Pullet with Prolapse

[cksbe13]

Our partridge rock is just 5 months old and has yet to lay her first egg (unless she's incredibly sneaky) but now has a massive prolapsed vent. There's an entire broken egg hanging out inside the tissue. I read @azygous article and followed those steps other than antibiotics which I haven't got yet. I have her isolated, getting calcium citrate, and regularly cleaning her up. I attached a photo of her this morning before I cleaned her up again so it's messy. She is the most skittish in the flock by far so even getting this far has been a battle. If anyone has any additional advice or opinions I'd appreciate it.

 

[MSHB]

Many would put her down however I have had a great success with this situation.
You must have lots if patience but there is hope. If you can ever so gently clean her up and rinse the area, use sterile glove to get all the fecal/blood cleaned up(used vetamycin spray) pat area dry so so gently. Ever so gently glob your pinky with Vaseline and try to help the prolapse back in place by massaging the area. Yes it sounds really gross but it worked and my hen is going strong. I would give her food and provide electrolytes, probiotic, vitamins, and spinach. Once prolaspe was back in I checked on her every hour to ensure the prolasped/vent area was staying in place took about a day, did repeat the process a couple times that day and added more Vaseline. I did switch over to hemorrhoid cream the next day. She has survived and is still cluckin' around. I have a 2 week rule on hens. Good luck.

 

[cksbe13]

Many would put her down however I have had a great success with this situation.
You must have lots if patience but there is hope. If you can ever so gently clean her up and rinse the area, use sterile glove to get all the fecal/blood cleaned up(used vetamycin spray) pat area dry so so gently. Ever so gently glob your pinky with Vaseline and try to help the prolapse back in place by massaging the area. Yes it sounds really gross but it worked and my hen is going strong. I would give her food and provide electrolytes, probiotic, vitamins, and spinach. Once prolaspe was back in I checked on her every hour to ensure the prolasped/vent area was staying in place took about a day, did repeat the process a couple times that day and added more Vaseline. I did switch over to hemorrhoid cream the next day. She has survived and is still cluckin' around. I have a 2 week rule on hens. Good luck.

Thank you! I have been able to get the prolapse back in a few times in the last 24 hours and it always comes back out. She's not eating or drinking but is acting calm now. Comb is still red and poop is still passing so it seems like she just needs time? Obviously, I will keep doing all the care items too. 2 week rule seems like a good one to follow.

 

[alinas2010]

Sorry about your hen. If the prolapse won’t stay in, the tissue may be too swollen to. If you’ve tried a few times, I wouldn’t keep trying to force it. Sometimes if you leave it be, it will go back in on its own over a few days. It can take a week or more for some prolapses even. But you do need to keep the prolapse moist while it is exposed. Giving some calcium citrate plus D3 can be helpful in the event that laying causes the prolapse to happen again. Were you able to remove the rest of the collapsed shell from her?

Keep her inside away from the others and away from flies until it reabsorbs. Ensure she has plenty of water as she may loose a lot of fluid with a prolapse. She doesn’t have another egg stuck does she?

You can slather to exposed tissue in something such as honey or coconut oil or ointment to keep it moist. Honey can also help with swelling. A warm soak once a day can help keep the tissue clean and help with swelling, too.

Here is a really helpful article about prolapses and how to treat. It’s an extreme case in the article, but it’s very helpful all the same:

https://www.backyardchickens.com/ar...ng-from-vent-prolapse-oh-my-what-to-do.76124/

ETA, sorry I bet that’s the article you read already. Azygous will hopefully be along here shortly with some helpful expert advice for you!

 

[MSHB]

Thank you! I have been able to get the prolapse back in a few times in the last 24 hours and it always comes back out. She's not eating or drinking but is acting calm now. Comb is still red and poop is still passing so it seems like she just needs time? Obviously, I will keep doing all the care items too. 2 week rule seems like a good one to follow.

