My poor Orpie Girl...

[PineBurrowPeeps]

1 year old BO hen just laid her daily egg and it was all streaked in blood. I picked her up to examine her vent area and there was a couple of droplets of blood from her vent, should I be worried? It was a good sized egg and she pushed long and hard to get it out.

 

[LynneP]

It may help to add a little oil to her diet for a while and to offer about 1 Tbsp of apple cider vinegar in her water.

The oil could be offered in bread or rice (just a little) and teh ACV allows hens to metabolize calcium more smoothly...please let us know how she is doing over the next few days...

 

[PineBurrowPeeps]

Will do.

 

[LynneP]

I was speaking today with a very experienced poultryman who keeps about 100 layers and has for decades- basically he wanted me to share this with you-

When the hen is straining and/or bleeding she uses up more than the calcium available in her cells, and it is possible if she was a big-egg layer that her calcium requirements are higher than most other hens. Blood can be a forerunner to an imminent prolapse.

Even if the layer feed is enriched with oyster shell it doesn't hurt to supplement with more calcium in the form of ground shells. The other thing I was told, and this by 'someone else who knows' is that if you have to treat a hen for prolapse with Prep-H that you should sprinkle sugar on the exposed portion of the inner vent as you apply the ointment. Apparently it helps the Prep-H to be absorbed by her cells.

So it looks like ACV in the water for calcium regulation, added calcium for your girl and some prep-H on hand, the kind without the added painkiller (benzocaine?) which is lethal for chickens.

I hope your girl is doing well and that this information is of some assistance in preventing trouble! You seem to love her very much.