[Violetsprite]

I've just found one of my bantam hens with blood on her feet & beak and looking puffed up and sorry for herself. When i picked her up and took a look underneath i found she appears to have suffered a prolapse - there is at least an inch of blood & insides protruding out. There are no signs of a bloody egg anywhere and i'm wondering if a different breed (either guinea or pheasant) have had a go and been too much for her? (They have occasionally hatched what we call Phantams before now - crossed bantams & pheasants so i know it's possible). Anyway she's so tiny that i don't want to try poking around - i've only ever had this once before and that was in a duck and sadly it wouldn't stay put and became infected. I have her indoors with food & water and she's standing but sorry looking. Any advice would be much appreciated - i'm pretty worried for her  .

[lord flynn]

afraid I would be putting her out of her misery tbh.

[Violetsprite]

Thanks - i guess that's what i feared but thought someone might have been able to relate a success story - oh dear 

[lord flynn]

I think some people probably have had some success but to my mind, its not worth the pain/distress to the animal or the vets bill to me. Huge risk of infection this time of year as well.
I am sorry about your bantam, its always sad when you lose one. I lost a lovely Scots Grey pullet to prolapse earlier this year-that was definitely a prolapse though.

[Mammyshaz]

I replaced a prolapse in one of our hens by gently pushing the flesh back in and feeling inside to check the tunnel still viable. There were bits of egg shell stuck which I cleaned off. She recovered and started laying again but had several more attempts at prolapsing at later dates and ended up with egg peritonitis.
I think trying once is viable as it may never happen again but any more than that will be a recurring problem and unfair to the hen.

I feel for you.  It's a hard decision to try or to let her go 

[Violetsprite]

Thanks to you both - my husband has done a great job of cleaning her up and pushing back in - the blood was all external - possibly her or other birds having a go at the prolapse and missing  We've sprayed the area and put her back on her own in a clean indoor environment - at the moment she seems a lot more perky but i completely agree that if it happens again we won't give it another go. Thanks for the comments - isn't it always the favourite ones!

[Fanackapan]

If the prolapse pushes back in , sometimes the cream you use for human piles , can help. It encourages everything to shrink back in and hold in place or another thing that the vet advises as 1st aid is to use sugar water on the prolapse after you have cleaned the area , as that also causes shrinkage.
Advice sometimes is given to dietary change as the layer pellets will keep encouraging her to lay and ideally you want her to have a time off lay for everything to settle and firm up.
I have taken 2 hens to the vet to get a purse stitch put in to hold everything in place and for a short time it worked but in the case of both hens they did prolapse again after a couple of months.  Tough sometimes isn't it ?

[Violetsprite]

Ooh - good advice about pellets - hadn't thought of that but obvious when someone tells you  . Thanks again!

[Eve]

I've had success with gently easing a prolapse back in - applying the haemorrhoid cream was the tricky bit as it stuck to the glove instead of the bird    I've dealt with 3 prolapse cases, all three were fine afterwards and went back into lay fairly quickly - two were fairly  recent but one of them it was quite some time ago. But there was little or no blood, so perhaps mine were lucky?


Good luck 

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Hi there. I had a similar thing happen to one of my chickens recently.I found her shocked and hunched in the coop, obviously one of the others had had a go at her and there was blood everywhere. I separated her and cleaned the area with salt water, then put haemorrhoid cream on the area. I put a sheet over her pen to try and prevent her laying, took her off the layers, giving her a corn mix instead, and left her for the night. The next day she was perkier and she improved steadily. She made a full recovery, but I didn't re-introduce her till the area was completely healed, and she went into a coop with other hens and a cockerel, as I was hoping he might discourage bullying. She's fine now, settled and laying. Hope your little one recovers-I really feel for you. I love my chooks dearly, and every one is precious. Good luck and best wishes-Linda

[chrismahon]

I've posted a success story on www.poultrykeeperforum.com under the heading 'Elisa's Prolapse'. Takes patience and persistence and it was helped by her being young. Start by isolation and a clean up. The prolapse needs to be reinserted with a lubricated finger and importantly you need to keep your finger in there for a minute and let the natural muscle spasms move it into the right place. Put it back as many times as necessary. Small application of Anusol once a day as well. She must be on a wheat only diet to stop her laying while she is being treated. Elisa (a TNN) was prolapsed for a week and the kept isolated and on wheat for another two at least. She is fine now- broody again of course as TNN's usually are.