Vent gleek and prolapsed vent

[Patntiff]

Will give her another bath in the morning and see if its a lash or not. Then get more aggressive cleaning and trying to get it back in. She is still alert.

 

[Wyorp Rock]

Will give her another bath in the morning and see if its a lash or not. Then get more aggressive cleaning and trying to get it back in. She is still alert.

It's good that she is alert.
Encourage her to drink. You may want to give her some extra calcium as well. 1/2 tablet of Caltrate (or store brand) or 1 TUMS works well. Calcium with help with contractions and retention when the swelling goes down.

I'm hoping that is not lash material and just some dried crusty poop, but you never know.
Please keep us posted.

 

[Patntiff]

She looks worse today. Prolapse doubled in size. Gave her a long salt bath. Then massaged the area and noticed it was hard. Gave it a little squeeze and this large white...thing dripped out. (second pic) Gross. Smelled terrible and nearly threw up!. Kept cleaning her. Gave her a blow dry and used silver cream. (all pics are post removal of the "stuff".

 

[Eggcessive]

Wow, Wyorp Rock was right on the money that that was a lash egg. She should feel better with that out. Lash eggs are products of salpingitis, an inflammation and infection of the oviduct, and when you cut them in half, they look like egg material. She could use antibiotics for sure, although they may or may not make a difference in her whole outcome. Here is some reading about salpingitis:
https://the-chicken-chick.com/salpingitis-lash-eggs-in-backyard/

 

[Patntiff]

Wow, Wyorp Rock was right on the money that that was a lash egg. She should feel better with that out. Lash eggs are products of salpingitis, an inflammation and infection of the oviduct, and when you cut them in half, they look like egg material. She could use antibiotics for sure, although they may or may not make a difference in her whole outcome. Here is some reading about salpingitis:
https://the-chicken-chick.com/salpingitis-lash-eggs-in-backyard/

So that is what a lash egg looks like? What now?

 

[Eggcessive]

She could pass others or she might have some inside her abdomen. If you read the article, it is usually caused by an infection which has crept up the oviduct from the vent area. This is a very common reproductive disorder. Most of the time we don’t discover this until we butcher or do a necropsy on a hen after death. I have only seen one lash egg in 8 years when I did a necropsy on a hen who died.

I would get some antibiotics online or from your vet and treat her for salpingitis. Baytril is one that is used, and you can find it here with dosage in post 3:
https://www.backyardchickens.com/threads/baytril-enrofloxacin-sources.959119/

 

[Patntiff]

She could pass others or she might have some inside her abdomen. If you read the article, it is usually caused by an infection which has crept up the oviduct from the vent area. This is a very common reproductive disorder. Most of the time we don’t discover this until we butcher or do a necropsy on a hen after death. I have only seen one lash egg in 8 years when I did a necropsy on a hen who died.

I would get some antibiotics online or from your vet and treat her for salpingitis. Baytril is one that is used, and you can find it here with dosage in post 3:
https://www.backyardchickens.com/threads/baytril-enrofloxacin-sources.959119/

From the article attached there is little chance she will live even with antibiotics.

 

[Wyorp Rock]

I was afraid of that

@Eggcessive has given you good information.
Some people do choose to treat the infection and see how it goes. A lot would depend on what your chicken keeping practices are. To some chickens are pets, to others they are livestock or sometimes it somewhere in between. There's no right/wrong way.

There is no cure for Salpingitis, but some have been able to treat the infection for a while. She may have more lash material backed up inside her and to me she has some swelling/"baggage" underneath the vent which might indicate that she also may have lash material, fluid or egg matter in the abdomen as well.

If you want to continue to treat her, I would get her on some antibiotics. Keep working on the prolapse as well. It looks like some of the tissue might be fairly hard and you will want to keep ointment on that and work to see if that's hardened poop/urates or necrotic/dried up tissue. Soaking and slathering on your ointment and try to keep her rinsed a couple of times a day to remove accumulated poop.

If she is livestock, you use hens for production or even if time restraints/family commitments, etc. will make this a hardship, then it would be kinder to put her down. She will require daily care for a while to even see if you can get the prolapse reduced and back inside and get her better.

I'm not trying to be a downer here, it's reality. I think most of us have had a hen that we've had to make decisions over or we will at some point. I would want someone to tell me the truth so I can make better decisions about what is right for the chicken and me.

Take time to do some research/reading about Salpingitis, prolapses, etc.
Please keep us posted and Thank you very much for the photos and update.

 

[Eggcessive]

Here are a variety of articles about lash eggs and salpingitis to read when you have time:
http://www.poultrydvm.com/condition/salpingitis

https://www.merckvetmanual.com/poultry/disorders-of-the-reproductive-system/salpingitis-in-poultry

http://www.thepoultrysite.com/diseaseinfo/134/salpingitis/

https://www.countryliving.com/life/kids-pets/a44315/chicken-lays-lash-egg-salpingitis/

 

[Patntiff]

Thank you all so much for taking the time to help. We have 15 girls and they are pets as well. We have had a couple things happen over our first two years doing this. We have gone to great lengths with vets and drugs and treatment......I will read more and figure out what to do but with a full time job that keeps me out of town and a wife busy with family I am leaning toward putting her down. We just don't want her in pain nor living in a cage in that garage.

Thank you for being blunt, 21 Years a Marine..I like blunt!