Prolapsed vent - so sad!

[lollimama]

My little hen, Blondie, was in the proecess of laying her first egg today and it got stuck in her vent - I came home to a prolapsed vent with the soft egg stuck inside - so graphic to see. I took a picture but it's on my phone. Anyway, we took her inside, washed it up (there was poop everywhere too). I couldn't coax the egg out the vent - it wouldn't dialate at all using vasaline etc. So, since it was soft, I poked a small hole with a pin and squeezed the guts out of the egg, then was able to pull the soft shell out intact. After that I was easily able to gently coax the vent/insides back in. The problem is that when they are in there, she begins to pulsate like she's laying another egg and pushes it back out. We have her in a quiet back room in the dark, no food, no water right now. I checked on her a few minutes ago and it was back out again so I pushed it back in. Every time I do that I have to sit with my hand holding it in for a few minutes though before it stays on it's own. I'm so sad - she was one of my sweetest birds. I swear, I have had an unusual amount of problems with my 6 birds. A VERY hard start to the whole chicken thing. VERY hard. One problem after another. Just yesterday my friend was over admiring how healthy my birds are, I was just breathing a sigh of relief after all we've gone through to get to this point. And now this!

What I wonder is, has anyone ever had sucess wtih a bird actually recovering from a prolapse like this? I could say this is extreme, it was not bleeding or cut however. I have very little hope for a permenant recovery. I am just waiting for my son to get home from school to say goodbye - she is his bird.

 

[LOVINFARMLIFE]

I am so sorry to hear about your sweet chicken. Our sweetest chicken just had the same issue, but she died before we could help. I'm not trying to make you sad, just that we understand. Our sweetest chicken was my son's too. It is very hard, but important that they get to say good-bye even if the chicken isn't alive when they do so. Blessings!

 

[lollimama]

Thanks for that! It is helpful, just to know someone else has dealt with this too. It's part of the cycle of life I guess, I dont' know what her problem really was, if it was just soft so harder for her to pass, or too big, or what. But, you're right, it's worth it for them to say goodbye. I am afraid that's all we have now. She's in the other room right now and my husband just came and told me it has prolapsed again. I can't stay here with my hand over her vent all day - what else could I do?!

 

[Suzie]

I am so sorry to hear of this - have you tried smothering her vent with honey ?- It does help to shrink the prolapse. Keep her in a dark place and keep trying - the honey is marvelous at shrinking the swelling and also acts as a natural protection against infection = make sure you wear protective gloves - for hers and your interests! It nay take some time to get the prolapse to stay inside her.

I wish you luck!

Suzie

 

[lollimama]

I am so sorry to hear of this - have you tried smothering her vent with honey ?- It does help to shrink the prolapse. Keep her in a dark place and keep trying - the honey is marvelous  at shrinking the swelling and also acts as a natural protection against infection = make sure you wear protective gloves - for hers and your interests! It nay take some time to get the prolapse to stay inside her.

I wish you luck!

Suzie

So, have you had good luck with this before? It sounds like you have. I think ill try it when I get home and see if it helps. I had kind of given up but i want to hear from people if they have seen a bird recover from this and actually become a healthy layer?.......

 

[Suzie]

Sorry to relate but my girl died a few days ago - I decided to cull her as her comb was going purple and she was extremely lethargic - i will say however that the vent prolapse on my girl was extreme - she had approximately 4" hanging out of her....I attempted to help her by applying honey - it worked in the sense that the swelling shrank hugely - unfortunately it was more the fact that so much of my girls insides had come out - I could get all but a little back inside her but she pushed it all back out again.

I will say though that some people have had great success with this method - I didn't give up on my girl ever - she gave up on me.... I observed her intensely and although it was hard for me to admit defeat I couldn't let her suffer. This is a terrible dilemma for anyone who is faced with this issue - only you know your chicken well enough to understand her and her needs - I wish you and her all the best!

Suzie

 

[lollimama]

Thank you Suzie! I appreciate you relating to me. This was an EXTREME case as well! Initially I could get her insides back in but she would bare down and push them out again. It got to where yesterday I couldn't even get them back inside her at all. Everytime I would touch it she would bare down and it just made it worse. Her comb was still red and she seemed fine otherwise (how that's possible is amazing to me!). We decided tonight to really clean her up again and give it another day to see if things would improve. We had tried honey and prepH yesterday with not much luck at all. My friend who is a gynocologist and has experience with chickens came and looked at her too - she tried to stuff her back in as well with no luck. Anyway, after trying tonight it was obvious she was in pain and really suffering when we tried to help her get put back together again, her intestines were starting to protrude through everything else when she would push, so we made the hard decision to cull her. My son was really heartbroken - kept saying that 'I just don't understand why she was only here for such a short time'. We prayed over her and thanked God that He blessed us with her and that He is good even when things go bad, and that this kind of thing won't happen in heaven! Then we said goodbye. The funny thing is that once she was dead, my boys wanted to be a part of the whole process - they wanted to be in the middle of the gutting process and see everything. I think it was a really good thing for them - part of the reason we have chickens in the middle of the city - they get the a little farm experience even though we can't live in the country right now!

I've decided that people who have chickens really need to be able to cull them when the time has come. They are so delicate and sometimes the only humane thing to do is put them down. Heartbreaking as it is. I really appreciate this board - and the people on here who have a compassionate view of these precious little birds! And compassion for their owners when hard decisions have to be made. We have had a total of 7 birds for less than a year and we have had to cull two already. We never intended to have this kind of experience but I can still say that it's worth it and I'm glad we have done it. We still have 5 pretty little hens who are happy and healthy thank goodness!

 

[Suzie]

I am in tears writing my response - it is so awfully hard to admit when nature over-rides our good intentions - you were caring. compassionate and put her interests before your emotions.... sometimes these events are beyond our control... that is frustrating and devastating at times - you did all that anyone who cares deeply about the welfare of their animals can do.... so sad that you lost her but you will go on to love others and care for them in the way you did for your girl...

Thinking of you and your boys at this so very sad and difficult time!

Suzie

 

[chloezoebob101]

That is so sad! we never had to do that! except when our rooster was being mean!!! so sad!!

but you did the right thing. and I'm proud of you and you're decision

 

[ThePigeonKid]