Very Very bad prolasped vent- help!

[JenniferC]

Hi,

I'd really like some advice.

I left my dog and chickens with a housesitter for a couple weeks, and wouldn't ya know it- they started laying, finally. The thing is that one got really hurt- and I'm fairly concerned she won't make it.

When I "treated" her this mornings, she had gunk stuck to her entire back side, and hanging off in clumps. I used a paper towel to pull of the largest clump, which had an egg in it- covered in feathers and poop and blood. Then I saw that she had another egg stuck in her distended vent behind it, but that she did did not seem able to push it out. So I squeezed the distended skin and got the egg out. Later I tried to soften all the matted bedding stuck to her underside, but ended up just using eyelid scizzors to cut most of it away.

She is a full size cochin.

At first she was just huddling close to the heat lamp in their coop shaking, but before I had to leave for work she had ventured out. However as I was leaving I noticed that she was not joining the other chickens, but edging behind some bushes. She wasn't grooming herself like the others.

I feel rotten. Her vent is distended and has some tuissue hanging out. There's bood and some discharge. I't's basically a bad prolapse, and I don't know if she will or can recover. Cochnis only lay a couple eggs a week, or so I hear, so this impaction must have been going on for a while for her to have 2 eggs- one stuck to her butt, and the other still inside it.

My guess is that the first egg she layed was runny or broken, which stuck to her fuzziness, and as it snowed they stayed in their (not terribly big or tall) coop and she managed to hetr bedding and poop stuck in the runny egg. The matted hair was like glue!

Anyway- I'm going to wait to see how she looks when I get home, but I wonder if I should euthanize her. I'm not sure if a checken can recover from something like this.

As I said- the injury is distended, torn and bleeding. She is still pooping, but it is runny, and I'm not sure if she is eating/drinking or not.

Any advice?

 

[JennsPeeps]

1. Separate her from the others. They will pick at the prolapsed vent and kill her. It sounds like you've already cleaned her up.

2. Put her in a warm, dark place, and keep her calm. Give her food and water.

3. Use Preparation H with witch hazel to gently push the prolapse back in . The Prep H will help tighten the tissue. You'll need to keep doing this for several days. It might get better and it might not. You may have to put her down if it doesn't get better.

Keep us posted. <hugs>

ETA per dlhunicorn's post to remove incorrect advice

 

[maymiegirl]

Are you keeping the vent area moist with vaseline or prep H cream? It needs to stay lubricated because of the other egg that is still in there. Preparation H will help take the inflammation down and to make her comfortable. Once the inflammation is down she should pass the second egg.

She really needs a vet. Give her antibiotic crumbles in her feed or place her on a program for 5 to 7 days--maybe longer. She can very easily develop an infection--in fact, she most-likely will--so she needs antibiotics ASAP.

Is she eating and drinking? If not, you may need to feed her with a syringe or dropper so you can give her the antibiotics.

 

[JenniferC]

On the plus side- there is no egg still stuck in there. I got it out this morning.

On the down side, I'm stuck at work right now, so I can't do anything for her till I get home.

I really think I'm going to have to put her down. It would be one thing if this just happened yesterday- but given her state when I cleaned her, this had been going on a while.

The nice thing is that the other chickens have not started pecking her. They are a Brahma and a Cochin and she was the alpha till now.

I've read several posts saying that a healthy chicken can bounce back from this, but I did not get the sense this morning that she is a healthy chicken at this point. She was certainly healthy before this, but now she has been impacted for who knows how long- several days at least. She seemed is pretty bad shape this morning.

 

[silkiechicken]

Best of luck. You'll know what is best for your bird.

If it is really really really a pet, it is possible to get a hysterectomy on a chicken, however, without one, chances are she may prolapse again if she does make it. Sorry

 

[JenniferC]

Another thing- I wonder if there is a genetic/physical tendency here. This chicken has a very short body- much squatter than my other 2. I suppose it's hard to know.

 

[JenniferC]

I made a vet appointment. I do think I'll put her down, though. I'd hate for this to happen again if I was out of town.

I just feel bad seeing her suffer, and I don't want the others to kill her (though it's hard to imagine that as they are so very docile.

Ugh. Why did she have to start laying when I was out of town? I wonder if the reflection of the snow made it brighter outside. I thought they wouldn't lay till spring with it so dark around here.

 

[silkiechicken]

Could be genetic, deveopmental, and dietary related.

First time layers are subject to lots of stresses inside, and is a common point in life where they don't make it, other than their chick days.

One thing to keep an eye out for, on either new layers or older birds that are starting to lay in the spring, is how fatty they are. A "fat" bird will have fatty material around their ovaries and reproductive tracts, which can increase risk of prolapse if they have to push too hard to get an egg out.

 

[dlhunicorn]

I am glad you made an appt with your vet...
As this may occur again with another bird, please put the bird in a shallow warm bath next time to clean her up... let her soak a bit and then try to gently untangle (or as you already did, cut away with scissors if that proves unfeasable)... you must be very carefully clipping or pulling off clumps as if there is a prolapse. it might damage the tissue and then infection will be the result.

I'd reduce her calcium intake if possible.

no... a vet will give a shot of calcium gluconate in eggbound birds... an emergency substitute for this (I read this in the vet literature) is to crush up a TUM and give that.​

 

[JennsPeeps]

Quote:
no... a vet will give a shot of calcium gluconate in eggbound birds... an emergency substitute for this (I read this in the vet literature) is to crush up a TUM and give that.

Thanks for the correction on this, DLH! Mea culpa & I'll edit my original post.