Prolapse/contractions help for 7 month bantam

[rubyred]

Hi!

I have a 7 month old bantam who has been laying pretty regularly for about the last month. She has been very healthy. I did notice her eating earthworms yesterday after a heavy rain so that's the only variable I can think of.

I think she has prolapse, from reading all the other posts on prolapse (looks like about 1/2" of soft pink/red tissue coming out vent). She keeps having contractions and pushing the tissue out the vent so I thought there was a trapped egg. But all the others just laid and I realize she's not eggbound--she did lay this morning. I gave her a warm soapy bath (she loved it) and rubbed some honey on the tissue and pushed it back in and have put her in a dark place inside (isolated). She's since pushed it back out because she keeps having the contractions.

Does anyone know how to make the contractions stop (every 1-2 min)? It's pushing the tissue further and further out. She's in pretty good spirits except for when she gets the contractions and makes a horribly pathetic little wheezing sound and then perks right back up until the next one comes.

Any and all advice most welcome!

 

[rubyred]

She passed a rubber egg, which explains the contractions, but is STILL having them. Does anyone know whether she could potentially expel all the eggs in her tract at one go?

Or maybe this is something else entirely? Her crop is rather hard I noticed while giving her another sitz bath.

 

[rubyred]

Help! I had hoped that the dark + bath + preparation H might help, but she keeps trying to pass something and has now pushed out part of what looks like her intestine as well. I'm assuming this is not good, but am not sure at what point to try to figure out how to put her out of her misery. I'm assuming there's probably an 80% chance she won't recover at this point? But there are so many good stories of surviving bad prolapse that I don't want to give up.

Any ideas? Are there any humane ways of putting a chicken down if it comes to this (this is my first situation and we're all heartbroken). Anything to relieve the pain? She no longer wants to eat.

Thanks!

 

[stcroixusvi]

I am sorry your hen is going through this. We had an RIR prolapse 2x's, and she is now fine. Her last prolapse was in mid-December, but it was a long recovery. She now lays an egg every other day or so, but we have her in a separate coop. She continued to eat the entire time, so your hen worries me if she is not eating. I don't have any advice on how to put a chicken out of its misery.

Please keep us posted. I've seen hens survive amazing ordeals, but while ours was initially in prolapse, I did worry that she was suffering. At one point, the huge mess that was on her rearend actually fell off, leaving an open gaping wound. But she continued to eat and act like she was fine. We used spray antibiotic even though it is not recommended because it had a 'caine anesthetic in it which can be lethal for chickens.

 

[rubyred]

Thank you so much for this advice. I'm really concerned that her intestine has started coming out now, which does not bode well. It's no longer just the prolapse. Did yours do that? I think she has an egg that is moving down and it's just awful because she keeps pushing and pushing.

 

[stcroixusvi]

I just saw your note, and hope your little hen is doing better. Please keep us posted.