I’m traumatized by the death of a chicken just now. Here’s what happened:
2-3 of our hens have a dirty butt. One was particularly bad. It’s below freezing here so instead of a bath I opted to trim some of the dried poop from below her vent. My husband was holding her while I gently trimmed. We have done this successfully before (to other hens) but this one was struggling quite a bit. I noticed a bulge beginning to happen on her vent and suddenly, she prolapsed her intestines. It literally exploded out. (Gross, I know). I have researched a prolapsed vent and this was NOT that. The amount was so large that there was no way we could push it back inside. She died within 2-3 minutes - thankfully it went so fast. We are stunned and trying to figure out why it happened and if we caused it. Is this a common problem? I am open to any comments and advice so it doesn’t happen again, if avoidable. Thank you.
2-3 of our hens have a dirty butt. One was particularly bad. It’s below freezing here so instead of a bath I opted to trim some of the dried poop from below her vent. My husband was holding her while I gently trimmed. We have done this successfully before (to other hens) but this one was struggling quite a bit. I noticed a bulge beginning to happen on her vent and suddenly, she prolapsed her intestines. It literally exploded out. (Gross, I know). I have researched a prolapsed vent and this was NOT that. The amount was so large that there was no way we could push it back inside. She died within 2-3 minutes - thankfully it went so fast. We are stunned and trying to figure out why it happened and if we caused it. Is this a common problem? I am open to any comments and advice so it doesn’t happen again, if avoidable. Thank you.