Something Crazy With My Hen’s Vent

[ChickaChickaChooCho000]

Hello, so I really don’t know what else to do at this point. My Sapphire Gem Hen has been isolated for a few days from the flock because her vent was bloody a few days ago and I thought she had been pecked because another hen was pecked by my brother’s Muscovy Duck, but it wasn’t that. It had to do with her vent and maybe even her egg producing organ. After I cleaned it off there was a red almost organ-like thing sticking out of her vent and it’s separate from her pooping hole. I didn’t want to pull it out or cut it off because it looked important and wasn’t just some bloody poo it looked like a literal organ with a small string attached inside the body. I cleaned her off and slowly forced it back into her vent as some websites stated that when it’s a prolapsed vent. Even when I did that after cleaning her up, she literally just forced it back out like a piece of poop. It’s like she’s constipated. It’s like an important looking piece of flesh from her body so I can’t just snip it off or else it might cause even more troubles. I’m just not so sure how to help this hen anymore.

A few months back she didn’t have this problem, although she did used to squat for awhile just for normal sized droppings. It may be due to her large eggs that she used to lay more often on her first year as she IS a production breed and her eggs were very large for a normal and petite bird. Honestly I’m not sure what could be the problem. If anyone’s dealt with this problem please let me know. If I can’t help her anymore at this point then I’ll have to do the hard job and cull her to end her suffering. She’s been at it for a few days. She’s been slowly getting weaker. And poop keeps getting stuck around her vent.

I’ll show photos once I get to cleaning her vent again.

 

[LaFleche]

To me the injury you describe sounds as if you have a male duck ranging with the chickens?

But it could also be a prolapse with the egg still inside.

Waiting for your pictures.

 

[ChickaChickaChooCho000]

To me the injury you describe sounds as if you have a male duck ranging with the chickens?

No, she’s a young female duck that gets quite snippy nowadays but she wasn’t the problem to this specific hen. I think she just has a laying and vent issue. The other hens dealt with a bit of pecking from the duck and she’s just recently started laying and I assume she fights them off the nest box for her favorite spot. It’s my brother's duck but I’ll find somewhere better for it to sleep and lay because she’s a lot stronger than my other chickens, and they don’t ever fight her back either.

 

[LaFleche]

No, she’s a young female duck that gets quite snippy nowadays but she wasn’t the problem to this specific hen. I think she just has a laying and vent issue. The other hens dealt with a bit of pecking from the duck and she’s just recently started laying and I assume she fights them off the nest box for her favorite spot. It’s my brother's duck but I’ll find somewhere better for it to sleep and lay because she’s a lot stronger than my other chickens, and they don’t ever fight her back either.

Ok, so no hormonally overwhelmed male duck scorching his way into a chicken vent, one possible cause that can be crossed off the list.

Remains the possible prolapse with egg still inside, something like this:

Or a severe prolapse that keeps coming out.

 

[LaFleche]

Some people use hormonal implants to give their hens a rest from egg laying and a chance to heal the prolapse, but it is rather costly and usually does not prevent them to get prolapsed again, once the hormones of the implant wear off (average 4-6 months).

Keeping her separate in a darker room will help to stop the egg production.

 

[ChickaChickaChooCho000]

Ok, so no hormonally overwhelmed male duck scorching his way into a chicken vent, one possible cause that can be crossed off the list.

Remains the possible prolapse with egg still inside, something like this:

Or a severe prolapse that keeps coming out.

I think this is as close as I can compare to. I just rinsed my hen off earlier and I don’t think there’s any saving her sadly because it seems to have rotted when I wasn’t able to supervise her. She doesn’t have any egg like that video you showed but it definitely resembles a bit to how it looks when the egg was released from the skin at the end of the video. So when I first cleaned it off and tried to push it in slowly back she just kept pushing it back out like taking a poo. She’s in much more pain then yesterday. She reacts more frantically than before. Her organ-like flesh that was sticking out is now out halfway out like a bud and is a grayish-green poop shade compared to two days ago when they were fresher in a pink-dark red color. And she smells rancid. There’s no eggs inside her for sure. The ‘organ’ is not sticking out anymore, it’s midway in her vent but seems like it’s slowly rotting since it’s been constantly pushed out and possibly as she’s pooping it gets more contaminated.

I might have to cull her for less suffering even if I don’t want to do it. She was a great layer but that came with a big price now that I see. And now that I think about it she may have been the one who laid the eggs that were nearly triple the size of a normal side egg. She’s had two of those in her life with me so I now understand why she has this sad issue. Her recent eggs have also been very oddly shaped, lighter in color, and crooked. Imagine having a 2 year old draw a wobbly, crooked oval, it was that shape. This may have been why. I might just have her enjoy a day or two free ranging and giving her extra care then cull her because i know it’ll be an ongoing and miserable issue for her and for me to watch Never had this type of situation before with chickens but you live and you learn... There’s always something new to learn about chickens.

Gosh and her scent can’t get off of my hands. I still smell her strong poultry scent even after washing my hands thoroughly with soap. Life with chickens huh?

