Prolapse :-(

[dave45]

Our best layer, a White Star laid an egg on Saturday and then suffered a prolapse - her insides were hanging out of her bum. She wasn't happy. Read in a book to clean it up and push it back in. (First catch your chicken). Eventually achieved this and released her but within 20 seconds it was hanging out again. Repeated the procedure and put her in a box and took her back to the place we got her (Happychicks!).. The lady there said we'd done ok and she'll probably recover.... but will she still be a good layer - or lay at all? (a Bulgarian friend's mum says not)... anyone any experience?

She's staying at Happychicks for a holiday from egg-laying.

[becks77]

Oh no, no experience sorry, but hope you're all feeling better soon

[red]

ew nasty.

tbh I would imagine she will always have problems now.. but no actual experience.

[Bonniegirl]

It may well happen again when she lays an egg. You will need to thing seriously about euthanasing her if it does. Did you give her any anti-biotics? I would be inclined to, even cleaned those vents can pick up plenty of bacteria.

[sortanormalish]

Sorry, I would be VERY surprised if it didn't happen again. And as she is a White Star you have to ask yourself if she is valuable as a brooder. You can't very well stop her from laying eggs if she gets the urge, so what is in her best interest? Before passing her peacefully onward, I would wait until it happens again. (Despite my painfully practical farm upbringing, it seems only fair.)

[Millymollymandy]

It happened to one of my ducks but by morning she was fine. I read up all about it, rushed out and got some KY jelly but it hasn't happened again. She's mostly laying soft shelled eggs now and is obviously at the end of her laying years, but does occasionally manage a proper egg. So it's possible that the hen will be OK. I hope so.

[rickkerri]

Hi

We also had a white star who had exactly the same thing - 2 years later she is still going strong and is still a very good layer. The secret I found with the prolapse was haemorriod gel and holding the finger inside the vent for a couple of minutes as it then seemed to settle and relax. She still very occasionally does have a prolapse, sometimes righting itself and sometimes with a helping hand! but generally has been a very healthy chicken - don't give up hope to soon, it only really becomes a problem if the other hens start to peck it, although sometimes the cockeral helps in aiding it back in!!!!! x good luck x

[dave45]

haha - I never thought of the cockerel angle ! (we don't have one)

I'll update this thread when I have more info....

[Millymollymandy]

When I googled I found references to people talking about using pile cream but that isn't the right product to use. A prolapse isn't enlarged veins hanging out like piles - it is the vent (or cloaca) itself turned inside out, and sometimes other insidey bits too! You should use KY jelly or other similar water based lubricant to keep the prolapsed bits moist, or they can dry out and then wither and die. Make sure you feed lots of calcium in the form of crushed oyster shell as calcium is very important for the egg forming and passing process.

For more info google prolapse and egg binding - there's lots of info out there including on vet sites.

This one is good - shows a parrot but same thing. http://www.avianweb.com/Prolapse.htm

[dave45]

she was our best layer and the wisdom seems to be that she needs a rest from laying to recover and restore the elasticity of her "female bits". I think we caught her pretty quick so I am optimistic. But what do I know? We've only being doing chickens for 13 months, and this is our first real problem. She also failed to moult (unlike the other 4), and looked very scruffy, so maybe she'll take this opportunity and restore herself. Our other 4 chickens all look very healthy and fluffy after moulting (when they all looked very tatty indeed)

[dave45]

She is back with us now (her bum is bright purple from Gentian Violet antiseptic). She has been on antibiotics at Happychicks but still isn't well. Seems weak and shaky like after an illness, and retracts her head into her shoulders and looks very sad and submissive for long periods. But her eyes are bright and she seems to be recovering. We're having to try and keep her away from the others who want to peck at the purple bits despite the Happychicks lady saying that chickens can't see purple.

Does she have to re-establish herself in the pecking order after an absence? She had a full-on confrontation yesterday with one of the others... squawking and flapping - so she's well enough to "have a go", which I thought was a good sign.
:-)

[becks77]

That is good news that she is back with you, so pleased for you all

[Millymollymandy]

Does she have to re-establish herself in the pecking order after an absence? She had a full-on confrontation yesterday with one of the others... squawking and flapping - so she's well enough to "have a go", which I thought was a good sign.
:-)

Sorry she's not too well, did she not lay after this episode? I didn't think they could necessarily 'turn off' the egg laying process just because they had one prolapse?

I read somewhere that if you take away a hen from a flock then after 3 days they need to re-establish themselves in the pecking order as the others won't recognise the hen. But when one of mine was in solitary for a week there was no trouble at all and they all recognised each other and got on with their henny little lives as per normal.

[dave45]

and indeed she got on with her henny little life for a few days, happily scratching about and guzzling all the worms I threw in her direction (no eggs though).

Then on saturday - repeat performance... her bits hanging out again... pushed them back in 5 times - straight out again within seconds every time.

Took her back to happychicks for another recuperation.... its not looking good.

:-(

[Millymollymandy]

Oh dear, sorry about that. Poor henny.