Treatment for crust on prolapse vent

[Christine Norman]

Hello. I have taken on some chickens from a lady on my allotment. I noticed one had a prolapsed vent. However I can't pop it back in as it has a thick hard crust on it. I have been giving her a warm bath twice a day to try to soften the crust to remove it. Then I cover it in sudocreme to protect it and hopefully further soften it. However 4 days in and I have barely made any difference to it at all. I think it's not a scab but looks more like urine crusted hard. But it's very hard and resistant to softening. Any advice please for treatments to soften or dissolve it. She is eating fine and seems well otherwise. Urine keeps coating it as it's in the way. I'm worried that will burn which is another reason I keep coating it with sudocreme as a barrier. Thanks

 

[Debbie292d]

Here is an excellent article about prolapsed vent that should help you. I've never dealt with it so searched for the best help I could find on here. Good luck!

 

[Wyorp Rock]

Hello. I have taken on some chickens from a lady on my allotment. I noticed one had a prolapsed vent. However I can't pop it back in as it has a thick hard crust on it. I have been giving her a warm bath twice a day to try to soften the crust to remove it. Then I cover it in sudocreme to protect it and hopefully further soften it. However 4 days in and I have barely made any difference to it at all. I think it's not a scab but looks more like urine crusted hard. But it's very hard and resistant to softening. Any advice please for treatments to soften or dissolve it. She is eating fine and seems well otherwise. Urine keeps coating it as it's in the way. I'm worried that will burn which is another reason I keep coating it with sudocreme as a barrier. Thanks

Welcome To BYC

Can you please post photos?

Sometimes dried urates, scabbing from picking of tissue, etc. can prevent prolapsed tissue from going back in and staying.

Give your hen a good soaking in a warm epsom salts bath 1-2 times a day to help reduce inflammation. Keep the tissue moist with ointment, oil or honey. Mineral oil around the scab/crusts can also help soften them up, but when they come loose, they may bleed - sometimes the tissue underneath needs to heal first.

It would be very good idea to also give her extra Calcium to help with retention. 600mg Calcium Citrate daily for a week.

 

[Christine Norman]

Thankyou. I am doing all the things you suggest. I don't want giving calcium citrate but am now. I do give them crushed eggshell generally as when I took them on the eggs were thin and wrinkled. So this may have caused it? The problem I am having is that the bathing and oiling are making very little difference to the hardness of the scab. I have managed to get most of the white crust off as that has softened but there is a really hard blackened crust that nothing is shifting so far. I think it may have been there for some time ( i have only just taken them on so unsure how long). I will keep going but seems hopeless. I will try to attach photos but I'm not very good at this sorry.

 

[Wyorp Rock]

Thankyou. I am doing all the things you suggest. I don't want giving calcium citrate but am now. I do give them crushed eggshell generally as when I took them on the eggs were thin and wrinkled. So this may have caused it? The problem I am having is that the bathing and oiling are making very little difference to the hardness of the scab. I have managed to get most of the white crust off as that has softened but there is a really hard blackened crust that nothing is shifting so far. I think it may have been there for some time ( i have only just taken them on so unsure how long). I will keep going but seems hopeless. I will try to attach photos but I'm not very good at this sorry.

You're doing fine.

Just keep working on it. I know it doesn't look very good but keep the tissue moist, work on the crust and get the Calcium into her. It may take a while for the crust to come off. I'd be tempted to see if any parts of it may peel if it feels really hard.

If this was going on for a good while and she didn't receive care, what you see may be some necrotic tissue which may eventually fall off as well - it can be hard to know.

Having thin and wrinkled eggs can be a sign of calcium and/or nutritional deficiency, sometime wrinkled eggs are symptom of having had Infectious Bronchitis as well.

Provide the ladies with Oyster Shell (Soluble Grit) and a balanced poultry feed. I see a loose type feed of oat/barley(?) and corn - is that a treat or her feed? Do provide Grit (Insoluble Grit/Crushed Granite) as well so the hens can properly process the grains.

Hope is not lost just yet! You're doing good, keep up with what you are doing.

You may find this helpful, while not quite the same, you can see that scabbing/crusting is something fairly common with prolapse. With care, often this can be resolved, it just takes time.
https://www.backyardchickens.com/th...en-when-i-am-leaving-for-the-weekend.1581727/

 

[Christine Norman]

Thank you for the help. I'm wary to peel it incase I damage soft tissue underneath but maybe I'm being too tentative? For the food, I stopped her usual layers pellets to make her less likely to lay, based on advice from someone else. Hence the corn. Shall I go back to her usual pellets?

 

[Christine Norman]

Just read that thread which is very encouraging as hers was just as bad as mine. Thanks for that xx

 

[Wyorp Rock]

Thank you for the help. I'm wary to peel it incase I damage soft tissue underneath but maybe I'm being too tentative? For the food, I stopped her usual layers pellets to make her less likely to lay, based on advice from someone else. Hence the corn. Shall I go back to her usual pellets?

Feed her normal poultry feed, it's nutritionally balanced with what she needs.
Pellets are not what makes her lay eggs, it's her natural body cycle.

 

[Christine Norman]

Thanks again for your advice. Also thanks for encouraging me to persevere with the regime. I saw no progress for a week and was really fed up but last few days it's coming on in leaps and bounds. Only about a cm square of scab left. It was enormous to start with as the gross pics showed. She also is much les stressed by being handled now and seems to like her warm Epsom salt baths

 

[theoldchick]

https://the-chicken-chick.com/prolapse-vent-causes-treatment-graphic/