Help hen with prolapse and broken egg inside!

[linz44]

I was away on vacation and I just got home to one chicken with a buildup of poop over her vent. After soaking and cleaning her it's apparent she has had a prolapse. I've never had this happen so I'm googling and ended up taking a feel inside and I feel an egg shell with parts missing and broken off. I put my gloves and lubed finger and from what I can feel it feels like there is an egg but it's on the other side of whatever is protruding so I can't remove the egg shell or pieces of the shell. It feels like there is half an egg and the rest is gone. I don't know what to do but I have cleaned it entirely and have applied antibiotic ointment to the red angry looking vent which is lumped out pretty good and I have clipped the yucky feathers away from the vent. She's acting fine and looks great from the front. When I touched it she almost made a whine noise so I don't want to bother her again until I know what to do. Any help with this would be great I don't know what to do but it seems scary to push on that bulge when there is clearly an egg in there that has broken. She's currently caged alone now that I've cleaned her up. My neighbor was feeding them for a week and he didn't notice so it could be as old as a week. I really don't know. I also took a picture of it and that is from after I trimmed away feathers. I appreciate any help I could get. I don't want to loose my girl.

 

[Parront]

Sorry to see that your hen has this. Birds will act normal until they drop dead. This is an emergency, but a vet will charge you a lot so you have to decide how much this hen is worth to you. Dylan, My parrot, had an egg that was stuck but not broken. I took her in way before the point you are at now. The vet charged me $800.00. I was glad to pay to save my 22 year old african grey parrot. You may feel differently about your chicken. A broken egg inside is going to cause infection eventually, and she will die.

 

[Wickedchicken6]

@Wyorp Rock @casportpony @Eggcessive

The first thing you can do is give give her poultry vitamins/vitamins and electrolytes in her water. She needs calcium right away as well so you can dissolve a tums in her water as well. If you have poultry vitamin drench that you can give directly to her (I'm not familiar with what there is in your country) If you had cal/mag/phos for administering subcutaneous...I'd give that under the skin...but you probably don't have that. The calcium in the poultry vitamins and tums helps the muscles to correct and retain the prolapse.

Beyond that...I'm hoping someone else can chime in. I'm way too familiar with prolapsing in sheep and cattle...but I'm not certain if it's dealt with the same for a chicken.

 

[Wickedchicken6]

Is the hen discharging any liquid? Is she foul smelling?

 

[Parront]

The vet gave me liquid calcium drops to give my hen after this problem. Calcium shortage causes the problem, but might not fix it. A bad smell would indicate infection. If you could get all the shell fragments out, and isolate her, it might help. Other hens would peck the red prolapse. The vet had a fantastic incubator. It was like a fish tank or an egg hatcher! She said my parrot was dehydrated when I took her in, and I had been feeding her Gatorade with an eyedropper all night. I could not have saved Dylan, the vet put her on an IV, and 2 days later she had to be put under and the egg manually removed. The vet is on Facebook: AZ exotic animal hospital. Her name is Dr. Lamb.

 

[Parront]

I hope your hen makes it.

 

[rebrascora]

Can you get a closer shot of the "prolapse".... it almost looks too low down to be her vent. There was someone else posted recently whose chicken had fly strike and they had opened up a hole into the abdominal cavity below the vent and the bowel was ballooning out through the hole....just want to be sure it is not something similar.

The most important thing first and foremost is to keep it clean and moist. If that tissue dries up it will die and most likely, so will the hen. Preparation H or honey will keep it moist and help to reduce the swelling...apply liberally after bathing. It may also be beneficial to keep her in the dark most of the day as this can help to stop ovulation and you don't really want any more eggs needing to come out when things are in that state! As the others have said, calcium may help. A crushed human calcium supplement tablet or Tums sprinkled over some scrambled egg should get it into her if she is eating.
I would agree that there is a serious (life threatening) risk, so if you have the funds, a visit to the vest would be best, but I appreciate that not everyone (myself included) can afford that. If you can reduce the inflammation with Prep H (haemorrhoid cream) then it might be possible to extract the broken shell and perhaps then irrigate with Epsom salts solution and reapply Prep H. Ultimately, if that is a prolapse then it needs to go back in but I can understand you not wanting to push it when there is a broken shell behind it.

Good luck

Barbara

 

[Parront]

I could not get my picky pet parrot to eat tums. She also regurgitated her feed, I know because I keep her in a cage with paper on the bottom, unlike my chickens. I graduated to parrots from chickens in the 90's, but want some chickens again, so am on this site.

 

[Parront]

The reason I knew it was an emergency with my African Grey parrot was the experience of my chickens which died of this exact problem. Chickens are bred to lay lots of eggs, and often do not get enough calcium in their feed. I give Oyster shells to my parrot, still this problem! Seeds & corn does not have enough calcium for the hens.

 

[Eggcessive]

Rebascora has made a good point about the "prolapse" seeming a bit low, like it could be flystrike under the vent. Can you have another look to see if the vent is up higher? If that is the vent, and is a prolapse, apply honey or hemorrhoid cream to help reduce swelling, then push the prolapse back inside if possible. Then try to remove any egg shell and any egg material.

If this is flystrike or maggot infestation of a wound, which can be common in summertime when flies swarm around droppings, I would start soaking her bum in warm Epsom salts or soapy water, and try to remove the maggots. Repeat the bath as necessary, then apply some plain Neosporin ointment. It can take a day or two to get all of the maggots out. Flystrike can be deadly. If this has happened days ago, she may have infection and be weak. A vet may help with antibiotics. She needs to eat and drink well, and chopped egg, tuna, or liver can add protein and vitamins. Push the fluids.