Prolapsed vent, how long to isolate

[MommyMagpie]

Drumstick, one of our mature Red Star hens, had a prolapsed vent this morning. DD found her trying to keep her butt from being pecked at, and brought her indoors and held her until we could get a look and figure out what was wrong/what to do. The boys got her washed up, pushed the prolapsed portion back into place and applied Prep H. We fixed up the large dog crate we use as 'chicken jail' and covered it with a space blanket tarp (to reflect heat away/keep dark, also we left the ends open and made a sort of awning with a board). Put her in there with water and food this morning.

There has been no further prolapse, and her vent area looks ok, maybe a bit swollen but not red or anything.

How long should we leave her in the crate? And is there any way to prevent, or at least lessen the likelihood of, another prolapse?

Thanks in advance.

 

[Ema]

if she is a laying hen I would force a stop lay for several days, to allow the vent area to heal properly, in other words, if you put her back in already she might lay tomorrow and then she is back to square one.

best bet keep her in the dark in her cage with food and water and let her rest for a few days. then you can judge for yourself if she is ready by letting her go back to normal and watching her closely, when she re-lays inspect her vent to be sure it didn't happen again.

at the same token she might not lay for a a bit on her own, mine did that, she had a prolapse and then didn't lay for a couple weeks afterwards, gave her time to heal though, but she lays the weirdest eggs now, still yummy eggs but weird eggs indeed. lol

Ema

 

[MommyMagpie]

Thanks so much! She's complaining this morning, so she must be feeling better, but we'll leave her in the crate in the dark for at least the rest of the week.

 

[MommyMagpie]

I spoke too soon. She'd turned her waterer over so DS10 let her out of the crate long enough to change her water and clean up the crate, and she RAN straight to the nest box in the coop and laid a shell-less egg.......which she ate before I could get in there to get her away from it. No prolapse this time, but she is still staying in 'jail' for the time being.

 

[BetterHensandGardens]

We had that issue with one of our hen's, and here's what we did: http://www.betterhensandgardens.com/2010/03/10/chicken-emergency/

Also, here's an update on the outcome: http://www.betterhensandgardens.com/2010/03/28/update-on-chicken-emergency/

Final outcome, she recovered from the prolapsed vent, and it never recurred. Hopes this helps you with what to expect and that your hen recovers too!