Vent prolapse isnt staying in

[ackie]

Hi! I'm too distracted to do this paragraph style so I'll just answer all the questions.

1) What type of bird , age and weight (does the chicken seem or feel lighter or thinner than the others.)
American Game/Orpington barnyard mix. Not old and I dont think it's her first spring laying but I couldnt put money on that. Shes normal size compared to her clutchmates.

2) What is the behavior, exactly.
yesterday afternoon I noticed that she had a big red something hanging out of her butt. I free range so I had to wait until nighttime to catch her. I followed instructions for treating prolapse (here and here), briefly manually pooping her, soaking her butt in clean water, cleaning off the prolapse the best I could, applying diluted betadine & hydrocortisone cream, and using a water-based lube to push it back in. it took a lot of work to get it in the first time but since then it's been less difficult to get back in. however it IS continuously popping back out. I have tried holding it in place for several minutes and (dont panic) supergluing the left- and right-most parts of the opening to try to get her hole more of a reasonable size so maybe it wouldn't come back out again. (this was after several other attempts & I left plenty of room for pooping & superglue is not very permanent at all on moist flesh like that) but alas her insides are still on her outsides.

3) How long has the bird been exhibiting symptoms?
I noticed it yesterday afternoon but I do not regularly inspect them.

4) Are other birds exhibiting the same symptoms?
Nope

5) Is there any bleeding, injury, broken bones or other sign of trauma.
See #2.

6) What happened, if anything that you know of, that may have caused the situation.
She passed an egg membrane sometime between midnight and noon today.

7) What has the bird been eating and drinking, if at all.
AFAIK her usual diet of layer pellets & whatever she finds free range including access to the compost pile.

8) How does the poop look? Normal? Bloody? Runny? etc.
normal. good honestly.

9) What has been the treatment you have administered so far?
see #2
also crushed up a tums in water and gave her some.

10 ) What is your intent as far as treatment? For example, do you want to treat completely yourself, or do you need help in stabilizing the bird til you can get to a vet?
completely treat.

11) If you have a picture of the wound or condition, please post it. It may help.

12) Describe the housing/bedding in use
free-range, sleeps in pen at night with dirt/leaf floor & has skinny tree branches as perches.

 

[Lenny loves chickens]

Have you tried pushing back in after you clean and give a warm soak with Epsom salt

 

[Eggcessive]

It can take some time for a prolapse to stay inside. Some people here are still trying to do that after a few days to a week. Honey or sugar paste can help with swelling. Just make sure to keep the prolapse moist with oil or the honey so that it doesn’t dry out.

 

[ackie]

good to know that it not staying in is normal-ish

 

[ackie]

the opening is just very unfortunate-looking

and the tissue of the prolapse isnt red/pink, its greyish.

pic taken after I pushed it in again but shes expelled it again already as soon as I set her upright in her cage.

I've been putting honey or hydrocortisone on it when I mess with it. how often should I be trying to push it in? my SO was thinking maybe I'm just stretching the opening again and again?

 

[Lenny loves chickens]

the opening is just very unfortunate-looking

and the tissue of the prolapse isnt red/pink, its greyish.

pic taken after I pushed it in again but shes expelled it again already as soon as I set her upright in her cage.

View attachment 3048128


I've been putting honey or hydrocortisone on it when I mess with it. how often should I be trying to push it in? my SO was thinking maybe I'm just stretching the opening again and again?

I would say 2-3 times a day

 

[Liz Birdlover]

Just had this happen with one of my older EE hens this past week.
1st I soaked her bum in lukewarm water, filled my bathroom sink & gently lowered her in. I already had her cradled in my arms, on her back so just gently lowered her in while 1 hand held her legs & my other hand under her back & wings so she wouldn't flap. My birds are fairly tame & used to me holding them, turning them around from bottom down to bottom up, cradled like a baby this way, so this is when that camaraderie really comes in handy!

You can put a bit of Epsom salt or gentle soap in the water, not much though. I soaked her gently & cleaned her whole bum area, poopy feathers, etc., draining & refilling the sink several times. I actually did gently remove a few feathers by her vent, they sort came out on their own. This soaking took about an hour, but getting her clean, & getting that prolapse rehydrated was essential. The prolapse looked gross, it's the 1st one I have ever dealt with on a chicken.

At 1st there was some blood visible in the water, even some pink tissue, yeah gross & worrisome but apparently normal...who knows how long it was hanging out (wasn't like that at 6am, but there it was hanging at 6pm, after work that day) and who knows who else was pecking at it, as it was hanging out all day (hence the bleeding & bits of tissue).

Anyway, after several sinks full of warm soaking, the water was staying clean, which meant she was clean. I sprayed the bum area & prolapse with Vetericyn & then rinsed again gently with water.
By now she was so relaxed & loving the luxury, thank goodness & I managed not to throw up .

