Prolapsed vent - chicken screaming

[ValarieF]

Last Sunday we discovered that one of our chickens has a prolapsed vent. We have done everything we could find online to heal her, incl. we put her in the dark, we are giving her vitamins, wash her bottom daily etc. It is now a lot better than 4 days ago, but the prolapse is still there. We also tried to push it in, but it comes out again immediately.

Since the beginning she has made a sound like she is in a lot of pain. She screams and then is quiet, screams again etc. Initially we thought that it’s very painful and it would get better, but it seems like she screams now more often.

I have read through countless of articles covering prolapsed vent, but none of them mention that the chicken makes these agonizing sounds. Is it normal for chicken with prolapsed vent? Is there something more wrong with her? The only thing that we could think of is that perhaps she has an egg stuck, but when we touch and observe her, it doesn’t seem like there is an egg..

Thank you!

The way I do it push the prolapse back in gently and slather honey on the outside of the vent and hold it in as long as the chicken allows you.
Make a sugar water flush on the stove. Boil water and add sugar until it doesnt dissolve anymore then let cool. It will take the inflammation down.
Gently flush the vent out every 2 hours.
Now if you were a vet or had training you could add a single stitch in the middle of the vent to hold everything in but if she was trying to lay an egg cut the stitch. I hope this helps.

 

[limiz]

A little update - unfortunately there is no change we have given her more baths, use the hydrocortisone cream, gave her calcium citrate and it is still the same right now. She is eating and pooping, but still screams everytime she pushes the vent out. It kind of looks like she is trying to lay an egg or sth, because she pushes the vent out (and at the same time screams), but when we feel her bottom, we cannot feel any egg. So right now we just keep giving her the vitamins, bathing her etc. We have had chickens for 10+ years, this is the first prolapsed vent.. and we have never killed or euthanized any of our chicken, so even though it is starting to seem like it might be more reasonable to let her go rather to see her suffering, none of us can do it. As long as she eats and drinks, we still have hope.

 

[limiz]

Update no 2 - she is okay(ish)! After a week of treatment, her vent finally went in on Saturday and her bottom looks great! She is eating, pooping, and walking around like nothing happened. The only thing is that she still screams once in a while, it appears when she puts too much pressure on herself, it's still painful (e.g. jumps). However, we put her back together with her buddies and it was quite cute yesterday how the others surrounded her and slept right next to her, like they had missed her. Not sure what will happen if she tries to lay another egg, but we are keeping our fingers crossed. Thanks to everybody for your help and suggestions, especially for suggesting calcium citrate! I don't know if this did the trick or all of the treatment combined, but she certainly felt better once we started to give that.

 

[SmiYa0126]

Wonderful news!!!

 

[SmiYa0126]

Keep giving her the calcium for another week or so. Then after that keep an eye on her, it may happen again.

 

[limiz]

Keep giving her the calcium for another week or so. Then after that keep an eye on her, it may happen again.

Definitely! We will continue with the calcium and the cream on the bottom for another week and then yeah, we really keep an eye on her. Thank you for the advice!

 

[limiz]

Update 3 - unfortunately, it happened again. Her bottom was okay, we had stopped treatment, but then she laid an egg 2 days ago. Now we are back to square one and treating her the same way as before.

A question to everybody - will it be like this now until she dies or stops laying eggs? How many times can she have a prolapsed vent until she no longer heals from it? Since we have never killed any of our chickens, we will continue to treat her, but what will happen eventually? If somebody has experience in recurring prolapsed vent, could you please tell me what happened to your chicken eventually? This is just so frustrating. Thank you!

 

[Cat Ballou]

Epsom salts are merely to soothe the inflamed tissues. It's not necessary in resolving the prolapse. Long soaks are also not necessary. Brief sponging of the soiled prolapse is all that is needed, as the discharge accumulates. This discharge is often quite smelly and sponging it off with witch hazel or warm water with some mild soap is sufficient.

Epsom salts do much more that soothe inflamed tissue. Mere warm or hot water can do that!

The magnesium and sulphates are absorbed through the skin, benefiting hundreds of physiological processes.

https://epsomsalt.jp/wp-content/uploads/2021/08/ReportsofBirmingham.pdf

https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/1331782/

 

[Cat Ballou]

Update 3 - unfortunately, it happened again. Her bottom was okay, we had stopped treatment, but then she laid an egg 2 days ago. Now we are back to square one and treating her the same way as before.

A question to everybody - will it be like this now until she dies or stops laying eggs? How many times can she have a prolapsed vent until she no longer heals from it? Since we have never killed any of our chickens, we will continue to treat her, but what will happen eventually? If somebody has experience in recurring prolapsed vent, could you please tell me what happened to your chicken eventually? This is just so frustrating. Thank you!

What is her diet?