Uterus coming out of vent

[5lovelyhens]

My Black Sex Link is 2 yrs and 5 mos old. The other day, we noticed a bump on her vent and a lot of blood and puss. I took her to the vet to find out what was wrong, and she said her uterus is coming out. She said it turned inside out like a sock and she'll die without surgery. Surgery is $1500, which I can't afford.

I'm sure the vets not wrong, but does anyone know of anything I can do to keep her alive? I need to bandage it up, because she's been picking. How can I do that? She's eating, drinking and pooping. How can I make her comfy? I've been giving her warm baths every night too to soak it. Any ideas?

 

[rebrascora]

Hi

So sorry to hear that your chicken has a prolapse. I've not heard of the condition being operated on before and $1500 is beyond extortion in my opinion. Most people bath them in Epsom salts and then apply haemorrhoid cream or honey if that is not available and gently push it back inside and keep the hen in a dark place for a few days to discourage laying. It may need repeated treatment to get it to stay in but many people have success with treating it like this themselves. Is it really puss or a broken coagulated egg that you are seeing. Prolapses usually occur when there is a shell less of soft shelled egg which breaks and becomes difficult to expel or an extra large egg, so my guess/hope would be that you are seeing egg rather than puss. It may be worth gently inserting a lubricated finger into her vent to see if you can feel anything, before applying the Prep H or honey.
It is really important to not let the prolapse tissue dry out or get damaged by pecking, so keeping it lubricated and keeping her in the dark will help prevent that. Take her out twice a day to eat and drink and clean out her box and then put her back in the dark. After a few days- a week, she should be healed enough to resume normal activity, but you will need to be careful about reintegration into the flock because they may not recognise her. I hope you are able to resolve this yourself.... good luck with her.

Regards

Barbara

 

[Eggcessive]

Rebascora has given you very good advice. Can you post a picture of her cleaned up vent area? Prolapse tissue that gets dried out due to not catching it in time, may die and turn black. This tissue would need to be removed with soaking and rubbing off the dark tissue until healthy pink tissue is seen. Prolapse can occur again later, so I would not spend a lot of money on surgery. Here are a couple of good articles to read:
http://www.the-chicken-chick.com/2012/04/prolapse-vent-causes-treatment-graphic.html
https://www.beautyofbirds.com/Prolapse.htm

 

[5lovelyhens]

Here's a picture. It's pretty gross because I haven't been able to clean it up too well. The blood is really stuck on her feathers. Would it help to cut the feathers off at the base? I'm also really skeptical about pushing it back in, because I don't want to hurt her. I just got some preparation h hemorrhoidal ointment, which I'll give her tonight after her bath. How much Epsom salt should I put in?

[/IMG]

 

[5lovelyhens]

 

[Eggcessive]

That looks pretty bad like she has been injured by the other chickens or a predator. How much of the red tissue is hanging out? That is not the the uterus, but the cloaca, the junction of the oviduct and the large intestine. It can keep coming out further and further. She may have had a prolapse first, then the tissue may have been pulled out more and damaged.
For the Epsom salts bath you can use 1/4 to 1/2 cup in a dishpan size tub of warm water. Try to rub off the blood as best as you can. Trim whatever you need to. Rub any dark or infected looking tissue off with a rag after soaking for awhile ro soften it. Apply the preparation H or honey to the red tissue, and keep it moist.
This hen is in pretty rough shape and you may need to put her down if you feel that she is not improving. Take more pictures tomorrow after she is cleaned. If she is eating, drinking, and acting alert, that is a good sign. But even though it may hurt, I would attempt to push it in, and hold it there for a few minutes. I just worry that there may be too much hanging out to get back inside.

 

[realsis]

Above the advice from eggessive is right on target! I would follow that to a tee. I also wanted to say how sorry I am that this has happened! I recently lost one that was a internal layer. She suffered with female issues her whole life bless her heart, and finally it got too much . It just breaks my heart that vets charge so much ! I mean, who can afford that kind of money? Not me! I've tried my best to read as much as I can about the health but we can only try. Its in God's hands after that. Please keep us posted about her condition. I really hope she recovers! Poor thing! It does look as if something got ahold of the tissue and pulled it the rest of the way out to be so severe. Chickens will do that if they notice blood or tissue on another bird. They sometimes kill or even eat at the sight of blood. That could be what happened. I wish you the very best and sincerely hope she fully recovers. Keep us posted.

 

[5lovelyhens]

Thank you so much guys! So I should just gently try to push it back in? Do I just do it with 1 finger or what?

 

[Eggcessive]

Sorry for the late response. Normally a prolapse is sticking out about an inch or inch and a half. That is pushed back inside with some lubricant. If there are several inches sticking out, I would just try to see if any will go in. It may be too swollen or damaged but you could try. It is hard to see details in the pictures. I wish I could help you do this. Many of these injured chickens won't make it, or may need to be put down. I hope she can be saved.

 

[Beekissed]

Even if you get it to go back in, this chicken will die. The attachments that suspend her oviduct in place so that it will receive an egg are broken or it would not be out of her body that far. That means, even if you put it back in, it cannot receive an egg. The egg will release from the ovary nonetheless, which will put it out into the abdomen where it will be considered a foreign body....ascites will soon be evident as fluid collects around the object causing inflammation in the abdomen. As each egg releases from the ovary, more and more abdominal discomfort and fluid will collect. Why put her through that?

It would be far more merciful to put this bird down.