severe diarrhea

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chickenfan

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I have a young bird, just under a year old that has severe diarrhea. I separated her from the flock, put Biostop in her water, and she has been eating masses, but now her back end looks even wetter, and her vent is pink and enlarged. Not sure what to do. Initially I thought she had worms, now I'm worried about her vent.
 
I realise the problem was a prolapse. I have washed her for ages and pushed it back then dabbed witch hazel on her. Feeling very guilty. She was bottom of the pecking order and I should have noticed she had lost weight. I'm not sure if it will stay in place. About half the size of a walnut was misplaced. I will look for some haemmorhoid cream tomorrow.
 
You need to stop her from laying Chickenfan, to give the prolapse time to heal. You can achieve that by putting her on a wheat only diet -the protein level is too low to support egg laying, but it will be sufficient to keep her fed. When you push the prolapse in with a lubricated finger, leave the finger in place for a while to let the muscles re-align the prolapsed section in the correct place. Go steady on the haemorrhoid cream -it's very strong stuff for a little chicken. It doesn't sound like a bad case so she has a good chance of recovery.
 
Many thanks for your valuable advice Chris. Will try this. Although the prolapse is inside her again, her whole cloaca is still bulging. Does the small amount of haemorrhoid cream go on the outside? She is a Marans, so not so tiny.
 
Don't think I am winning with this bird as it is now popped out again, caked with droppings and bleeding this time, so she doesn't want me near that area. Not sure whether I should use an antibiotic cream. I bought a Nelson homeopathic cream for haemorroids containing a herbal mixture. Problem is I've been out at meetings all day.
 
According to this article haemorrhoid cream is damaging and honey should be used instead www.pocketfarm.co.uk/hen-health-prolapse-of-the-vent/
 
I see why she prolapsed again, as she laid a very large egg in spite of only eating corn. I've tried to make her more comfortable by pushing things in again and given her vit c, e and omega oils. As her vent is now a bit damaged, I don't want to prolong her discomfort if the outlook is not good. She is bright in herself at present.
 
Wheat should be her diet Chickenfan. She will lay a few eggs despite that but persevere. I've read honey is good and as I've said haemorrhoid cream is too strong really. The cream goes on the inside, but if you think she is suffering unduly (it will never be simple) you know what is necessary. Poor hen and good luck with treating her.
 
Thankyou Chris. She is on wheat. According to the article if I keep her in a dark place she shouldn't lay so I'll try this. Haemorrhoid cream is positively damaging it seems, as prolapses aren't swollen blood vessels.
 
Have rung BHWT vet for advice. She has suggested cleaning prolapse with hibiscrub or diluted savlon in a syringe, then using manuka honey and pushing it back as Chris describes. I am also to give her Baytril because of the tearing. If it continues to pop out, she does a thorough clean and stitching which still allows them to lay eggs and has 98% success. But it requires a gen anaesthetic and costs £100 as its a fiddly operation, so I really hope I can get her right myself.
 
Ouch Chickenfan! I hope you can sort her out yourself as well- just your luck to have spent the money and then find out that you are in the 2%.
 
I didn't feel I could cope with this hen with her damaged and bleeding vent. She has been extensively stitched up, but fortunately under local anaesthetic which kept costs down a little. I find it a dilemma re my 'duty of care' to a creature I know, which makes hen-keeping prohibitively expensive, so I will have to get the hang of even the hens being 'meat'.

The problem I now have is that she still has diarrhea, which is perhaps the cause of her prolapse. I think its worms as Flubenvet has been out of stock in UK. I gather from BHWT Panacur paste for cats should be used at one unit per kg so will get some on Monday. Does watery diarrhea sound like worms? She is eating well.
 
Could easily be worms Chickenfan. That's best ruled out first and I've also heard that Panacur can be used as a Flubenvet substitute. Don't think it treats tapeworm though, but she hasn't got that anyway?
 
Try the marriages flubenvet premedicated pellets Chickenfan, they are in stock here which is where I buy mine from.

http://www.farmandpetplace.co.uk/products/poultry/feeders/marriage-layers-pellets-flubenvet-20kg-layers-pellets-with-wormer.html

Mixed results with prolapses, one young bird who really struggled for a couple of months to produce hard shells when first laying, her prolapse eventually righted itself after being shoved back in a few times and one of the ex batts we picked up in March came to us with a prolapse, on and off egg bound every 3 days before plopping out soft shells, nothing to do with her at that stage though it surprised me that she hadn't been weeded out by the farmer as she couldn't have been productive for a long time. Unfortunately she died in her sleep a couple of weeks ago but had generally been quite sprightly and had a nice three months with us. I think you need to balance current quality of life, future quality of life and survival chance when coming to a decision, this bird I may have culled personally on the info given but easy for me to say.
 
We've looked up Manuka honey Chickenfan and it is indeed the best stuff for a prolapse. Now, it is available in its raw form, as a jar of honey, or can be bought from pharmacies as a medical grade cream. Which type did you get, or did the vet suggest, and where from?
 
Thank you very much for the Manuka honey details Chris. I just used ordinary honey as this came at a time when I was very busy at work (and hence my giving her to BHWT). I was worried about her bleeding, although BHWT said they have seen much worse. The vet where BHWT Vet is based sells Manuka honey in small tubes. I guess it may be available online from veterinary websites. Thanks for passing on your experience on prolapses and Marriages with Flubenvet Dinosaw. I actually found some of this and started her on it today and she is already looking much better and her old self again.
 
Bird is racing around, back to her lively self after the 10 stitches, and diarrhea gone after the worming.

Thanks to everyone on the forum for always being there to share knowledge. I've learnt so much here.
 
Thankyou Marigold. She laid an egg first thing this morning and still looks fine.
 
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