I guess things were going too well with my chickens. My little bantam Buster was having her most productive year ever, but it came with a price. I noticed from a distance that it looked like she had something stuck in her vent. My husband and I were going to try to help her out, but we soon noticed that she had a prolapsed vent.
I had heard about this, so I was a little bit familiar with it, but my husband and I did not feel too comfortable trying to push it back in and deal with it on our own. Thankfully, we do have a veterinarian in the area that is able to treat chickens. I immediately made the phone call and then headed out for little Buster’s first ever vet visit.
The vet recommended sutures to help keep everything in place because of her condition, but we had the problem of her laying an egg. I knew she was due to lay an egg, and the vet suggested we would need an X-ray to check for sure. It seemed like just as soon as he said that, Buster dropped her egg on the table. So that was one problem solved.
The next concern was trying to discourage her from laying again so that she would not bust open her sutures. The vet suggested that we needed to keep her mostly in the dark so that she wouldn’t have much daylight to encourage laying. I needed to keep an eye on her, and if it looked like she was going to lay the next day, then we would probably undo the sutures until she finished her business.
After she was all stitched up, I brought her home and put her in our chicken hospital located in the laundry room. She definitely wasn’t happy because she felt just fine and had all kinds of energy. The next day we checked on her several times, and it seemed like she was not going to lay. Later on, I heard her kind of crying and decided we should check on her again. Much to my distress, I found an egg with blood on it.
I immediately called the vet and arranged to bring her back in. I was definitely stressed, but she seemed okay and alert. Thankfully, the vent was not prolapsed again. The vet stitched her back up, but a little differently this time. When we were in the exam room, Buster seemed so good. I mentioned to the vet tech that she could be pretty feisty. She informed me that she had been biting at her in the other room, and she had also pooped on the vet. I did feel bad about that. She was living up to her name.
Now, once again, I am trying to discourage her from laying. I am okay with her not giving me eggs. I don’t want another prolapsed vent. She needs time to heal. One of the biggest challenges is that I only have two chickens, so when one is away from the flock it is hard on the other one. I will be thankful to get past all this and get her back to normal. It has definitely left me in high-strung, chicken mama mode.
