Prolapsed vent
Posted: Wed Mar 13, 2019 10:20 pm
I found one of my girls with a prolapsed vent about a month ago. It was just luck that I was off on this particular morning and I sat down in the coop to observe everyone and noticed Stella walking funny and stopping to strain every now and then. I thought she might have a stuck egg as she had been having some issues over the previous month or so. She had not molted in fall and had continued to lay eggs although some were rubber eggs (no shell), some were misshaped, some were laid from her perch at night and others (the majority) were normal. In hind-site I probably should have tried to force a molt to get her to take a break. One too many rubber eggs resulted in a nasty prolapsed vent that refused to stay inside. It was protruding about 2 inches and every time I attempted to gently push it back in she would freak out and bare down and push with all her might. I did everything that Google told me to do for the next 2 days - warm water Epsom soaks, prep H, cortisone cream, dark and quiet room, keep pushing it back in... She would fight me and it would take several minutes to get her to calm down and it would stay in until she pooped or just moved the wrong way and once it was out it stayed out until I pushed it in again. After 2 1/2 days of this she had developed a fairly large, dry scab on the protrusion (which is basically a death sentence) I finally figured out a simple diaper that would keep her vent moist if not in place. I should have taken a picture but when I was in the middle of all this I didn't think of it. I used 4" wide vet wrap and wrapped it around her "waist". Then took a second piece and stuck one end perpendicular on the belt and wrapped it over her vent to the other side. I put two pieces of 3"x3" gauze with prep H applied into the portion against her vent. Then I wrapped a second piece around her "waist" to effectively lock the vet wrap ends together so she couldn't pick at it and get herself out of it. She did still in it so it needed checked and changed as frequently as I was able. I took her to the vet on day 4 and when we took her diaper off her prolapse was inside and didn't come out despite some poking and prodding of her abdomen. The doc gave her a shot in case an underlying infection was what caused the laying issue in the first place OR having her insides hanging out had caused an infection after the fact and he told me to keep doing what I was doing. Stella continued to prolapse for another 5 days most of the times she pooped. The diaper managed to help encourage it back in and that continued to improve. When her vent stopped leaking liquid I knew we were in the clear. She was in the house for 2 weeks recovering from this. She hasn't laid an egg since the one that caused her to prolapse and she had a pretty hard molt for a Cochin. I transitioned her back outside and everything was going great until I found her hiding in a nesting box with blood on her back. A nasty barred rock had plucked all the pin feathers from her back. Back inside she came. Stella actually loves being an only house-chicken. She perches on my treadmill to sleep...I finally found a good use for it! I hope you never have to deal with a prolapse but if you do I hope this helps. That diaper saved Stella and it would be my first go-to if I experience this issue again.