Possible Prolapsed Vent- Please Help!

[Chel0ftheSea]

Hello, I am a really new chicken keeper! I only got my little flock of 7 bantams this February. They are all very young hens who just started laying right before/right after I got them.

My little Barbu d'Anvers has been laying eggs that had blood on the shells. I read that this can happen for the first few eggs that a hen lays, so I was keeping an eye on her and hoping that the bloody shells would end soon. Today I saw bright red blood drops in the droppings tray along with a few bloody white/grey feathers. I noticed that she was hanging out in the roosting area, and that the feathers on her rear end had blood on them. She came running out to the feeder with the others when I opened the run door to feed them, and one of my larger hens pecked her right in the vent!

So I immediately went and got out the old dog kennel and set it up for her so I could remove her from the flock so that the pecking didn't continue.

She eats and drinks water, and is standing and moving around fine when motivated. But she does seem to hunch a bit and she wanted to remain in the coop/nesting area until there was fresh food to be had.

I removed the food from her kennel because I read that if it is a prolapse that she should be given a break from laying if possible, so that meant no food and little light. I of course left fresh water in the kennel for her, along with wood chips for the floor, and a little cardboard box with hay for a nesting box. She is inside our little mother-in-law suite building, which isn't "cold" right now, but it is only heated by a wood stove when in use. Should I turn the wood stove on for her?

I am attaching a picture of her posture and a picture of her bloody vent. Can anyone tell me if this is a prolapsed vent or not?

And if it is... how bad is it? Is it something I can treat at home? I have a little spray bottle of Vetericyn.

Thank you for any advice!

 

[Eggcessive]

It is hard to tell if that is a prolapse, but looks more like vent pecking. I would clean her up and try another picture. If it is a prolapse and it attracted pecking, then keep it clean and apply some Neosporin or vaseline, hydrocortisone cream, or oil. Keep her separated until she heals. Has she been with the bigger hen long? Here is some reading about prolapses with pictures:
https://the-chicken-chick.com/prolapse-vent-causes-treatment-graphic/

 

[Chel0ftheSea]

It is hard to tell if that is a prolapse, but looks more like vent pecking. I would clean her up and try another picture. If it is a prolapse and it attracted pecking, then keep it clean and apply some Neosporin or vaseline, hydrocortisone cream, or oil. Keep her separated until she heals. Has she been with the bigger hen long? Here is some reading about prolapses with pictures:
https://the-chicken-chick.com/prolapse-vent-causes-treatment-graphic/

Thank you for your knowledge!

I got all 7 of my bantams on the same day from the same breeder, and they were housed together there- so they have always been together. The my two bigger hens are a bantam sized Rhode Island Red and a bantam sized Plymouth Rock. I have two Barbu d'Anvers, and three tiny Rosecomb Bantams. This is the first incident I have witnessed. I saw the Rhode Island Red peck her right in the vent, and I also noticed what looked like dried blood on the beak of my Plymouth Rock.

It's getting late for tonight, and I don't want her to get a chill, so I am going to try bathing her tomorrow when it is warmer.

After the bath I will try and get a better clean photo.

I'm hoping she is going to be okay for tonight separated from the flock. I covered the dog kennel with some blankets and I am turning the wood stove on for a couple hours so that it will heat up the mother-in-law suite.

 

[Chel0ftheSea]

It is hard to tell if that is a prolapse, but looks more like vent pecking. I would clean her up and try another picture. If it is a prolapse and it attracted pecking, then keep it clean and apply some Neosporin or vaseline, hydrocortisone cream, or oil. Keep her separated until she heals. Has she been with the bigger hen long? Here is some reading about prolapses with pictures:
https://the-chicken-chick.com/prolapse-vent-causes-treatment-graphic/

For my first time giving a chicken a bath I think it went pretty well! She did flap her wings at one point and splash dirty chicken water in my face, I should have worn eye protection! Well now I know. Hopefully I don't get pink eye or something!

When I checked on her this morning she had made perfectly normally looking chicken poops with no blood. After giving her the bath and getting all the blood off I could see that she has been pecked pretty bad, missing a lot of but feathers and is scabby. But I don't think she is prolapsed- What do you think?

(Pictures are post bath when she was still wet.)

She is drying by the wood stove now back in the dog kennel. She had another perfectly normal chicken poop with no blood after the bath so I felt it would be safe to let her eat some of her layer crumble again.

After her bath I also sprayed her vent with Vetericyn. And I am going to continue to spray her 2-3 times a day.

I have also included photos of the eggs she has laid most recently (Saturday & Thursday) which both had blood on them- which I am beginning to think is the likely cause of the vent pecking. She laid that last egg on Saturday and I noticed the blood in the droppings tray on Sunday morning and bloody feathers in the run and droppings tray. I separated her from the flock Sunday afternoon after witnessing the vent pecking.

How long should I keep her separated from the flock?

Thank you for your advice!

 

[Chel0ftheSea]

Here are some pictures of her now that she is mostly dry.

 

[Eggcessive]

You are right that is not a prolapse, but just peck wounds. I would guess that she may have been bleeding from pecking, and that got on the egg. But it can be normal for a new layer to have some blood on the eggs. I would keep her separated perhaps in her crate, but with the flock while she heals. But you could supervise some sessions together. Do you know any other reason they would be pecking and bullying her?

 

[Chel0ftheSea]

You are right that is not a prolapse, but just peck wounds. I would guess that she may have been bleeding from pecking, and that got on the egg. But it can be normal for a new layer to have some blood on the eggs. I would keep her separated perhaps in her crate, but with the flock while she heals. But you could supervise some sessions together. Do you know any other reason they would be pecking and bullying her?

