Chicken bald back

[Claireabella]

Just as everything seemed to be going well, I noticed today that Fleur had a bit of a messy bottom and didn't seem as active as usual. I gave her a check over and I think she has a small prolapse (hard to describe, but her vent was open with 'two visible lumps'). Well, I immediately panicked .

 

I have washed the area beneath her vent to clean the dirty feathers and so I could get a better look and I was all prepared to push the prolapse back in (with shaking hands) but when I went to do it, she closed her vent and it went back inside I didn't want to mess with her any further as she was struggling in my arms, so she is now in a dog crate in a dark room and she has slept since about 5pm. She has some corn (to try and prevent her from laying) and water. I'm going to check her vent again in the morning. Has anyone else had any experience with this and is there anything else I should do until I can get her to the vet?

[Flowerpot]

Yes Claireabella I have with Rosietoo

She started laying eggs that were just so big that she had a prolapse. One of my first hens - Rosie - died with a prolapse so I was distraught thinking Rosietoo was going to go the same way.

What happened was that the other hens removed the eggs for her. It was amazing to see and at first I couldn't believe it! the prolapse went back on its own once the eggs had been removed. I fed her with corn which she loves more than the layers pellets to try and stop her from laying any more eggs. She has continued to lay - bless her- but the eggs have gone back to just being large rather than enormous!

At the moment she is doing fine.

I didn't separate her from the others because they seemed to be looking after her better than I could.

I think you are doing all you can.

It seems to me that they just want to lay eggs no matter what so just keep an eye on her. To be absolutely honest I prayed for her as well - I couldn't bear loosing another one of my girls!

Flowerpot

[Beantree]

Sometimes they appear to partially prolapse but it goes back in on its own Claireabella. We had one like that last week. When it is a full prolapse there is no way it will go in without intervention. You can put her on a wheat only diet for a few weeks as a precaution if you like. That will give any damage chance to heal. In our case it wasn't necessary because she went broody immediately afterwards and hasn't laid since.

[Claireabella]

Thank you Flowerpot and Beantree. I think it must have been a partial prolapse because her vent looked ok again yesterday. It has become apparent that she is not well though. She is drinking lots of water but not interested in food and she only ate a little sweet corn yesterday. Her crop was still visible this morning and distended. I'm not sure how as she is only really drinking water? Could it be an impacted crop that I have missed? Of course, with only water going in, she is only pooing water

 

I just don't know what it could be now. She is standing by the drinker, just drinking and drinking as I write.

 

Thanks for your help.

[Beantree]

Sounds like an impaction to me Claireabella. As she is drinking a lot just massage her crop regularly and see how you get on.

[Claireabella]

Thanks for your help Beantree. Just thought I'd post a quick update. I kept her in the house so I could keep an eye on her for a few nights last week and she woke up with sticky eyes on Wednesday (horrible yellow stuff) so I immediately thought she had an infection of some sort - perhaps respiratory. We went off to the vets who couldn't see any signs of respiratory distress but thought it was something infectious and prescribed Baytril for 7 days. I mentioned her crop but it was full of water at the time as she was drinking lots, so couldn't really detect any impaction. The vet thought her vent may have been open because of a temperature rather than a prolapse.

 

She seemed at deaths door at the vets but after a week of antibiotics, Avipro plus in the water and TLC she seems much better - not 100% yet and she still hasn't laid an egg but I think she is getting there . Just a quick question, but would antibiotics affect her laying and cause slight diarrhea?

[Beantree]

She won't lay unless she feels 100% Claireabella and there will be a minimum 28 day egg withdrawal period anyway, so any eggs will need binning. I can't recollect diarrhoea with antibiotics. The poo is fairly normal once the stuff starts working, but is rather green. Her gut flora will have been stripped out by the antibiotic and help with replacing them is good in speeding recovery. We give ours some natural probiotic yoghurt after 48 of treatment finishing. Even better is Beryl's Tonic.