We had chickens for a couple of years before I truly knew what a prolapse vent was. Right now we don’t have any chickens with a prolapse vent, but we had had one.

I first found out about prolapse vent through skimming other chicken owners’ posts in a forum. I don’t think I ever really looked into it. Why would I? There are many things that can go wrong with a chicken…injuries, diseases, sickness, etc. I usually don’t research a particular topic unless my chicken is dealing with it. Once in a while I might look more into a particular subject just to gain knowledge.

When a hen lays an egg, the oviduct pushes the egg out. Once the egg is out, the oviduct settles back into place inside the body. A prolapse vent is when a hen’s oviduct pushes out but stays out of the body. This is not supposed to happen.

This is a hen with a prolapse vent. You can see that the oviduct is hanging out, covered in blood and egg yolk.

Prolapse vent can happen to a hen of any breed or age. I don’t think there is a 100% reason why it happens. I have read that also diet, deficiencies, nutrition, stress, etc. can cause a prolapse vent. Should you be scared? No. Should you be aware? Yes. Bringing awareness to this topic is why I’m writing about it.

I still think about our hen, Polly, from time to time with the prolapse vent.

It all began when Jacob saw blood dripping from the hen’s butt. At first we were thinking perhaps it had been bitten by a predator. Soon I realized we were dealing with a prolapse vent.

Usually a prolapse vent means a death sentence for the hen. When it happens, it will happen again, and again. People have been successful with getting it back in, but usually it just pops right back out. Can people get the oviduct back in and it stays? I can’t say yes and I can’t say no. It depends on how bad the chicken is and if it can be put back in. With the oviduct being exposed, there is a great chance for infection. I had read one post where someone had their vet stitch the hen back up. After being stitched up, the hen was okay.

When we discovered Polly’s condition, we cleaned her up. We used preparation h and vetericyn spray. We used a gauze pad and roll, to bring up the oviduct closer to her body. The next day the oviduct had shrunk. We pushed it back in, put on new badges, but by the next day the oviduct stuck out again.

In the picture above, you can see that we have the gauze roll holding a large gauze pad to her vent, pushing the oviduct to stay by the body.
We made an X with the gauze roll on her back, stomach, and vent to keep a gauze pad in place on the oviduct. It’s hard to describe but basically we weaved the gauze roll under her wings, around her butt, went under her stomach and brought it up to her chest. We kept doing this, making an X.

This was pretty much our routine for a few days. On the last day, we did give her a warm bath, allowing her to soak. After the soaking, semi-drying her off (it’s hard to dry off a chicken with all those feathers!), I pushed the oviduct back in place and sat with her, with my hand covering her butt to keep it in place.

That didn’t work. She ended up passing. There’s not much more I would have done. We changed the bandage one time a day for a few days. Changing the bandage and getting the gauze pad and roll on her was a two person job. Even though I think of how we could have done it differently, it still might have came to the same ending where she passed. She could have been the hen where it would never have stayed in place, resulting in the oviduct popping back out, again and again. How long were we supposed to keep changing bandages and pushing the oviduct back in?

In forums if you see this brought up a lot of people state the chicken will need to be culled (killed).

Around me, there are no vets that will see a chicken or other livestock. I did learn later from a Tractor Supply worker that a vet might see the animal if I brought it up to the clinic unannounced. During this time we were dealing with a duck that had either a cyst or abscess on the eye. However, the duck is fine now BUT I keep this information about the vet tucked in the back of my mind for any future injuries that I can’t deal with.

I wish we had had a different outcome with Polly.

I hope you found this article knowledgeable about prolapse vent. If your chicken has it and is your absolute favorite chicken then take her to the vet . Don’t call just take her up there.