I have no idea why they would want to bully her besides the blood on her eggs. She isn't even the smallest hen, one of the Rosecombs is significantly smaller than she is.

I did just go out to check on her in the mother-in-law suite and she had laid an egg! This egg was the cleanest egg I have seen from her! It only had just the tiniest smear of blood, nothing like the horror show shells I have been getting from her. This egg was also more normal shaped rather than the more elongated ones she had been laying. Hopefully she has turned the tide on her laying and it is going to be easier for her now. (Both pictures are the same egg)

So I have an Omlet Eglu Cube with a 9" run. (pictured below)

So I don't think I can put the large dog kennel inside of it for her to be "with the flock". Maybe during the day, but at night they all roost in the little green coop together to keep warm. I guess I could put her in the nesting box side of the coop and close the little sliding door to keep them separated, but is that really any better than having her completely separated from them in the dog kennel in the mother-in-law suite?

Here is a picture I just took of her rear end. No blood and it fluffed up nice so I cant really see the pecked areas anymore. Right after taking this photo I sprayed her vent with Vetericyn again.

How do I safely reintroduce her to the flock? Should I do it as soon as possible or wait a little longer? I was thinking of possibly removing the Rhode Island Red when I reintroduce her to the rest of the flock, let the RIR hang out in the dog kennel for a day (hopefully knock her down a bit on the pecking order) before letting her back in.

Let me know what you think I should do. Right now she is still in the dog kennel in the mother-in-law suite with the wood stove, but it would be fairly easy to move her while she and all the other chickens are sleeping, into the nesting box side of the coop and close the sliding door divider. In the morning when I open the siding door so the others can get to the nesting box I can monitor interactions between the chickens in the run and remove the RIR if need be.

Again, thank you so much for your advice!

 

[Eggcessive]

The usual causes of vent pecking, which can lead to cannibalism, are too little room, eating less than 16-20% of protein in the feed, too much light in the nest areas, boredom from not getting out to free range, and that some breeds can be more aggressive. You will be the best judge of how to handle the flock dynamics. Don’t let her be out of the flock too long, and it does help to let them be together some daily. But she needs to heal before reintegrating.

 

[Chel0ftheSea]

The usual causes of vent pecking, which can lead to cannibalism, are too little room, eating less than 16-20% of protein in the feed, too much light in the nest areas, boredom from not getting out to free range, and that some breeds can be more aggressive. You will be the best judge of how to handle the flock dynamics. Don’t let her be out of the flock too long, and it does help to let them be together some daily. But she needs to heal before reintegrating.

Omlet says that their Eglu Cube can fit up to 6 large hens or up to 10 bantams. I have the 7 bantams now, and now I am thinking that I should not get any additional hens, just incase they are feeling cramped.

I feed them Purina Layena Layer Crumbles, which is 16% protein.

The nesting box is fully inside the green coop with only the sliding door as a passage between the dividing wall which separates it from the roosting area of the coop. So I think it stays pretty dark in there.

I actually don't let them out of their enclosed 9" run because we have lots of birds of prey (I see bald eagles and other very large birds every day). I am also worried about them running/flying off and me not being able to catch them.

The whole coop/run system is on wheels so I do move it at least twice a week so they get new grass to scratch.

Should I get them some chicken toys?

Is Durvet's Pick-No-More Cover Up Lotion ( https://www.farmstore.com/product/pick-no-more-cover-up-lotion-4-oz/ ) something I should put on her before I reintroduce her to the flock?

Again, thank you so much! You have been so helpful!!

 

[Chel0ftheSea]

I let my Barbu d'Anvers who has been vent pecked back in the run with the rest of the flock for about an hour today while I watched and played chicken referee.

Most of the flock had pretty normal interactions with her, some jumping and flapping, a little pecking around the neck and shoulders, and tiny bit of chasing. I expected them to want to reestablish pecking order with her and that seemed to be what they were doing.

The Rhode Island Red on the other hand would sneak up behind her and peck her right in the vent! I also witnessed the Rhode Island Red peck the other chickens in the vent too, including the big Plymouth Rock! She also pecked my Barbu d'Anvers in the head/face, I didn't see any damage done but it was still concerning- I don't know if she was going for her eyes or what! I would clap and yell to break them up when I saw it happen.

I did notice that this Barbu d'Anvers is actually the smallest hen. I think she used to be bigger than my little white Rosecomb, so she either got smaller or the Rosecomb got bigger. So maybe her being the littlest hen might be why she is being targeted by the big bully Rhode Island Red? My Barbu d'Anvers are also so sweet, docile and easy to handle. The Rosecombs may be small but they are fast, nimble and are great fliers- so I guess they are good at evading the bully.

After an hour of being out with the rest of the flock I brought the vent pecked Barbu d'Anvers back into the heated mother-in-law suite to her private dog kennel. She is sleeping in there again tonight. I sprayed her vent with Vetericyn 3 times today.

Tomorrow morning I am picking up some chicken wire to construct a barrier in the run so she can be with the flock but separated for the whole day. I am also going to try and catch the Rhode Island Red (Hopefully! She isn't as easy to catch as the Barbu d'Anvers) and put her in the dog kennel for the day to hopefully knock her down in the pecking order.

I will update tomorrow with some pictures of my divided run solution.

For tomorrow night- should I have her sleep in the coop with the others? I could separate her from the rest with the sliding door to the nesting box but they would all still be able to hear/smell each other, and share warmth.

Once again, thank you for your advice! It is very appreciated.