My Buff Orpington Hen has been laying for about 2 months, the other day I noticed her breathing funny, so I picked her up to check her out and she dropped a soft egg right on my foot, I had read a couple of things about this, so I knew it wasn't anything out of the ordinary. Immediately after that, however, she had a prolapsed vent, I put gloves on and massaged it back inside of her. She seemed fine, but now (2 days later) she seems to be breathing funny again and her back side keeps going in and out as if she is trying to poop. Any help or davice is appreciated, I don't know what to do!!
I've read that honey is good to use while pushing prolapses back in. Its a natural antiseptic and soothes the inflammation. Alot of times a warm bath will help them pass an egg easier. If you're really brave. You can insert an olive oil covered finger into her vent and lube her up. All that being said though, sometimes it doesn't matter what you do. Some hens are just prone to laying problems, and eventually they are being helping. Good luck, hopefully you can get her fixed up
Best to separate her and feed her a lower protein feed like dry oatmeal or scratch and give her less light so she will stop laying eggs so she can heal. This worked for me once when I had this problem with a new layer. If she keeps laying, she is bound to prolapse again. The long term outlook for her is questionable. Mine healed & went back to laying after a few months, but had a problem the next year when she came out of molt. Good luck.
