Hey.... Lets keep Chickens..!

ljonski

The vet could have stitched Flower's prolapse up.
She will not suffer until the prolapse gets infected and will cause her pain.
As i have hinted at prolapsed chickens can be saved without veterinary help, but it requires a lot care and attention. Chuckies prolapse took 3 weeks of putting it back in until it stayed in and isolation was an absolute must.

HTH

Syman

ljonski wrote: »

The vet could have stitched Flower's prolapse up.
She will not suffer until the prolapse gets infected and will cause her pain.
As i have hinted at prolapsed chickens can be saved without veterinary help, but it requires a lot care and attention. Chuckies prolapse took 3 weeks of putting it back in until it stayed in and isolation was an absolute must.

HTH

I understand your comments, however, Today for example i pushed the prolapse back in befor i went to work, It had popped again when i cam back at 8am and again at 11. The vet also found a growth internally which is not a good sign.
Keeping her isolated is also not so easy, I only have a small area for the chickens, and other than keep her in a cat travel box throughout the day. I cannot always get back during the day to let her stretch her legs.

sekrapa

Been thinking of getting chooks for a while, and after reading this brilliant thread decided to give it a go after getting 2 books on the subject. Ordered the coop and run, should arrive late next week. Will then varnish with animal friendly varnish it to protect it more and fox-proof the run. Thinking of attaching extra mesh to the base and using a spade slice the ground around the run and push the mesh down about a foot. Then will go around the edges with either small slabs or bricks to protect it more. After that, its just getting the girls, feeder, drinker, hay, shavings and food.

Don't know what to go for. Either ex-bat hens or POL birds. The POL I have seen are hybrid hyline brown. Would like a docile natured hen that produces a good supply of eggs. Thinking of getting 5 or 6 total. Any ideas welcomed as I am totally new to this.

Gigervamp

Get straw not hay. Hay can cause respiratory problems.

There's a rescue coming up on Saturday May 19th if you'd like ex-batts. Have a look here to see if there is a collection point near you.

sekrapa

Gigervamp wrote: »

Get straw not hay. Hay can cause respiratory problems.

Thanks. Is it a good idea to put wood shavings under the perches and on the floor of the coop?

Not a site near, but found a rescue centre that is only 5 miles away.

ionahenor2

Oh Syman I'm so sorry your chicken keeping is turning into such a nightmare. Your poor chickens. Is it possible that cabbage is egg bound?

Found this on Omlet about prolapse. Egluntyne is a very experienced hen keeper. Hope it might help.

http://club.omlet.co.uk/forum/viewtopic.php?f=11&t=87227&sid=879a4adde037be04e73777e27bdce196

http://club.omlet.co.uk/forum/viewtopic.php?f=41&t=62511

When I've bathed them I try and towel dry them.Then use a very cool hairdryer but I'm never sure which side they want their parting.:rotfl:

Gigervamp

sekrapa wrote: »

Thanks. Is it a good idea to put wood shavings under the perches and on the floor of the coop?

Not a site near, but found a rescue centre that is only 5 miles away.

Yes, you'll need woodshavings in the coop. You need *dust extracted* woodshavings. We buy ours from Countrywide. They do their own brand, but we've recently switched to Bedmax as it's a bit cheaper.

Steel_2

Hi Syman

I successfully cured my chickens prolapse a few months ago doing a combination of things.

I kept her in the warm and dark in my downstairs bathroom and took her off layers pellets. I kept the area very clean, clipping away some of the feathers so it was easier to clean, and kept popping the prolapse back in. However, it just kept popping back out again. Arrrggghhh. In desperation after 7 days of cleaning, poking it back in etc, I tried a home remedy I found on the net.

At her 'bedtime' I kept the lights down real low so she would be nice and sleepy while I did this. I sat her in a bowl of warm saturated sugar water for 20 minutes. I put so much sugar in that bowl of water that it simply couldn't dissolve anymore. Then I took her out, dried her off a bit, popped the prolapse back in and held the vent area closed for five, maybe ten minutes. This held it in temporarily so I had enough time to do the next bit. I quickly smothered the whole vent area thickly with honey, applied a large wound dressing over the whole vent, and then strapped her with adhesive sports tape into a 'night' nappy.

The sugar helps draw out the liquid from the prolapse to stop it popping out because it is so swollen. The honey does a similar thing but also has some anti-bacterial properties.

The Little Hen Rescue charity had a great page of photos on how to do the strapping, but the website is down at the moment so I'll try and explain how I did it.

I wrapped the first bit of sports tape around her body over her wings in a kind of saddle. Then I wrapped a second piece around her body horizontally so it held the wound dressing - and prolapse - firmly in (I tried wrapping the main saddle strapping under her wings to start with but that didn't seem to work as there didn't appear to be enough sticky area to hold the horizontal tape in place). Then I popped her into a straw bed that I had built up so it was nice and supportive and left her to sleep.

In the morning I took off the strapping (watch them when you go in as mine used to jump off the nest and career wildly across the room off balance without the wings to stabilise her and fall over. I ended up creating a massive warm nest in a cardboard box for her that she couldn't jump out of). It took two nights of this sugar bath, honey and strapping to solve the problem and keep the prolapse in, but after that I still kept her in the dark and off the pellets for another 10 days, then got her used to short periods of time outside in the light. I needed her to heal slowly and properly before laying an egg, and give her body a chance to build some strength up again.

You don't need to worry about how to let your hen poo through the nappy, as they only tend to poo upon waking and not when they are asleep. So as long as she is in the dark with no light and doesn't know it's morning, you can get the nappy off early before she wants to poo.

Hope this helps and good luck. It's a challenge, but they do recover and as long as you build their strength back up again do go on to lay once more.

spirit

Syman wrote: »

As for Cabbage, when i checked her over i found her belly quite swollen and her vent was oozing some yellowy white liquid. She is lethargic and is not interested in eating or drinking. I gave her a warm bath and She has been seperated from flower and put in a warm place to dry out.

.

did the warm bath help Syman? If they have a softie in there, the bath often helps them to shift it. Also make a hot water bottle, cover it in old towels and let hem sit on there for a while.

If it is EYP then you will need Baytril from the vets for her. I had an ex batt with this a month ago and brought her indoors for a while. She too wasn't interested in eating or drinking much. She would have watermelon though.

Syman

Cabbage did not make it through the night. So i also made the decision not to leave flower with the issue of the growth and prolapse. They had been together since they came to the school 2 years ago and would always stay very close to each other. It was not an easy decision by any stretch, but (I think) the right one.

Already looking to replace them, and have a rescue dog moving in today, so plenty to be cheerful about.