Prolapsed Vent in hen-Chicken fine...

We had noticed that one of the large Cuckoo Maran hens has a prolapsed vent. My husband stuck it back in and put some Preperation H on it after cleaning her vent with witch hazel. Shortly after she was sitting in her nest. It is cosy and private so we thought that she would be ok. She came walking out and I noticed that the strawberry sized vent protusion was now the size of a child's fist. She had tried to lay an egg and it was caught in the vent that had prolapsed. We had cut her food rations yesterday as I read that it might help stop the egg producing cycle. It obviously didn't work. My husband gently guided the egg out and again cleaned her up and put Prep H plus an antibiotic cream that we had and has put her in the coop in a dog carrier with water, vitamins and calcium. Has any one else experienced this? Will it correct itself or will she need to be culled...she's a beautiful hen and I wouldn't care if she never laid again, but I don't want her to suffer. Is there anything else that we can do? We have no vet on the coast that is knowledgable about ducks and chickens. Any advice?

update...2 weeks have passed and she is doing well (touch woood!)

I think a lot of times when no one responds its because they dont have anything usefull to add. I would say cull, a hen lays continually, theres no time for her to heal. Sorry to hear of your troubles!

Often once they prolapse there is nothing you can do because it will reoccur. They prolapse because of the size of eggs they lay and as far as I know there is nothing you can do to shrink their eggs once they get that big.
You can do the food restriction, also water restriction to a point, when chickens run out of food and water they go into survival mode and will stop laying, so that is what I would do if you want to try to save her now, but once she starts laying again there is a high percent she will just prolapse again.
Sorry.

You also posted this to another forum. Many of us, me included read your post there and posted an opinion. I usually don't like double posting the same response or saying to the person, "Go read my response, ect, ect." I just figure since it is the same poster then they will read it there when they check for responses.

That's just me.

Thanks for the response Toybaron, I meant to say that yesterday. When I got no response here, i did post on another site. I think that when someone posts in the advice column they may not just want advice, but maybe want to know that they aren't out there alone. We are fairly new to chickens and ducks and want to do what is best for our birds. I was panicing when I saw the vent, intestine or whatever, sticking out. My husband was so cool and did his best, removing the egg, using witch hazel to steralize her and using the Preperation H and easing it back in. What I don't understand is that she is a big bird (about 6 or 7 lbs) and her eggs are not huge...maybe 2.2 ounces. We have isolated her and are feeding her small amounts of feed with yogurt and small amounts of water. We are also giving her an oral antibiotic. She has laid 2 eggs since. All is well for the time being...

Glad to hear all is going well, I just remembered something else, not exactly cheirfull, but... I had to put a hen down this spring, and I'm 99% positive she had a tumor in that area, so watch for any "unusual" lumps. Just wondered if the space taken up by a tumour might be putting pressure on the vent and causeing prolaps. Anyway, glad to hear shes doing okay!

Glad to hear your hen is doing better cuckoomama. Understand how you felt. If you do a search on any poultry forum, there are loads of topics on prolapse. Most of us have been there at least once.

I have found that the size of the egg really doesn't matter in causing a prolapse. I have seen a pea sized egg cause a hen to struggle to lay it. It has more to do with the hardness of the shell. Softshell and no-shell eggs are notorious for causing prolapse.

cuckoomama wrote:Thanks for the response Toybaron, I meant to say that yesterday. When I got no response here, i did post on another site. I think that when someone posts in the advice column they may not just want advice, but maybe want to know that they aren't out there alone. We are fairly new to chickens and ducks and want to do what is best for our birds. I was panicing when I saw the vent, intestine or whatever, sticking out. My husband was so cool and did his best, removing the egg, using witch hazel to steralize her and using the Preperation H and easing it back in. What I don't understand is that she is a big bird (about 6 or 7 lbs) and her eggs are not huge...maybe 2.2 ounces. We have isolated her and are feeding her small amounts of feed with yogurt and small amounts of water. We are also giving her an oral antibiotic. She has laid 2 eggs since. All is well for the time being...

May I just say, Kudos to you and your husband!
It feels good to be who and what we are.

Loving all earth's creatures, (regardsless of cost and effort)

Tim