Prolapsed Vent

[darkbrahmamama]

My younger (5 months old) hens are just starting to lay. This morning I went to go clean what I thought was just poop off of the butt of one of the girls (one of my 1 & 1/2 year olds is recovering from FlyStrike, so I wanted to prevent that from happening again!). So, I put her under the warm running water, & to my horror it was more than just poop. Her little pullet egg was out of her body, but still stuck at the vent opening with the tip of the egg (about 1/4 of it) showing, & a little bit of what should be inside, now outside. After about 20 - 30 minutes of warm water & rubbing, I helped her pass the normal sized pullet egg without it breaking. There was a little blood on the egg - not as much as I would have thought there'd be. Now, I'm completely clueless on what to do about her prolapsed vent. What's sticking out is between nickel & quarter sized, so it's not huge or a lot .... enough that it made me feel like passing out the entire time I was trying to help her. She's in a small dog crate, in the bathroom in the tackroom that's in the barn. She has water with vitamins & electrolytes. Food. She's in complete darkness to help prevent laying. I've read so many things, that I don't really know what to do. Leave her alone, push it back in whenever it needs it, keep KY on it, use prep-H, don't use prep-H, use honey ...... wow, so many answers & nothing agrees!

Right now I'm happy that I have the egg out. She's alert, drinking, eating, moving slowly (heck, I wouldn't be moving at all if that happened to me!). Any good recommendations? What's best to put on it for healing? Would bag balm be OK? Or shouldn't I put something like Neo? Nothing at all except KY?

::SIGH::

 

[darkbrahmamama]

Gave in & used a mixture of prep-h & ky tonight. Pushed it back in & held it there for a few minutes. Didn't want to use too many different things ..... maybe tomorrow I'll use an ointment & ky mix to help fight against infection?

 

[Eggcessive]

Honey is also good to use as well as the Preparation H ointment to help reduce swelling. You are so lucky to have found her prolapse and stuck egg. I have seen where some have had to cut the egg out, and some who have died before getting the egg out. I wish I had seen your thread earlier today, don't know how I missed it. Here are some good links for help:
http://beautyofbirds.com/Prolapse.htm
http://www.the-chicken-chick.com/2012/04/prolapse-vent-causes-treatment-graphic.html
http://beautyofbirds.com/eggbinding.html

 

[darkbrahmamama]

I'm learning about all of the things to have on hand for chickens. Already had blu-kote, bag balm, & Vetericyn (my favorite) because of my horse. Now going to keep monistat, prep-h, ky, & honey on hand ...... should make for an interesting shopping trip! I'll be honest, the only reason I noticed was because I saw she had poop on her bottom, & having one in recovery due to flystrike, I didn't want another one & decided to clean her off. I assume it's ok to keep pushing it back in & hold it in for a minute or two? How long should it take to heal? Will there be huge concerns for future laying?

 

[casportpony]

You might want to add calcium gluconate to your chicken first aid kit. It can be used in hens that are passing shell-less eggs and in hens having trouble passing eggs.

-Kathy

 

[darkbrahmamama]

I can get that from work, so that's good, how does it help them pass eggs?

 

[casportpony]

It helps their muscles and tissues with the contractions needed. Proper hydraytion also plays a huge role in egg bound hens. The dose that I use is 100mg/kg every twelve hours.

To calculate that, take the weigh of the hen, divided by 2.2, times 100, divide by 230. That will give the amount to give that bird.

A six pound bird is:
6/2.2 x 100/230 = 1.2ml (rounded up from 1.185)

Refrigerate after opening or it will grow mold.

-Kathy

 

[darkbrahmamama]

Thanks! I'll keep this in mind. She never showed signs of being egg bound, so I don't know if something just went wrong at exit or what .......

 

[darkbrahmamama]

I still haven't gotten everything to stay in yet. I put the prep-h on daily, & also started putting an antibiotic ointment on the little bit that keeps coming out. It's maybe about 2" long & 1" wide (max) & really thin. My concern right now is that today she is drinking A LOT of water. She's still up, alert, moving around, & eating. She's even happy to snoop around the tack room while I do chores & let her out of the crate. Is the increase of water a sign of infection? Should I pick up some antibiotics?

 

[casportpony]

I still haven't gotten everything to stay in yet. I put the prep-h on daily, & also started putting an antibiotic ointment on the little bit that keeps coming out. It's maybe about 2" long & 1" wide (max) & really thin. My concern right now is that today she is drinking A LOT of water. She's still up, alert, moving around, & eating. She's even happy to snoop around the tack room while I do chores & let her out of the crate. Is the increase of water a sign of infection? Should I pick up some antibiotics?

If she were mine I would give her Baytril just in case.

-Kathy