Hen with hemorrhoid?

[rgvchick]

A couple days ago, Dottie (my Wyandotte) had the runs; so I watched her and yesterday she was back to being fine. Early this morning, she was on her nestbox (trying to lay an egg I thought) so I left her alone. I just went out to check her and she is back to having loose poop PLUS she has what looks like a hemorrhoid (picture attached). Will this take care of itself or...

What can I do to help her? Btw, she didn't produce the egg I thought she was laying.

 

[rgvchick]

Hey, folks, I just read some threads that might help. Looks like a prolapse. I will separate her from the flock and try the honey. Any other suggestions are welcome

 

[Eggcessive]

Yes it does look like a prolapsed cloaca. Egg binding can also occur with a prolapse, but not always. So it would be good to check for that. Give her a human Tums or calcium tablet crushed into a treat to eat. Give her bottom a good soak in soapy water to clean off any poop. Honey or preparation H cream are good to apply to help shrink the red tissue. Then keep the red tissue moist at all times, and try to push it back inside. You may need to keep repeating that and hold for a few minutes while holding her. Here are some good links about that:
http://www.the-chicken-chick.com/2012/04/prolapse-vent-causes-treatment-graphic.html
https://www.beautyofbirds.com/Prolapse.htm

 

[rgvchick]

Thanks for the quick response and the good info, Eggcessive.

 

[rgvchick]

Success..so far!! Dottie's prolapsed cloaca is back inside. Yesterday, I cleaned her up as much as I could, applied honey, and pushed her cloaca back inside. A couple hours later, the cloaca was back out, but I didn't push it back inside because I found a thread where someone reported that when the cloaca popped back out, so did the hen's intestines...and I certainly did not want to witness that on Dottie. Today when I took her out to do some more cleaning and apply more honey, she looked SO much better! Cloaca was inside, the vent still looked a little swollen, so I applied more honey and I also used a little vaseline. She is still isolated and I will keep her there a little longer. My question is...how much longer?

 

[rgvchick]

I forgot to add..she even laid an egg!

 

[Eggcessive]

You might want her to stop laying eggs for awhile to help her vent heal. That can be done in a few days by placing her in a dark room or covered cage for 16 hours a day, and then letting her out to eat and drink for the other 8 hours a day in daylight. Reducing her feed and protein in the diet may also help. Encourage water thiuh. If you can't do this, then I would let her back with her flock as soon as her vent looks normal. You could also place her in a crate with food and water inside the coop with the others.

 

[rgvchick]

Eggcessive, thank you so much for the valuable info you shared in such a quick manner. I really think Dottie recovered as soon as she did because I was able to act right away. Dottie is free-range to the max--no coop for her, she even sleeps up in the trees. Needless to say, it took me a while to catch her. I will have to release her to the flock once her vent looks normal--which it already does. but I'm leaving her locked up over night.

Again, thank you!!

 

[Eggcessive]

You are welcome, and I hope she does well.

 

[rgvchick]

UPDATE on Dottie--just an FYI

Dottie had a relapse a a couple days after my last post. I separated her from the flock again and this time her "treatment" lasted much longer before I saw results. I thought I'd share my experience to hopefully help others who may be "newcomers" and to show there is so much support here at BC.

I treated Dottie for 8 days before I saw results.I would check her 3 times a day and each time, her cloaca was out again. Here is the course of her treatment:

Day 1: Soaked in warm water and clean the area in the morning followed by application of honey and gently pushing the cloaca back in. Afternoon and evening: Cleaned the area with water, applied honey and pushed in the cloaca
Day 2-3: same as Day 1
Day 4-6: Soaked in warm water and cleaned the area in the morning followed by application of a mixture of honey, Preparation H and vaseline; then, pushed in her cloaca (this time I inserted my finger to try to push the cloaca in further) and sprayed the outer area with Vetericyn. Afternoon and evening: Cleaned the area with water, applied honey/Preparation H mixed with vaseline and pushed in the cloaca and sprayed outer area with Vetericyn.
Day 7-8: Same as Days 4-6, but these days I added approx. 2 oz. of Hydrogen Peroxide and a squirt of Dawn to the (soaking) water.

In the evening of Day 8, I noticed that Dottie's behind was soaked with what I thought was mud, but in examining her and the cage I had her in, I couldn't see where she could have gotten that much mud..so I am thinking that she was soaking with poop? The days before she (her feathers and bottom) would be dirty but the "poop" on her feathers was white, and this was a different colored matter. Could it be that Dottie had a severe case of constipation or maybe she ate something that severely upset her stomach?? I never saw any signs of constipation. She ate and acted normally...aside from the prolapsed cloaca, Dottie seemed quite healthy. Anyway, I cleaned her up as much as I could, applied Preparation H and vaseline, then sprayed the area with Vetericyn.

On the morning of Day 9, Dottie's cloaca was still in!! I was so excited! But I still soaked her in the water with Hydrogen Peroxide and Dawn; and, I sprayed the area with Vetericyn and applied the mixture of honey, Preparation H and vaseline (only to the outer area). Dottie kept her cloaca in for the rest of the day and today she still has her cloaca in.

I am wondering if adding the Hydrogen Peroxide and Dawn to the soaking water gave Dottie that extra help to keep her cloaca in. Prior to adding those to the water, I had seen no change whatsoever...I had already prepared myself to be "treating" her for the rest of her life, but thank God I won't have to!!

I hope this helps anyone who doesn't have much experience with chickens (like me LOL). I just wanted to share to show that persistence does pay off. I also wanted to say that I truly appreciate this site and the support of those who responded. It really helped to know that I was not alone.

Any thoughts/comments on how I treated Dottie and the results I got will be appreciated