Needing some advice on some of our problems.

[jstinsmommy]

I have had a my hens since October of 2012, We have a huge coop in our back yard, huge yard for them to roam, and the get roaming time quite a bit every day. We clean the coop every weekend. I have 12 hens. Things have been great up until recently. We started having some problems recently. Started with one or more of them having a tapeworm. So I took the advice I got on here, and treated all of them. They seem to be better, and no longer see signs of the tapeworm. Then I had an issue with one of me hens that had something stuck in her crop. Again with great advice from BYC, that issue was resolved as well. Now I noticed today that I have a hen ( my blue laced Wyandotte ) with a prolapsed vent. So again I am looking to BYC for some more advice. Also I am just looking to see if it is normal to be having the issues that I am having. We keep everyone and the coop as clean as possible. Any thoughts.

 

[Judy]

Chickens get worms; it's just a fact of life. I worm mine once a year with Valbazen; many do so more often. A prolapse is actually fairly common, I've read.

What to do for it is to first separate then hen, to protect her from being pecked and injured by the others. Lubricate the vent gently with preparation H cream or ointment, or any of the hemorrhoidal creams and using a finger, gently push the vent back inside. The cream will then need to be applied twice a day till the vent is healed. Some people prefer honey for this. It may help to keep the hen in a dark place to discourage laying while the healing takes place. The hen will need to be watched in the future, in case of re-occurance. Rapid treatment is necessary not just to aid healing, but to prevent the other birds from picking the exposed tissue.

Here are some threads on prolapse:


https://www.backyardchickens.com/forum/viewtopic.php?id=32448
https://www.backyardchickens.com/forum/viewtopic.php?id=26390&p=1
https://www.backyardchickens.com/forum/viewtopic.php?id=20555