Prolapse/egg bound pullet

[Stefrrr]

Two of our wyandottes started laying this week, and I’ve been anxiously waiting for one of our Marans to start. Well, today Rebecca almost laid her first egg. Unfortunately, it got stuck and she prolapsed. I looked over to the run as I was eating dinner and saw her sitting with her head tucked back and her front all puffed up and mentioned to my spouse she was looking kind of strange.

After she stayed that way for a few minutes, I went to check on her, which is when I saw the prolapsed oviduct tissue. My first thought was that she was probably going to die. After a few minutes of freakout and many expletives, we found instructions for treating prolapse and it sounds like maybe it’s not a death sentence.

So we brought her inside and got to work. We put her on top of a clean towel on top of the washer in the well-lit laundry room, I washed up I don’t know how many times and examined her. The egg and part of the duct containing waste were protruding, and the duct was so tight only about a centimeter of the egg was showing. And it seemed like a big egg.

Gloves? Nope.
Vetricyn or similar? Nope.
vaseline? Nope.

so again I washed my hands as best I could and covered the egg with a water-based lubricant. I then very gently pushed the duct tissue back around the egg until I was able to free it, then pushed the prolapse back in. Eventually the cloaca started to look normal again. The total process probably took the longest five minutes of my life.

We have her in a crate in the guest room with a towel over it. How long should we keep her separated and in the dark?

Lessons learned: have gloves, vetrycin, iodine and lube in a first aid box.

I’m not sure how long she was prolapsed. The tissue was still really red, so I suspect it’d just happened, but it had been a few hours since I’d looked closely in the run.

Here’s the (full size) egg next to two of the Wyandotte pullet eggs. Poor baby.

 

[Eggcessive]

Wow, that is a good outcome to a serious problem. Good job. A prolapse with egg binding can happen again later, especially with such large eggs. Make sure that she is getting calcium from crushed oyster shell in a separate container, especially if she is not eating layer feed which has plenty of calcium, since that helps the muscle contraction to pass the egg.

To temporarily stop laying for the vent to heal, it is necessary to keep in the dark for 16 out of every 24 hours, alowing them 8 hours a day to walk around, eat, and drink. Not everyone does this, but it can take 3 days to completely stop laying, and when light is again allowed normally, they should begin to lay again within a week or two.

If her prolapse tissue comes back out with straining , keep it moist with honey or ointment until it is pushed back in a dn stays. Honey can help the tissue swelling decrease.

 

[cooingdove]

very helpful, thanks. I have never had this problem hopefully never will.

 

[Stefrrr]

Wow, that is a good outcome to a serious problem. Good job. A prolapse with egg binding can happen again later, especially with such large eggs. Make sure that she is getting calcium from crushed oyster shell in a separate container, especially if she is not eating layer feed which has plenty of calcium, since that helps the muscle contraction to pass the egg.

To temporarily stop laying for the vent to heal, it is necessary to keep in the dark for 16 out of every 24 hours, alowing them 8 hours a day to walk around, eat, and drink. Not everyone does this, but it can take 3 days to completely stop laying, and when light is again allowed normally, they should begin to lay again within a week or two.

If her prolapse tissue comes back out with straining , keep it moist with honey or ointment until it is pushed back in a dn stays. Honey can help the tissue swelling decrease.

Thank you for the information! What kind of ointment is good? I’m going to make myself a first aid kit today.

They have oyster shells since they’re still on grower feed because the flock is mixed ages. And the shells seems to be developing really well, so does that indicate they’re getting enough calcium? Or should I put some in her food. I have ground and chips. They’ve been eating them all. I figured the cause here was the massive egg that’s round on both sides. I’m interested to see if it has two yolks.

 

[Stefrrr]

Update: Barbara (not Rebecca as I originally thought - they look so similar you have to look at both to tell them apart) is doing ok! Cloaca still looks good, and she’s pooped a LOT. I gave her a little feed, oyster shells and water with some vitamins.

The egg had two yolks, so I think that contributed to its large size.

Shes a little distressed - and she yells occasionally like they all have been when they’ve laid their first eggs. And then she poops. I hope all the poop is a good sign because wow.

 

[Stefrrr]

Barbara still seems to be doing well! I let her run around for an hour near the chicken run this afternoon. She ate grass and mulberries and chased bugs. She still looks a little out of sorts, but pretty good energy-wise. We’ll keep her locked up and keep an eye on her until tomorrow afternoon, when we’ll reintroduce her to the flock.

 

[Eggcessive]

So glad to hear that Barbara is doing well and her prolapse has stayed in. Yes, those double yolkers are not very good for them to lay. The crushed oyster shell should just be put out where they can take some as they need it, not mixed in the food.

 

[Stefrrr]

Update: she laid a soft-shelled egg this morning. It either broke when she was laying it, or she broke it after. Does this mean we haven’t interrupted the laying cycle?

I’ve been giving them the oyster shells in a dish on the side, so I’ll keep doing that.

 

[Eggcessive]

It can take several days for the eggs to completely stop after reducing the light hours. I would give her half of a Tums or caclium tablet today.

 

[Stefrrr]

It can take several days for the eggs to completely stop after reducing the light hours. I would give her half of a Tums or caclium tablet today.

Ok, will do. We’re going camping tomorrow and I’m hoping to reintegrate her with the flock tonight so our house sitter doesn’t have to do it.
Thanks so much for your help. I really appreciate it.