Need quick answer please! PROLAPSE

[chicknmania]

WE have a two year old mixed breed hen who's prolapsed. It's Friday. We found her that way this morning. We washed her off and it looks pretty bad, we soaked her in the Epsom salts bath. Should we try the hemorhoid cream and try to put it back in? And if so what KEEPS it in? Vet has told me I can drop her off to be euthanized today but they don't have any thing tomorrow, so if putting it back doesnt work then she would suffer all weekend. Or should I just go ahead and have her put down? She's very wild and hard to handle. I have a friend who did steps a and b with the prolapse, but then further efforts were not successful, the hen suffered for a week and died. Help please! Is trying to put it back in worth it, or not? I don't have a lot of help normally, so any future efforts I would probably have to work with her by myself.

 

[BantamLover21]

The soaking was a good idea. Now that she is soaked, I would try hemorhoid cream (preparation h, etc.), or use honey, witch hazel, or sugar water. All of those things will ease the irritation to the tissue, and reduce the swelling so that it hopefully recedes back into the body. The muscles of the body ordinarily keep all of the tissues where they are supposed to be. Sometimes, though, the tissues get pushed outside the body, where they get irritated and swell up. Those swollen tissues rarely get taken back into the body, since they are simply too large/swollen.

I've only had a prolapsed hen once (knock on wood). It lasted for about three days. I soaked her 1-2 times a day in nice hot water, and then applied some honey and witch hazel. I never used preparation h. It seemed like I was making no progress, but then on the third morning, I soaked her for an extra long amount of time. The warm water soak must have finally relaxed the tissues, and the entire prolapse went back in. Then after, the hen was fine. She now is a good layer of large, normal eggs.

Good luck with your hen!

 

[chicknmania]

The soaking was a good idea. Now that she is soaked, I would try hemorhoid cream (preparation h, etc.), or use honey, witch hazel, or sugar water. All of those things will ease the irritation to the tissue, and reduce the swelling so that it hopefully recedes back into the body. The muscles of the body ordinarily keep all of the tissues where they are supposed to be. Sometimes, though, the tissues get pushed outside the body, where they get irritated and swell up. Those swollen tissues rarely get taken back into the body, since they are simply too large/swollen.

I've only had a prolapsed hen once (knock on wood). It lasted for about three days. I soaked her 1-2 times a day in nice hot water, and then applied some honey and witch hazel. I never used preparation h. It seemed like I was making no progress, but then on the third morning, I soaked her for an extra long amount of time. The warm water soak must have finally relaxed the tissues, and the entire prolapse went back in. Then after, the hen was fine. She now is a good layer of large, normal eggs.

Good luck with your hen!

Great, thanks! WE have preparation h but I would rather try the honey and witch hazel, i'll get some later. exotic vet's office said to certainly try to save her, that we don't have anything to lose by not trying. So we will do you think keeping her on soft food would help?

 

[BantamLover21]

I don't think keeping her on soft food will do much, but higher calcium foods will help strengthen her oviduct muscles and possibly pull the prolapse back in. So feed her layer feed, along with crushed egg shell or oyster shell. If possible, keep her in a darkened room, too. The darkness will help stop her from laying eggs, which would only make the prolapse worse.

 

[chicknmania]

Thank you. She's in a dark "hospital" pen that's enclosed, and small so she can't move around much.
We soaked her some more, applied the PH, and got the prolapse back in, no problem. Only thing is it had
whitish stuff on one side that I could just not get off, looked like urates or poop. Not an area where you can really use a
scrubbrush, you know? So should she be on antibiotic, in case of infection?

 

[chicknmania]

btw, in one of James Herriott's books ("All Things Bright & Beautiful" or one of the sequels) in one story his partner used a 5 lb bag of sugar on a cow's uterus to shrink it, because the cow had prolapsed. He sprinkled the sugar all over, and the uterus shrank right up. Then he used a wine bottle or some long necked glass bottle, put a little warm water in it, inserted it in the uterus, and twisted. Apparently this helped to "re-seat" it. I remember that story vividly.