The hemorrhoid cream helps with the inflammation. Agree with the Alena2010 post as well. Keeping that area clean and moist with Vaseline/coconut oil is important. I kept my Puka Girl in the bathroom dimmed so she didn't lay any eggs. Be sure provide her soft food/supplements in case she wants to eat.
Remember your doing great and be easy on youself and henny. It's a bit traumatic dealing with these situations. Hang in there.

 

[cksbe13]

Update: I believe she tore open. Whatever part was hanging out with the egg started dripping yolk and then egg white. I was able to get the shell fragments out once I saw that. She has been standing in one spot falling in and out of sleep for a couple hours now. I attached pics of what I believe to be potentially necrotic tissue but maybe it's just really swollen? She absolutely freaks out when I try to get her out of the crate and do any sort of treatment so it's been difficult to help her. Don't mind the mess. She flew around panicking when I tried to get her a bit ago and I didn't want to bug her again to clean it up until she'd had some calm time.

 

[alinas2010]

Do you have access to antibiotics? From a human or another pet left over maybe? Did you keep the protruding tissue moist with something like honey as suggested?

@Eggcessive @azygous @Wyorp Rock

Can you help?

She will be easier to handle if you can wrap her in a towel and then maybe you can rinse her with some sterile saline in a bottle and apply ointment or honey to the prolapse. Can you get her to drink some sugar water or electrolytes maybe?

 

[Wyorp Rock]

There's an entire broken egg hanging out inside the tissue. I read @azygous article and followed those steps other than antibiotics which I haven't got yet. I have her isolated, getting calcium citrate, and regularly cleaning her up.

Thank you! I have been able to get the prolapse back in a few times in the last 24 hours and it always comes back out. She's not eating or drinking but is acting calm now.

I believe she tore open. Whatever part was hanging out with the egg started dripping yolk and then egg white. I was able to get the shell fragments out once I saw that. She has been standing in one spot falling in and out of sleep for a couple hours now.

I attached pics of what I believe to be potentially necrotic tissue but maybe it's just really swollen?

The tissue doesn't look necrotic, just very swollen. Likely it will not stay in until some of the swelling goes down.

Did she have an egg membrane hanging from the prolapsed tissue or was it urates?

I'd do as suggested. Get the extra Calcium into her asap, once daily.
Keep the tissue moist with ointment, oil, honey, etc. whatever you have on hand, don't let it dry out.

She does need to stay hydrated, so see if she will take sips of sugar water or electrolytes.

Swaddling her in a towel is a good idea if she's stressed. I wouldn't necessarily put her in a bath, but you can apply some warm compresses soaked in epsom salts water to see if that helps reduce some of the swelling.

A prolapse can take days to begin to correct and heal, so do the best you can.

 

[cksbe13]

Thank you everyone! I'm taking all the suggested measures for her and hoping she decides to drink and/or eat soon. When I took care of her this morning it was very obvious she perforated yesterday as suspected so not sure if or how that will heal. I don't want to be hasty in considering euthanizing but I also don't want to let her suffer if she doesn't start improving. Her comb is starting to flop a bit indicating dehydration but she has no interest in any fluids.

 

[alinas2010]

Thank you everyone! I'm taking all the suggested measures for her and hoping she decides to drink and/or eat soon. When I took care of her this morning it was very obvious she perforated yesterday as suspected so not sure if or how that will heal. I don't want to be hasty in considering euthanizing but I also don't want to let her suffer if she doesn't start improving. Her comb is starting to flop a bit indicating dehydration but she has no interest in any fluids.

So sorry to hear about her, that’s tough. To get her interested in fluids, you may have to gently dip her beak in them. Or use a dropper to drip some on her beak. Don’t put any directly in her beak or you risk her aspirating it. Wet some of her feed to make a mash using electrolyte solution and she may eat that and take fluid in that way. Watery cooked egg could tempt her, too.

I always say I won’t give up if they don’t.