Help asap, first egg possible emergency

[kara_leigh]

We just noticed that my Ameraucana pullet has laid her first egg, but it is stuck to her vent, and it is covered in poo and has a covering around it that is slimy and bloody. I can't get it out/off, and she flinches when I touch it. What is going on, and what can (if anything) I do to help her? She is 21 weeks old.

 

[RhodeIslandRedFan]

I don't have any experience with this but I have read about this on this site. I searched and found this thread that may help. Good luck to you and your hen. https://www.backyardchickens.com/forum/viewtopic.php?id=178075

 

[kara_leigh]

Thank you RhodeIslandRedFan, I really appreciate the link. It was helpful.

The egg came out (and fell on our laundry room floor as I was preparing to put her in warm water LOL), but she still has a prolapsed vent. Will it go back in on its own? Does this mean that she will keep having a prolapsed vent every time she lays an egg? This one was really small since it was her first one, I'm afraid of what will happen once she starts laying normal size eggs. They were such a pretty light green, though.

It sucks that it broke, I never got a pic of my first egg.

 

[Silverose]

keep her isolated so the other chickens don't peck it and pull her insides out more. I've also read hemmorrhoidal cream is supposed to help, but read the active ingredients, one should be Phenylephrine which is a vascoconstrictor (helps shrink blood vessels)

 

[kara_leigh]

We have her isolated for the night (and longer depending on how long it takes her to recover). We don't have any hemorrhoid cream on us and the store is almost an hour away.

I will definitely pick some up tomorrow.

 

[kara_leigh]

Update - We still have her isolated. She is doing much better. Her vent is still slightly prolapsed, but it has a big scab on it. She didn't lay another egg for 3 days, but she layed one yesterday and again today and she seems fine. It didn't make it worse, at least. The egg yesterday had quite a bit of blood on it, but the one today was clean. She is also having normal poops, so today I brought her in and washed her bottom off and got all the nasty poop off of her feathers, then used a blow dryer to dry her off. Then she stayed in our laundry room for about an hour. She seems to be completely normal other than a sore bottom.

 

[dretd]

Glad to hear she is on the mend!

 

[nanawendy]

Yeah

good job Mama If you put her out make sure there is Blu-Kote on it... It will keep the others from picking @ her.

 

[kara_leigh]

Another update -

She is completely back to normal!!!!!!

We had decided to put her back with the rest of the chickens b/c her butt is so fluffy, so they couldn't see her sore vent anyway. I wasn't worried about other chickens pecking at it. She would never allow them to get that close to her anyway. I let her out of the tractor about an hour before bed, and then let her go into the coop. Everything was fine.

Two days later when I checked her bottom, her feathers were all clean again (b/c I think she was allowed to dust bathe) and her vent was 100% back to normal!!!! She has been laying eggs every day, and now they come out perfectly clean, no more blood. I'm so happy she recovered, and so quickly.

 

[SwampHollowFarm]

I have also read that honey as a salve will also help.
Paul