Red Swollen Vent Area, Egg bound?warning: graphic photos

[chickenfriend345]

Hello, my house mate's chicken is acting very unwell. Her vent area is very red and extremely swollen. Her feathers are puffed and she is lethargic. I emailed a vet- but its satruday so not sure if I will get a response. I am caring for my housemate's flock while he tends to an emergency. I have some experience with chickens over the years and have been a vet assistant. I am very comfortable handling and treating animals. If there is anything anyone recommends to bring her some relief I feel capable of attempting it. She is part of an egg laying flock (though they have just started laying).

 

[cherrynberry]

Yikes. I would first wash her bum. Chicken poop can cause irritation to the skin. It will also be easier to tell what you are dealing with. Afterwards, I wiuld coat the area with ORIGINAL neosporin WITHOUT pain relief. It keeps the area moist and helps with infection. I know this is important for prolapses and flystrike, but I am not an expert and I don't know what she has exactly.

I will tag @Wyorp Rock who is an expert in this field and will be able to help you further.

 

[Eggcessive]

I was wondering if she has suffered a prolapsed vent, and if she has been pecked around the vent as well? Can you try to bring her inside and give her a shallow bath in warm soapy water to clean her off and get another pic of the vent. She has some feathers missing around her vent which may have been pecked out. If she has a prolapse, the inside of the vent or cloaca would have slipped out, and it is bright red and needs to not dry out. Separate her, keep the prolapse tissue or injured tissue moist with vaseline or Neosporin so it doesn’t dry. Honey, olive oil, coconut oil, and hydrocortisone creams all could be used instead. Look for any evidence of a broken egg or shell membrane. Here is an article with pictures of prolapsed vents:
https://the-chicken-chick.com/prolapse-vent-causes-treatment-graphic/

 

[chickenfriend345]

Thank you both so much for your replies, I did read the article and found it helpful. After a warm water bath, cutting away the damaged and soiled feathers earlier today, and talking to a few experts it seems that it is a prolapsed oviduct with a full egg inside. So the egg is inside the oviduct but outside her body. We tried for a very long time to reposition the egg so it could come out properly to no avail. The vet said a surgery would maybe be possible but they are not able to do it until Tuesday. I am preparing myself to humanely euthanize her.

 

[Eggcessive]

Oh I am sorry. You can sometimes lubricate the vent, and look for the tiny cloaca opening to manipulate the egg out. Sometimes you can push the egg back inside where she might be able to lay it normally. Here is a video of that:

Do you have a more recent picture? Usually egg bound hens cannot poop. If you think it is just possibly a prolapse, you could treat her and get her drinking and eating, until you could see the vent.

 

[LavenderDaFlerf]

Have you tried gently pushing the egg back in so she can try to lay it normally.

 

[Wyorp Rock]

Have you tried gently pushing the egg back in so she can try to lay it normally.

I'm curious, I have seen this suggestion given several times in the past. Have you ever successfully done this - pushing prolapsed tissue plus an egg back inside the hen and then the egg being laid normally?

 

[Wyorp Rock]

Thank you both so much for your replies, I did read the article and found it helpful. After a warm water bath, cutting away the damaged and soiled feathers earlier today, and talking to a few experts it seems that it is a prolapsed oviduct with a full egg inside. So the egg is inside the oviduct but outside her body. We tried for a very long time to reposition the egg so it could come out properly to no avail. The vet said a surgery would maybe be possible but they are not able to do it until Tuesday. I am preparing myself to humanely euthanize her.

I'm sorry about the hen.
I would take a look at the video that was posted. You might be able to keep working it and find the opening. A few have been able to get the egg out. Others sadly, have lost the their hen. Heartbreaking.

Do the best you can. If you feel she's suffering and in pain, this can't be fixed, then humanely putting her out of her misery is the right thing to do.

 

[chickenfriend345]

Thank you both, and thank you for the video. Unfortunately this hen was in much worse shape. We did try to push it back in gently after being instructed on how to do this. We tried for well over an hour to gently push it back in and reposition it. We could get it back in but not reposition it in a way it could come out. It was a very hard call to know how much to put her through but she seemed so healthy otherwise and was so willing. It seemed clear the egg was stuck in the oviduct (?) wall as we could see the opening was far far to the side and we could not for all our efforts get the egg over to that area. After many more hours of research re: spay and hormones the vet we spoke to who sees a lot of chickens suggested euthanasia. I hope this is a rare occurrence for chickens as it seems so awful for them.

 

[LavenderDaFlerf]

I'm curious, I have seen this suggestion given several times in the past. Have you ever successfully done this - pushing prolapsed tissue plus an egg back inside the hen and then the egg being laid normally?

Yes, I have done this before with one of my buff orpington hens who was egg bound, later she laid it normally. It looked similar to the video that was posted.