Please help, What is wrong with my hen??

[Dev]

I have a black Cochen Hen that is 24 weeks old. I am not sure if she has started laying yet or not as I do have a RIR that is just now laying but I found four eggs yesterday and one this morning and the RIR was seen in the nesting box, not the black cochen. She is usually up on the roost all day because when she gets down my RIR rooster and black cochin rooster both go after her constantly to mate. So I usually will go out and get her down and put her over in the fenced in yard periodically so she can have some peace. This morning I went to see if the RIR had laid her egg yet and I noticed the black cochin hen was not eating as she normally does when I feed her from my hand. She was turned with her back facing me as I went into the run and I see what looked like a ball of red blood at her back end. I looked closer and seen it looked pretty bad. I brought her up on the porch and washed her back end as gently as possible to see what this was and all I can tell is that it appears to be a prolapse...like her vent is turned inside out. She acts like she is trying to push something out but I cannot find an opening and the two membrains that is bloody that is hanging out is very soft like an uterus or something. I know nothing about laying chickens.

Does anyone know what this is, or what the problem may be by looking the pictures below? What can I do for her? I have separated her into my silkies pen, they are outside all day so she has the pen to her self and they cannot get in unless I let them in.

Thanks for any advise...this looks serious as there is blood dripping from this but I cannot find a point of bleeding, it looks as if they whole of it hanging out is bleeding.

 

[speckledhen]

She's prolapsed. That looks pretty bad. I'd sit her in a warm bath to soak, then dry her off and apply hemmorrhoid ointment. If you can't push it back in, you may have to get a vet or put her down. Sorry you're dealing with this. Separate her into a dark place to slow down her laying cycle.

 

[Dev]

Thank you for your help. I tried pushing it back in but it is really swollen feeling. I pushed to see if it was hard as if an egg was in there but it isn't hard, just firm but soft enough to dent in. She acts really uncomfortable when I move it. I can't tell if there is a soft egg there or not...how could there be if it is prolapsed? Where would the egg or eggs be? I didn't have any prep-h so I put honey as I read has been done in some other cases here. I don't have a crate or anything to keep her in so I will have to shut her up in the silkies coup for a darker area. The silkies will have to stay in the enclosed run when I put them up this evening. They are let out in the yard to free range everyday. I again tried to get her to eat but taking out some rice/oats which she normally loves but should wouldn't touch it. She not acting sick other than not eating. She just stands and I can see the prolapse moving slightly in and out like she is trying to push something out. There is no vet here that will look at her, and especially on Sunday.

 

[Judy]

You need to do what speckledhen says. I assure you, she has plenty of experience and knows what she is talking about. If you don't have something like a dog crate or pet carrier to put her in after her bath, you need to come up with, borrow, invent, or whatever, something. A closet is probably too dark unless you have a way to let a little light in. She probably needs about a 30 minute soaking, perhaps repeated twice a day or so til the prolapse goes back in, if it does.

If you don't have any hemorrhoid ointment, I would go with something else greasy to help stuff slide back, Like Vaseline, Neosporin, anything with a petroleum jelly base. Hemmorhoid ointment is good because it shrinks tissues.

Best of luck.

 

[Dev]

Ok, I am doing what was speckledhen said but I don't have Prep-H so I searched on here and found that many use honey, that is why I went with honey because it shrinks the tissue and not vaseline because I read also here that vaseline could cause it not to stay in if the prolapse went back in.

The coup where she is at is small due to it being the silkies and I darkened it but not dark. My husband just cleaned it yesterday, so it is clean and she is sitting on top of the nesting boxes (which are very low to the ground for the silkies) on some soft clothing I placed there for her. she has water beside her and feed with rice.

Where can I get oyster shells to put out? Do they come crushed or do I crush them? I thought the man sand in their runs and the crushed powdery rock they forage in a outside of their run and that they scratch in would have been ok as a calcium source but maybe not.

 

[Judy]

You can but a bag of crushed oyster shell at TSC for about $6, ready to serve. A bag lasts me 2 or 3 years; I have 17 birds but have had 50 or so and still it lasts this long.


What the man said might apply to grit, for grinding food, depending on the size of the available hard stuff (sand is usually too small) but not calcium. If I had a granite rock driveway with lots of little pieces of stone that they had access to, I would probably not buy grit, but I would still buy oyster shell.

A feed store employee strikes again. Informed ones do exist, of course, but.... That's one big reason why BYC is so great.

I buy about the same amount of grit as oyster shell. I would not feel right about not providing them, and they to eat some.

 

[Judy]

Not all her insides are prolapsed. She was probably trying to push out an egg when it happened, and that is probably what you are seeing with the in and out movements or efforts. You can think of the egg laying apparatus as a long tube with a bunch of being-formed eggs along the way, put simply. What's hanging out is just then end of the "tube." You could probably hunt around and find a good diagram; I know they exist somewhere on the web.

Sounds like the silkies coop will be OK for her. Just someplace quiet and somewhat darkened. Drinking is more important than eating right now. Don't drop liquids directly in her mouth. If you feel you must encourage her, drop drops along the side of the beak and let her decide to take them into her mouth or not.

I guess I've read what you said about honey, too. I've never been through this, just done a lot of reading.

BTW, any source of calcium will do in a pinch, like people foods, in moderation.

Best of luck.

 

[Dev]

Thank you ddawn, that description really helps a lot. The right side (right being the side we are looking at facing the picture) has shrunk some, the left side looks like it has too but it is still pretty round looking whereas the right side isn't, it seems to look like a balloon that is slowly going down. I felt of it and it is still really slick feeling, not drying out...the honey seems to be keeping it pretty slick. But the left side has a real firm feeling, I can't tell if that is an egg or if it is just the feel of the swelling. if there is an egg caught in there, will it finally come out by itself or do I need to do something to help this along? I see a small opening now on the right side where her poop is coming of and there seems to be some yellowish stringy stuff oozing out on the left side but I haven't found from where yet. I soaked her butt in warm water but after about 5 minutes she started fighting me and I was afraid she was going to herself so I let her out and applied more honey. I really don't know what else to do, especially if there is an egg in there. She also took a dropper full of water along her beak. She drank it in herself after I put it on the side of her beak but she is still not eating.

 

[Enchanted Sunrise Farms]

Here is what my vet told me when my hen prolapsed. Soak her bottom in warm water with sugar and epsom salts in it. Let is soak for at least 10 minutes at a time. When you take her out, use KY Jelly (preferable over vasoline) and try to gently push the prolapse back inside. You can soak her bottom several times a day. You can also mix up sugar water and keep it in the fridge. Drizzle that over the prolapse and, from my experience, you will see it pull back inwards.

Ideally, you want to keep her inside in a crate, with clean bedding, in the dark, to prevent her from trying to lay again. My concern with having her out in a coop is getting her prolapse dirty or injured. You don't want that.

If after several days of this treatment the prolapse does not stay inside, a vet can put a stitch in there to hold it in place. You have to be diligent with the baths, the ky jelly, the sugar water drizzles. It is time consuming but may save her life.

 

[Dev]

Thanks Colleen. What would be the ratio of the sugar water, how much sugar to how much water in soaking water and to drizzle? It won't hurt her to push this back in? When I gently pressed previously just to see if I could feel an egg it feels either very swollen or there is an egg...but I do not feel anything hard. I also noticed when I press on the the left side there is yucky yellowish stuff that oozes out of a little tiny small opening. I don't have any ky jelly, only vaseline.