Swollen rump and vent prolapse

[mizz9]

Not sure what else to do!

Last night I noticed our 2 year old Rhode Island red had a big mess of poop and a soft egg shell stuck to her booty. When we grabbed her and started cleaning her up with warm water we noticed a rather large vent prolapse. After some research on BYC and other sites, we cleaned her up, and used some ointment and were able to push the prolapse back inside. We separated her from the 2 other girls and she spent the night in the garage. We tried to keep her in the dark longer than usual to discourage laying.

This morning fortunately the prolapse has stayed inside and she even pooped a few times. It does look to be be bulging but the tissue is staying inside. For now keeping her separated in the bathtub with some towels and small serving of food and water.

She is otherwise very lively and is not acting sick at all.

My second concern is that we also noticed her rump underneath looks swollen and some feather loss. This is my first time with chickens and usually there is a lot of "fluffy feathers" there so I am not sure what the rump area normally looks like, but I have a feeling this is abnormal!

Pics from after today's bath time.

 

[Eggcessive]

She could be an internal layer, or have ascites where fluid collects in the abdomen, or a cystic right oviduct, where fluid collects in a sac. Those all may cause enlargement of the lower belly. Since she laid the soft egg, there could be more produced. Does she get layer feed and offered crushed oyster shell to amke her shells hard? Soft or shell-less eggs can be common in new layers or in hens who have problems with their shell gland. Soft eggs can be more prone to cause egg binding. Egg binding can cause prolapse, but not all hens with prolapse are egg bound.

It is good that you got the prolapsed tissue pushed back inside. It may take several days of remaining in the dark for 16 hours a day to stop laying.

Many hens suffer from the reproductive problems above. Here is an article about internal laying and egg yolk peritonitis:
http://www.scoopfromthecoop.com/laying-issues-internal-layers-and-peritonitis/

Some people can get their hens a hormone implant several times a year to permanently stop them from laying. I have seen a few hens with the large swollen lower bellies live for sevarl years.

 

[mizz9]

We do feed her layer feed and they have a dish of oyster shell available but I never seem them eating it

Hmm, so we might have to find a way to permanently stop her from laying?

I will call around to see if there is a vet around here who sees chickens. I think most of them don't.

 

[Eggcessive]

A lot depends on how much money you are willing to spend on a chicken. Many hens will suffer from one problem or another. I have never had a bad prolapse, but I do see various problems, such as internal laying and ascites. I usually don’t do anything, since most of these things are not easily differentiated from one another until you do a necropsy after death.

Some have even gotten hens spayed, but since surgery is very risky, the hormone implants are used. However they are expensive, and so are avian vets.

Infectious bronchitis, a mild common respiratory disease in flocks that causes sneezing for a month, will sometimes cause egg shell problems such as wrinkled or thin shells.

You might try crushed egg shells fed back to your chickens. Mine prefer those over crushed oyster shell.

 

[mizz9]

Thanks for all the info. We'll wait it out for now and see how she does. No egg today, only a few poops, and her prolapse has stayed inside which is good. Other than being a bit stunned and confused as to why she's in the bathtub she seems pretty lively. She ate a little bit of food, there is a water dish for her but I'm not sure she's drank much. We put her to bed early to keep it dark more hours.