible, take a picture tomorrow or whenever you can manage it.

 

[dgbehrends]

I wrapped her in a towel and worked on her again. I held it in for minutes. She is back in her cage facing me so I can't tell if she popped it out again. Here is a picture.