Then I sat her on my lap on a big clean towel & proceeded to gently try to ease & push the prolapse back inside.
Yeah, a slippery thing that kept popping & slipping back out. This is no easy feat, let me tell ya, You are trying to be gentle and she's just pushing that thing right back out, like she's giving birth! All I can say is, you gotta be gentle, patient and very persistent. Like whatever else I had to do that night...it didn't get done, she was priority. Seriously, I kid you not, she sat on my lap for an hour, and as I finally got it in, only to have it slip and pop back, having to rehydrate in the sink & start over.

Once I finally gently got it to go in, I noticed the vent sort of resembles a great big eyelid... I just kind of took my fingers to close most of the "eyelid looking vent" if you can envision that. I didn't keep the whole thing closed, just in case she had to poop, but luckily she did not. I guess I closed her vent with my fingers leaving enough so that I could probably stick my pinky finger in there, just in case she needed to poop. We sat like that for quite a long while.

She was an excellent patient, sat sweetly on my lap, even closed her eyes as if she was going to take a nap. The whole process of me cleaning her, getting it back in and sitting on my lap was over 2 hours now.

I set up a fresh towel for her to sleep on, picked fresh chickweed and set up water with a little Apple cider vinegar in it, and gently sat her down. She did nibble at some chickweed and she drank quite a bit of the water. I've heard oregano is also good for drinking water. I checked her bum and was so grateful it did not pop back out!
I watched her for another hour in case she pushed it back out.
I learned from an old timer that if it does keep popping back out, you can get either some honey or regular sugar in the palm of your hand, and slap it on the prolapse, and push it back in, coated in the sugar or honey. Honey might be better, but he said regular crystallized sugar would help as well, if you don't have honey. The man was nearly 80 years old and knew his stuff, so I was ready with honey in case it popped back out, but I never did need to use the honey or the sugar...this time.

I think the feeling of the prolapse must make hens think they have to poop, and perhaps that is why they keep pushing, because something is there, they know it shouldn't be there, and they're trying to poop it out. Once I got the prolapse back in and held it in for quite a while, she stopped feeling like there was something there that needed to be pooped out.

This is the only time I've had this happen with a chicken, so I hope this helps.
I set my chicken up in my shower because because it kept her from being picked on and allowed her a safe quiet space to recover and it was easy to clean up. Luckily, her prolapse never came back out, it's been a few days now and I did put her back out with her group yesterday. She is just as sassy as ever. I don't know why this happened, but she is an older hen and she did lay a huge egg a few days prior to this happening. Perhaps it was all of the straining to lay that great big egg.

Good luck with your hen! I hope all goes well.

 

[ackie]

my hen is not cooperative like yours lol

currently doing a soak

situation at beginning of this session
I manually pooped her & then put her in the water

 

[ackie]

okay so I think I've figured something out. the grey tissue is slowly coming off revealing bright red tissue underneath. I've put honey on it again after cleaning it but I'm not going to try to push it in because I think it needs to lose the grey (dead?) tissue first. I can make time for a longer soak tonight and see how that goes.

 

[Liz Birdlover]

When I was soaking my Hen's prolapse, some blood & little pieces of tissue & little blood clots were floating & when I gently cleaned I noticed it looked odd to me at 1st...almost "wart like" & the "warts" were either pale pink or grey. I was afraid there was tumor growth. I don't know how long my Hen's prolapse was hanging out, though, could've been up to 12 hours because I had to work. I am thinking that when internal tissue is hanging out, other chickens are probably pecking at it, plus it is getting dried out, which probably accounts for looking wart-like or gray dead tissue appearance. As she soaked, it was looking much better and smoother 45 min later & I did have old tissue gunking the sink drain that I had to use some paper towel to get it out. Nasty! I honestly don't know if this was due to pecking injury or maybe she took a dust bath with the prolapse out, and injured herself? It was gross but eventually it did look better after soaking & being cleaned, took an hour just for that.
I've read where some people use PreparationH, but then other sites say not to, so I didn't. I just remembered what I was told to do when this happened to one of my Homing Pigeons years ago. Soak in warm water rinse & repeat til water soak is pretty much clear, he said it can take up to an hour, alot depends on how long it was hanging out & what happened during that time to get injured, dirty or dry out. He said Vetericyn, Epsom salt or saline solution can be used sparingly. It takes quite a bit of trying to gently push it in, he said she'll keep pushing it out so you may need to hold your hand there or close the vent lips like it an eyelid & hold it that way for awhile. Eventually it should stay in but if not, get a palm full of honey or sugar and coat it, then push it in & hold it. He said it may pop out again so repeat the process, it may happen over a few days. In rare cases, some have sewn a temporary stitch but that's sort of a last resort. It may also happen again in the future so always check that hen from now on. Hopefully, both our hens will be ok.