 

[Pinkaboo]

Prolapse
Symptoms
Internal tissue protruding from hens vent
Blood
Faeces dripping from vent
Messy vent and feathers at back end
Quiet hen
Reasons
Large egg passed
Strained to hard
Straining to push out a soft egg
Straining to push out a malformed egg
Occasionally a egg stuck
Treatment
Make sure you have isolated hen from others, chickens will pull at prolapse and cause serious damage or death.
Massage firstly from the back of legs up towards vent, also massage from behind vent, towards vent. This is to check there isn't an egg stuck.
Secondly, place hen between legs and push the prolapse back in. Hold vent shut for about 5 minutes to stop it coming out again.
Thirdly, apply hemroid cream just inside vent and around entrance to vent. This works very well numbing area and shrinking the flared tissue.
Keep hen isolated for a day or two and feed only mixed corn to slow laying.
If the prolapse stays in, she'll need a course of antibiotics to stop any infection brewing.
Baytril or amoxicillin such as Noroclav 250 mg (amoxicillin for dogs, tablet broken in quarters)
If the prolapse re-occurs continuously, continue to push back in regularly through the day, and evening time use the below treatment.
You will need
- Flexiguard bandage (equestrian product), or any bandage that sticks to itself and has elastic material.
- A dressing pad
- Hemorroid cream
The idea of the bandage is to stop the prolapse popping out, but allowing hen to poo still. This gives the tissue time to settle and the hemroid cream time to work.
BANDAGING
Have someone to help you.
Bandage firstly around the middle of hen, and under her wings.

Pop her prolapse in and add hemorroid cream to the dressing pad and place on hens vent keeping pressure on vent.

Bring bandage up and through her legs firmly to hold in prolapse. Continue this a few times to secure bandage.

The end result should look like this below.

Please keep your hen in a small safe container over night. They tend to bang around and lose their balance completely in the 'chicken nappy'. They hate them, and some screech about having them. Please leave them on over night, because the following day they will hopefully be completely cured of their prolapse.
Take bandage off as early as you can in morning because your hen may need to lay an egg. Its rare they prolapse again after but if they do continue process again, but only bandage at night.
If you feel unable to do the above, I will happily do it for you if you call and arrange a time.
Please do not leave any deep water dishes in with hen as they lose their balance and could drown. Its best they don't have one whilst wearing the nappy.

 

[BantamLover21]

Thank you. She's in a dark "hospital" pen that's enclosed, and small so she can't move around much.
We soaked her some more, applied the PH, and got the prolapse back in, no problem. Only thing is it had
whitish stuff on one side that I could just not get off, looked like urates or poop. Not an area where you can really use a
scrubbrush, you know? So should she be on antibiotic, in case of infection?

My prolapsed chicken had those same urates. No matter how much I soaked her, I couldn't get them off. When the prolapse went back in, so did the urate covered tissues. I didn't give her any antibiotics, but she never got an infection.

 

[casportpony]

@Pinkaboo , Noroclav is Amoxicllin and Clavulanic Acid. In the US it's sold for pets as Clavamox and for people it's Augmentin. I will look up the dose and post it later.

Baytril dose is no more than 20mg/kg per day.

-Kathy

 

[CarolinaSkies]

Great information posted already. I'll just add or reaffirm, based on our experience with a Mille Fleur bantam, to:
1). Keep her in the dark 24/7 for at least 2 weeks...longer if possible
2). Feed her low protein food such as millet bird seed mix...not BOSS. This is to discourage laying. I wouldn't use layer feed because you don't want to stimulate laying.
3). Squirt cream Prep H into booty each morning.
4). Add calcium to her diet.
5). Put her on an antibiotic

Our bantam came through it and now has hatched two broods. Good luck!