Help! Gummed up/prolapsed vent. Graphic

[Miss Lydia]

The most important thing you can do is not let the rest of the flock get to her. I f they see any thing out of the ordinary on her they will peck and could even kill her. I know that sounds awful but it is true.

 

[girlsomine]

I'll bring her back in this morning. I guess I'll just continue the antibiotic, bathing, and pushing the protrusion back in as that seems to have worked in several cases eventually. I'll also continue to keep her in the dark other than when eating.

Thanks for the great posts on this site. I'm a chicken newbie and would be lost without them!

 

[Miss Lydia]

Forgot to say Welcome to BYC, and hope your girl is doing better this morning!

 

[girlsomine]

The prolapse hasn't improved any, and I did catch one of my other girls charging her aggressively, although I think it had more to do with pecking order than anything. I brought her back inside, rebathed her, applied honey and pushed the prolapse in again. That seems to be very painful for her. Should it be? I don't want to cause further injury. I'm going to leave her in a darkened cage again except for eating and drinking breaks and hope she improves soon.

 

[TheBantamPrevails]

Quote:
If your hen has tissue sticking out still, do not put her with the flock. The other hens will notice and peck her. I've read the cannibalisation can happen really quickly, and being eaten from the inside out by your friends is not good.

Also, whoever said above about being really careful with hydrogen peroxide, I second that. Don't put it straight on any wound. You must dilute and frankly I think rinse with water after. If you doubt this, pour a bunch of hydrogen peroxide on a sensitive part of your body until it starts to burn and turn your skin to white ash.

 

[TheBantamPrevails]

Quote:
I just dealt with a very severe prolapse. My partridge cochin bantam could not lay the egg she needed to lay because it lacked a shell, so it got wrapped up in her tissue, which protruded out of her vent like a big egg-shaped blister. I don't know how long she was like this. She spooked and broke the egg membrane, which relieved the pressure. I ended up taking her to a vet, which was expensive. But the vet cleaned her up, put the prolapsed section back in, and put a single purse stitch in, like a drawstring. It was loose enough for her to pass poop and urates, at least for about 5 days when she need to pass a big, fibery wad of poop. (The vet also sent her home with heavy duty anti-biotics and pain meds.)

If I had to deal with that again without the vet, I would do as people have been doing--soaking gently in warm lightly salty water to clean and relax her, then using a very gentle and diluted wound cleaner. Then I would use rubber gloves because they are smooth and cover my sharp finger nail. And I would get some K-Y jelly from the drug store (in the condom aisle if you don't know what K-Y is ;p ) and then use my pinky to gently put it back in.

The Preparation H that people mention is suggested in the Chicken Health Book. It has pain relievers in it, and it also has medicine to help the swelling go down.

Without a purse stitch, it makes sense to me that you will have to keep doing this until she gets her tone back in her vent. This area is all stretched out and needs a rest from stretching. I am not sure, but I am guessing that as soon as you see it prolapsing again, you should put it back in. Possibly if it just happened, it is clean and you can just use the K-Y and skip the other steps so as not to aggravate the tissues more.

 

[girlsomine]

Thanks for the info! I greatly appreciate it. I think I'm pretty much already doing everything correctly. She doesn't have the blood red tissue showing any more. That receded the first night. The entire vent area is still protruding though. I did use a glove and had cut my nail completely off to try to make pushing it back in as comfortable as possible. I had lubricated with honey for its antiseptic qualities. I read in another post not to use PrepH, but I may have to try it. I also haven't used peroxide, and won't after reading that it will damage the tissue.

The only positive to all of this is that in between baths and poking she still seems to have high spirits and doesn't seem to be too mad at me

Thanks again for the great advice!

 

[Miss Lydia]

I am happy to hear she is better, sounds like your taking very good care of her. Keep us updated.