My chicken has a prolapsed vent

[Miuven]

I only have one chicken. (It may sound lonely but she seems to like it.) She lives in the backyard and is free to dig around. My mom was always against getting pets but she finally let me keep a chicken because she use to be a farmer and knows how to take care of it. Now my mom is in China working. I don't want to ask her about this since she's very busy.

My chicken has had a prolapsed vent for about a day now and I'm really scared she'll lay an egg. If that happens, I don't know what to do. I tried pushing the vent back in with the suggested honey and prep H like the interwebs said, but it keeps coming back out after a few hours. I took her to local vets but none of them knew about chickens and turned me away. Some of them even suggested killing her. Of course, I can't do that since I live in a city and this will probably only add to the Chinese stereotypes that my neighbors have of us. I think my chicken in pain judging from her constant blinking and contracting butt muscles. I need help. I don't want my only pet to die. Please tell me what to do.

 

[CMV]

Put her in a cage in a dark room of your house. She is going to need to stop trying to lay an egg, so keeping her in a dark room should help to break the cycle. Other than that...I've got nothing more to offer than what you are already doing. Keep applying honey in hopes that it will shrink down enough to resolve itself. I know some folks have used trusses to help keep the prolapse in, but I have never done it, so I can't offer much advice on that.

I hope this thing resolves itself soon. A vet can apply a purse stitch to fix this, but if you can't find a vet then...

Sorry I can't be more help.

 

[Karhog]

When you gently push the prolapse back try holding in place for a few minutes- you are doing the right thing with the honey and prep H but as has already been mentioned she may need a stitch. The only other useful thing I may be able to add other than what has already been mentioned is to try and feed corn only for a couple of days as this can stop them laying- Make sure she has plenty of water though- Good Luck!

 

[stcroixusvi]

Our hen prolapsed twice and each time we were never able to push it back in - it had to go in on it's own (the excess skin, etc. actually fell off). As the previous poster suggested, put her in a dark room - if you have an animal crate, use it. Ours took a week to recover. this is what we did:

Every day, 2x a day, we squirted the area with warm water to wash away the poop. Damp dry with clean cloth.
Apply prep H and neosporin
Feed and water her - she never lost her appetite
We gradually increased her access to light from a couple of hours to full day after she recovered.

She may not have access to calcium - make sure you give her oyster shells and grit while she is sick and recovering.

Good luck!

 

[terryg]

I had a pullet that prolapsed and was able to save her. It sounds like you've started to treat this early which is good - the longer it goes the more swollen it is and the harder to fix. Make sure you clean up the area before putting it back in. Also, I'd get general avian antibiotics at the feed store - if it does go back in you're likely to have an infection. The advice of keeping her quiet and in a dark crate is good. Do have her in the light about 6 hours so she'll drink.

Some prolapses are worse than others. You might not be able to save her, but good for you to try.

If you want to read what I did, go here: http://www.hencam.com/henblog/2007/07/folk-medicine-cure/ It's an old blogpost of mine - but 5 years down the line that little hen is still in my flock! She also continued to lay, without problems for several years after the prolapse.

 

[Miuven]

Thank you. I followed your instructions for a week and my chicken got better. My chicken's prolapsed vent fell off today while I was giving her her daily *** bath. The vent shriveled over the past week and it fell off today without any pain to the chicken. Not sure if that was the vent itself or just a scab surrounding it, but the vent fell off without causing any bleeding. So, I assume that it's a good thing. But I'll keep giving her her daily treatments for a while longer just in case.

 

[MagicMarcy66]

It sounds like you did an excellent job of taking care of your little hen. She is lucky to have you. I hope she continues to improve and makes a full recovery. This forum has been a huge help to me in emergency's and we are lucky to have one another to get advice from.

MM66

 

[stcroixusvi]

Great news! We have had no additional problems and now get an egg a day from Allison! Hopefully you are on the same path.

 

[ddelights]

Terry,

Thank you so much for your post. I have a one year old white leghorn that has a prolapsed cloaca. I tried washing the area and pushing it back in. It kept coming out and my chicken kept pushing as if trying to lay an egg. So I have tried your suggestion and hopefully it will work. I cleaned the area with warm water, turned her upside down to calm her, (although she's been incredibly cooperative), applied Preparation-H to the swollen cloaca, poured honey from a squeeze bottle in the hole, inserted my finger covered with honey and held for a few minutes. I then put my hand firmly on her cloaca, turned her over and gently put her into a cat carrier. I gave her water and covered the carrier with a towel and shut the shed door so it would stay dark.

My question is, should I feed her during this period, and if so I have read other posts that say only feed her corn. Also, how long should I keep her in this state?

Thank you,
Dawnn

 

[rangerdog]

Hello everybody I had a chicken that ended up passing on from a prolapsed vent we try to save her for about two weeks nothing worked now we have another hand that we think well not think are pretty sure is starting to prolapse. Is there anything we can do to prevent it before it happens?