 

[LaFleche]

Yes, I agree with you. Sadly they will not recover from this ordeal, no matter the amount of special care the owner is willing to provide, and judging by the reported smell and further description, I would put her out of her misery too.
These production hybrids are doomed from the start as their bodies are forced into early laying of way too big eggs, taking its toll on their reproductive system. They rarely live longer than 2 years.

 

[ChickaChickaChooCho000]

Yes, I agree with you. Sadly they will not recover from this ordeal, no matter the amount of special care the owner is willing to provide, and judging by the reported smell and further description, I would put her out of her misery too.
These production hybrids are doomed from the start as their bodies are forced into early laying of way too big eggs, taking its toll on their reproductive system. They rarely live longer than 2 years.

Update: I can thankfully say, I haven't culled her like I said I would... Her prolapsed vent seemed to have become normal again and she seems okay now. I gave her a few days inside her cage to rest, then I supervised her as I let her back with the flock a few days back, as I guessed, the duck kept chasing and attacking her when she could but the flock greeted her just fine, no fighting, just the rooster mainly dancing at her like all roosters. Good thing is, she's looking like she's back into decent health from what I can see and is pretty active once again. Maybe she just needed a break from laying eggs and being harassed so much. I'm beginning to see some crooked looking eggs in the nest box again and I feel like it's hers and that's okay, as long as she doesn't get those gigantic eggs again she can live awhile longer, I'm fine with eggs like that, it's not like I'm selling em. At least her health seems better than it was.

The serious problem is the duck who keeps sleeping in the nest box trying to set on eggs and biting nearby hens who sleep near her and just biting any open butt in her face.. Their vents are just so badly injured, they have scabs and wounds I have to keep treating and checking on... My ignorant brother keeps insisting she's only doing that because she "needs protein" but all I see is constant aggression for no reason these days and I have dried mealworms and crickets so they are fine, and bugs are coming back anyways, she loves to hunt for flies. That's his duck so he's defending her, understandable but he doesn't seem to see the situation at hand. She needs to be separated from them for awhile or needs a duck friend. She bites them at the waterers, canteens and bowls, sometimes just bites their butts while they're eating scratch or from the feeder, and it's so annoying. The problem is also that when she bites their tail or back feathers, they assume the squat position like they would for a rooster, which leaves them vulnerable too. They don't understand the duck, they just take the pecking because they don't know why she's hurting them.

 

[LaFleche]

Update: I can thankfully say, I haven't culled her like I said I would... Her prolapsed vent seemed to have become normal again and she seems okay now. I gave her a few days inside her cage to rest, then I supervised her as I let her back with the flock a few days back, as I guessed, the duck kept chasing and attacking her when she could but the flock greeted her just fine, no fighting, just the rooster mainly dancing at her like all roosters. Good thing is, she's looking like she's back into decent health from what I can see and is pretty active once again. Maybe she just needed a break from laying eggs and being harassed so much. I'm beginning to see some crooked looking eggs in the nest box again and I feel like it's hers and that's okay, as long as she doesn't get those gigantic eggs again she can live awhile longer, I'm fine with eggs like that, it's not like I'm selling em. At least her health seems better than it was.

The serious problem is the duck who keeps sleeping in the nest box trying to set on eggs and biting nearby hens who sleep near her and just biting any open butt in her face.. Their vents are just so badly injured, they have scabs and wounds I have to keep treating and checking on... My ignorant brother keeps insisting she's only doing that because she "needs protein" but all I see is constant aggression for no reason these days and I have dried mealworms and crickets so they are fine, and bugs are coming back anyways, she loves to hunt for flies. That's his duck so he's defending her, understandable but he doesn't seem to see the situation at hand. She needs to be separated from them for awhile or needs a duck friend. She bites them at the waterers, canteens and bowls, sometimes just bites their butts while they're eating scratch or from the feeder, and it's so annoying. The problem is also that when she bites their tail or back feathers, they assume the squat position like they would for a rooster, which leaves them vulnerable too. They don't understand the duck, they just take the pecking because they don't know why she's hurting them.

Thank you for your update. Hopefully, she will be able to enjoy some more time.

You are right, ducks often cause problems when kept in the same coop with chickens. Perhaps your brother can build his duck her own little coop and a nice run with a pool and even one or two other ducks for company.

 

[Sylie]

I realize that this thread is 2 weeks old now but I just have to chime in...you NEED to get the duck away from the chickens. I raise both chickens and ducks and have had drakes and ducks and I have never had a successful mixed flock, your brother needs to find another duck friend for his duck and give them their own coop and run area. Ducks are also flock animals so this duck needs a friend and your chickens need a break from the duck. Her bad behavior is likely because she is "alone in a group" She knows she is not a chicken and likely wants a friend she can identify with.
I'm not saying that it is not possible to have a mixed flock but generally speaking, in a mixed flock, there is more than one duck and usually they have a large area with a pond or something like that to keep their attention from leaning toward being mean.
Get another duck and give them their own space. It's important to all of the birds well being.