Help! A chicken has a prolapsed vent & I can't get it back in!

[jodieevaughan]

I'm a brand new user so I apologise if I've posted this in the wrong place, or done anything incorrectly..

Yesterday, I found one of the hens, Whitney, bleeding from her behind and only today have I managed to catch her (she's a rather nervous hen) to get a good look at what's going on. I have no doubt it's a prolapsed vent, but I've never had this happen before. I sat her in a tub of warmish water to relax her this evening as it was getting dark outside, and I tried to clean her as well as I could with water. I tried to push the vent back inside of her, but it wouldn't go in and I was too frightened to put a lot of pressure into it, as I thought that surely wouldn't end well. There was no more bleeding as far as I could see than when I initially found her yesterday.

Please help! Do I need to add more pressure or am I just doing it wrong? Maybe I just need somebody to explain how exactly I need to push it inside. It is quite a major prolapse in comparison to the photos I've seen online, but I don't believe there's an egg inside, it's too soft. I am really worried about her, I don't want the flies to get to her and lay their eggs, culling her really isn't an option in my mind, I really want to help her and I don't want her to be in pain! Help would be very much appreciated!

THANK YOU.

 

[Laurel Meadows]

Welcome to BYC! Hopefully we can help you and your hen. I had a hen prolapse earlier this year so I'll share what I did to help her recover.
First, is this hen a new layer? Can you feel an egg anywhere within the prolapsed tissue?
My Cochin was a brand new layer had a small egg that had become trapped.
All procedures were done with my hen wrapped in a towel and my son held her while I treated her every day. I started by cleaning the vent area with some gentle dish soap and water to remove any poop and get a better look at the prolapse. Check for any small eggs and if you find one, you'll need to try to gently work it out of there without breaking it. In my hen's case, it was trapped within several layers of tissue so it was very tricky but I did get it out of there without causing bleeding or egg breakage. I sprayed all the exposed tissue with Vetericyn spray and gently put it back as best I could, but it was large (about the size of a lemon) and it was clearly not comfortable for her and she pushed it right back out. I put her in an isolation pen so flock mates wouldn't pick at it.
So twice a day I cleaned it, sprayed it with Vetericyn and gently tried to put it back. (It never stayed in). This went on for 4 days and day by day the redness and inflammation subsided. I also tried preparation H around the vent to shrink things down but her poor vent was still very stretched and I honestly didn't think she would heal properly but on the 5th day she looked absolutely normal and made a full recovery!
It was stressful and she got fly strike under where the prolapse would hang between treatments which added to the ordeal but we got her through it and she has no problems laying her eggs now
I hope that helps a little and if you have any other questions I'll do my best to help! Good luck with Whitney