hen with prolapse/whole black oil seeds etc coming out

[Keepin A Breast]

I have a ten year old hen that has had some digestive issues her whole life. Dirty butt, occasional sour crop etc. Just to head you all off at the pass, no other chickens are sick, they get lay mash/black oil sunflower seeds/ game bird mix, whatever else they can catch, plus free choice grit which I keep out, and oyster shell. They get fresh water every day. Huge coop, huge run.

Came home this morning to find hen with smallish prolapse (size of a rainier cherry), which had obviously been pecked because she was bloody. Gave her a warm water bath, cleaned her up, trimmed her feathers, cleaned it with diluted hydrogen peroxide, slathered it with prep-h and antibiotic ointment, tried to put it back in but just keeps coming out. She did not pass, nor could we feel an egg. There has been a white liquid leaking out, small amount of blood. She is fluffed out and won't eat or drink. Now we left (to get a red lamp at the store, which of course we forgot and bought a bunch of other stuff) and came home again. Now she is passing whole black oil sunflower seeds. I have never seen anything like it. That sounds like some kind of crop issue?? She was fine yesterday!! IMHO we should cull her, but the better half wants to give her a chance. Any opinions would be appreciated.

I am thinking another warm bath and some more ointment, try to get her parts back inside?
Thanks for your help!

 

[newfoundland]

I only wish i could help you. It does seem that her food was undigested so maybe there are two things going on here, a prolapse and a crop issue, or has the crop caused the other. Have you tried searching for prolapse advice, I'm sure you probably have. I hope you can resolve this, ten years is a good age and I wish her well.

 

[CMV]

I am thinking she may have a digestive issue. The white discharge- how does it smell? (yeah, disgusting, I know, but relevant). I am guessing she may have a systemic yeast infection. That would cause digestive issues, can lead to bleeding, and can be seen as white discharge coming from the vent. It is similar to what you see when you get vent gleet, but it is systemic, so treatment is more complicated.

 

[Lacy Blues]

Whole sunflower seeds are very high fiber and chickens don't do well with fiber. I know that will probably fly in the face of a lot of people here but its still the truth.

I had a hen who prolapsed once and didn't want to eat. It took several days for me to get her insides to stay in and she dripped white fluids as well. Had a definite smell but it wasn't anywhere near as bad as vent gleet. Not contradicting CMV at all, I'm only saying the smell wasn't nearly as bad as gleet. I don't remember exactly what I did to get her through it. I always use yogurt as a preventative as well as a treatment so I'm sure that was in there. I think I probably added unsweetened applesauce and some cooked rice along with hard boiled egg yolks... anything to get her to eat. She was only maybe two at the time. I know she was in the house for a long time, something like a couple of weeks.

But a 10 year old hen, if you don't want to mess with her for that long, then you may need to make the hard choice. Not saying some chemical treatment won't get it done faster, I just choose to go the natural route as much as I possibly can.

 

[Keepin A Breast]

After researching vent gleet, I am certain she has had it off and on. I have treated her with molasses before for a different issue, and it cleared up so I will have to look into that. Perhaps it helped the gleet? She was given to us and has always had it off and on.

Today the prolapse is back in, but her vent is sort of gaping like a hole. She is still acting like she wants to pass something, but we can't feel an egg so if that is what caused the whole problem it isn't there now. We didn't find any parts of egg so don't believe she has something stuck, if she does we can't see/feel it. She is starting to make a nornal looking poo but is still leaking. She is bright eyed and has eaten some blueberries, some egg mixed with yogurt and some greens. I like the rice and applesauce idea, will see if she will eat some of that. We bathed her butt again to see if she could pass anything, dried her off, sprayed the vent with some dilute hydrogen peroxide, applied more prep h.

My partner and I discussed it and we believe that one of the ameracauna eggs we collected the other day had quite a bit of blood on it. Perhaps it was difficult for her to lay and cause some problem inside?? The white stuff coming out doesn't smell any worse than normal poo, so I am thinking it is urates, not gleet, not to say she doesn't have some form of gleet because the pics I have seen look similar to her gross butt feathers.

I am thinking the main battle now will be keeping infection at bay due to the fact that she has some parts back inside that were obviously pecked. What are you guys thinking would be a good general antibiotic, or should I wait to see if it is something she can overcome herself? I don't really like using antibiotics prophylactically.
Thanks so much!!!!