Help, my hen has a swollen, prolapsed vent!

[kmern]

Hi there! I just had a chicken with a prolapsed vent back in January. I also, have a vet that is an hour away. I put her in a pet carrier in the garage and kept it dark to make sure she did not lay any eggs. I cleaned up her vent and put vaseline on it too. I was told some people use honey. She kept popping out the innards and I kept putting them back for a few days, then I just cleaned them up and left them out since it didn't affect her pooping abilities. After a week, it popped back in. I fed her scrambled eggs and tuna in water. Sometimes I would add a little dried herbs into the mix too. I am not sure how your chicken is acting. Mine felt sluggish for a day or two and then acted normal while we waited for the innards to go back in. I hope this helps.

Hi there! I also have a chicken with a prolapsed vent x2 days. I have had to continuously put it back in. It stays in until she has another poop. I gave her calcium yesterday and she did have a fully formed egg. But vent fell out again after her poop. I have been spraying antiseptic on the area and polysporin. I have given her a few baths too. And put on preparation h. I have her in a dog carrier with a blanket over top for her to rest. She is still eating and drinking and pooping. Any other thoughts/ideas to keep the vent in?

 

[RuralChick83]

Hi there! I also have a chicken with a prolapsed vent x2 days. I have had to continuously put it back in. It stays in until she has another poop. I gave her calcium yesterday and she did have a fully formed egg. But vent fell out again after her poop. I have been spraying antiseptic on the area and polysporin. I have given her a few baths too. And put on preparation h. I have her in a dog carrier with a blanket over top for her to rest. She is still eating and drinking and pooping. Any other thoughts/ideas to keep the vent in?

No. Mine kept pooping it out too. That's when I stopped putting it back in and just kept it the area clean. Eventually she sucked it back in. It was a Thursday when she prolapsed and it took her until the following week Friday for it to go back in. If it didn't, I would've had to take her to the vet because it was getting to be too long of a time for it to still be out.

 

[kmern]

Oh ok that’s reassuring! And she hasn’t prolapsed since?

 

[RuralChick83]

No, her vent is still fine. She has not produced an egg yet, but I know sometimes that still might take a bit to heal. Right now, her poops in the morning are runny and yellow and I wonder if she is trying to lay an egg. I am on another forum to see what I can do about that. She has been perfectly fine otherwise, she just started having weird poops in the morning.
Another note: I don't know how big of a flock you have, but look into the best way to re-introduce her back to the flock. I had it easy since I have a small flock of 5 and she was the head chicken. I let my chickens have a day to roam free on my land, had her join them, she puffed out her chest once and that was it. I think it also helped that she was only gone for a week. The longer they are away the harder it is to re-introduce.

 

[kmern]

Thank you for the information! I really appreciate it. I only have 7 right now and she is the head hen as well. Hope it goes well if she makes it.

 

[LhickenChicken]

All right, well I guess this is resolved. After two baths, she is being carefully integrated back into the flock!!! And she lived up to her name yesterday. I managed to sneak some arnica into her by rolling up some meat scraps (she REALLLLY likes meat) and sticking a bit of arnica in there. I just kept her vent area wet and stuff and now got the guts back in. There was four hens in the incident and three had to be culled because their guts were getting pulled out through their vents. I decided I would save at least Mrs. Clean-egg, so here she is.
But on a more sad note: I don't think Mrs. Clean-egg will ever be pooping the same again. And she has been forgotten by her flock.

 

[divineangel94]

Hi there! I just had a chicken with a prolapsed vent back in January. I also, have a vet that is an hour away. I put her in a pet carrier in the garage and kept it dark to make sure she did not lay any eggs. I cleaned up her vent and put vaseline on it too. I was told some people use honey. She kept popping out the innards and I kept putting them back for a few days, then I just cleaned them up and left them out since it didn't affect her pooping abilities. After a week, it popped back in. I fed her scrambled eggs and tuna in water. Sometimes I would add a little dried herbs into the mix too. I am not sure how your chicken is acting. Mine felt sluggish for a day or two and then acted normal while we waited for the innards to go back in. I hope this helps.

I've been searching for the answers for my hen. My vet is also an hour away, and I take care of my mother so can't do much with a vet. Yesterday, I found her at bedtime hardly moving to the point I thought she was dying even though she was fine in the morning. So I think I caught it in time. She keeps pushing it back out so I decided I'd cleaning it every few hours and put ointment on. She is standing a lot now and having trouble pooping but a little liquid poo does come out. She won't eat and finally started to drink her water on her own. Any ideas on how to get her to eat? She ate a hot dog piece today and that's it so I'm worried.

 

[kmern]

I've been searching for the answers for my hen. My vet is also an hour away, and I take care of my mother so can't do much with a vet. Yesterday, I found her at bedtime hardly moving to the point I thought she was dying even though she was fine in the morning. So I think I caught it in time. She keeps pushing it back out so I decided I'd cleaning it every few hours and put ointment on. She is standing a lot now and having trouble pooping but a little liquid poo does come out. She won't eat and finally started to drink her water on her own. Any ideas on how to get her to eat? She ate a hot dog piece today and that's it so I'm worried.

I’m so sorry your hen is Ill. It’s awful seeing them that way.. I’m no expert with this stuff.. but when my hens have been sluggish to eat/drink when they are lethargic I’ve had to mix feed in water to soften it and use a dropper to put it inside her beak. Also doing the same with Gatorade or Nutridense mixed with water for fluids.
With the prolapse I kept giving my hen baths with epsom salts which helped her to relax and would push back in the vent and hold it there for a while so the muscles could contract. I also used preparation h.
Just keep in mind that the reason for the prolapse for my hen was due to coccidiosis, so I had to treat my whole immediately. The vet I spoke to on the phone said the prolapse was caused from the cocci causing digestive issues and the hen straining to poop which led to her pushing out the vent.
Hope she starts to improve!
Wishing you all the luck!!

 

[divineangel94]

I’m so sorry your hen is Ill. It’s awful seeing them that way.. I’m no expert with this stuff.. but when my hens have been sluggish to eat/drink when they are lethargic I’ve had to mix feed in water to soften it and use a dropper to put it inside her beak. Also doing the same with Gatorade or Nutridense mixed with water for fluids.
With the prolapse I kept giving my hen baths with epsom salts which helped her to relax and would push back in the vent and hold it there for a while so the muscles could contract. I also used preparation h.
Just keep in mind that the reason for the prolapse for my hen was due to coccidiosis, so I had to treat my whole immediately. The vet I spoke to on the phone said the prolapse was caused from the cocci causing digestive issues and the hen straining to poop which led to her pushing out the vent.
Hope she starts to improve!
Wishing you all the luck!!

Thank you. I have injured knees and she is not a fan of baths. So I do it a couple minutes each time until she starts scratching and flapping to get out. Then I put preparation H and try to push it in. I am worried about the darkness around the tip though, but the rest is pink. I tried to feed her again tonight but she just took a sip of water and put herself back in the cage.

 

[kmern]

Oh no.. are you sure she doesn’t have coccidiosis? My other chicken who had it at the same time as my hen was very lethargic and wouldn’t eat/drink so I had to use the dropper.
Then hen with the prolapse was eating/drinking throughout and was still quite active despite her vent protruding. I’m assuming because she was getting the medicine via water.