Hey.... Lets keep Chickens..!

ionahenor2

Hi Steel if you do give Tuna it has to be in spring water (NO salt in). I do hope she pulls through. It's heartbreaking when they are ill.

There may be someone on Omlet that could give some advice, or there may be a few threads on it. Good luck.

LAM2011

Gosh Steel you are such a good nurse to your chicken. How is she doing now? x

Steel_2

Well...she pops it out, I pop it in, she pops it out, I pop it in etc etc.

I've strapped her bum every night since Saturday night and take the strapping off every morning (I'm up at 5:15am luckily so she doesn't have to wait long).

She's in a dark shed all day and then released for a couple of hours exercise, which seems to mostly involve hanging around the chicken pen having a gossip with the others and rummaging in the bark chip in the nearby willow patch.

I'm concerned that the swelling doesn't seem to be going down with cleaning and four applications of Prep H a day.

Anyone who has any experience of how long this process can go on for I'd appreciate hearing it.

After the first episode of prolapsing 10 days ago she recovered so fast and so easily from it that I'm worried at how long this second time is going on for and how little time the prolapse is staying in each time compared to before.

I really do hope she hasn't lost all the muscle tone in that area and can no longer hold it in.

Edited to add: Just cleaned her up and popped it back in again while distracting her with some food. Noticed that her urates have changed from white to yellow and creamy looking. I'll check again tomorrow, but I wonder if she has an infection...

ljonski

if she gets an infection she is a gonna.

the flesh wont stay in because it is probably damaged.She finds it uncomfortable and ejects it herself. This can be rectified over a 7-10 day period and it is ok to leave it prolapsed for a while.(but not if she mixes with other chooks) But the flesh should be continually smothered in phases with H cream and antiseptic cream and any dried up faeces picked off. if possible.When you stick your finger up there , use vaseline and try to spread it inside her. I would still recommend 2 baths a day in warm salted water. Keep her away from flies as if they lay their eggs on her and hatch , she will need to be culled. All is not lost yet , but time is of the essence. Please follow these instructions as closely as possible. Prolapses can be cured , but it is not easy and be persistent. lj

Steel_2

ljonski wrote: »

if she gets an infection she is a gonna

Infection was the one thing I was most concerned about. I'll see how she progresses today and make a decision whether to get some antiobiotics from the vet. Her urates may have changed colour because of a change in diet and conditions - I'm still doing some research about that at the moment.

However, she didn't show a massive amount of interest in her food this morning and went back to bed after I took the strapping off.

ljonski wrote: »

The flesh wont stay in because it is probably damaged.She finds it uncomfortable and ejects it herself. This can be rectified over a 7-10 day period and it is ok to leave it prolapsed for a while.(but not if she mixes with other chooks) But the flesh should be continually smothered in phases with H cream and antiseptic cream and any dried up faeces picked off. if possible.When you stick your finger up there , use vaseline and try to spread it inside her. I would still recommend 2 baths a day in warm salted water. Keep her away from flies as if they lay their eggs on her and hatch , she will need to be culled. All is not lost yet , but time is of the essence. Please follow these instructions as closely as possible. Prolapses can be cured , but it is not easy and be persistent. lj

She doesn't mix with other chooks; she's isolated in a dark shed and regularly cleaned, both with baths and baby wipes.

I've been using Prep H and KY to reduce inflammation, keep the area moist while it heals and help the passage of any unlaid eggs she may have. Luckily there are no flies in the shed (have a sticky paper up there and there's nothing on it).

I'm doing a clean of the shed tonight for red mites while she's having her couple of hours of exercise

Steel_2

:dance: :dance: :T :dance: :T

"IT' has stayed in all day.

She's scoffed loads.

Pooed loads and it all looks good and back to normal colour. And there are definitely dead worms in it so the flubenvent is working.

She took off like a rocket out of the shed when hubby checked on her this afternoon. He said he was nearly knocked off his feet and wearing chicken footprints on his face.

However, as he phoned me and told me that she had prolapsed again today because there was something pink sticking out of her, and it transpires that his chicken anatomy is so poor he didn't know he was looking at her normal vent pulsing, I say he deserved it!

She's currently haring round the garden saying hello to everything.

ljonski

That's absolutely marvelous news. Now, you need 7 clear days of no prolapse before you can even think of letting back into the flock. the muscles need time to build their strength up and she needs to avoid straining herself, so just a little supervised exercise. If you watch them closely they tend to lower their carriages when they poo sometimes , but it is immediately pulled back up. After 4 days of clear back end , Chucky had a very minor prolapse, but with the faintest of pushes with my finger it went back up and stayed up. As you have said previously the body seems to pull it back up. Remember 7 days . I noted it on a calendar and each day , I ticked it off every day.

Best Wishes

Lj

onestep

hi all

I've got 3 Brahma's.. and they're fab! All girls. One has been broody for at least 2 weeks now, and is refusing to come out of the coop at all unless I pick her up and take her out, when she'll have a stretch, and drink and a little food and then suddenly leg it into the copse for a dust bath. She's never out of the coop for more than half an hour I'd say. The other 2 are still laying, and we take all the eggs out from under her every day. Should I just continue to make sure that she's had food & water every day but leave her to it, or should I see if I can get some fertile eggs for her to sit on? How long is she going to be broody?! (I know eggs take 21 days to hatch so I'm guessing another 10 days at least?) We've had them a year now, so they're about 15 -16 months old.

ionahenor2

Hi Onestep

I had a broody last year and after 2 weeks of trying to get her out of it I resorted to putting her in an elevated cage on her own. The wind was able to whistle round her which cooled her down far more than the ice blocks I kept putting in the nest with her. I also tried putting a brick in the nest box but all I got was broken eggs from the others. She was only in the cage 2 days ( with food and water) and then was back to normal except for the bare tum.

Steel
Glad to hear she is a little better today. Loved your description of chicken footprints. I often get these on my feet when I let them out in the morning if I'm not out of the way sharpish.

wouldbeqaulitymoneysaver

I would love to keep chickens one day. My Mum did when she lived in a rural area and they worked a treat. An excellent idea and definitely one when it comes down to supply of eggs and maybe chickens as in eat them. Treat 'em nice and eat 'em nice!! Hi everyone!