I have a Buff Orpington (Lady Mary) that is now one year old as of May. She has survived snow storms, aggressive children, and a dog, but something is seeming to drain her life.
I noticed about 1 week ago that her insides had come out her vent about 1 inch, they did not look in bad shape and were squishy and healthy colored, I put my gloves on and went to work with some vaseline, and honey. I stuck my finger inside of her and tried to reposition it. This worked for about 15 seconds when it started to come out slowly about a 1/2 of an inch. I stuck my finger back in with only a little luck, it was late so I separated her from the rest of the flock in the hutch with some food and water. ( 2 female wyandottes, 5 ducks)
Before this happened we had not been getting our normal three chicken eggs, my family and I thought Lady Mary had just been laying under the shed like she used to do. Once I pushed everything back inside the vent I got an egg in the morning. I checked her vent to see if after she laid the egg if everything was alright and it was.
She never displayed any behavior that seemed unusual. She has always been a friendly chicken who enjoys being held and meeting new friends. This might be why I never inspected her further.
I clean their coop regularly and they have a fenced in area they roam in while I am at school, and when I come home I let them out into our yard, which is a little more than half an acre. There water is clean and I feed them laying pellets, and scratch. They often get lettuce scraps and tomato ends from the kitchen. Their environment has not been stressful but it is hot outside, although I assume this problem has been going on longer than I thought.
Now a week later I pick her up to bathe her backside since it had some crusted poop on the back. When I was scrubbing her backside gently with a toothbrush I saw that there were not many feathers on her backside. This must have gone unnoticed for awhile because there was no sign of swelling or bumps around where the quills would be. I continue to use light soap and discover that her underside have very few fluffy feathers and her skin is a yellowish color, she also has a small red rash. I felt the skin and it felt plump and full. After assessing the situation I began to notice more and more and I hate myself for not seeing this sooner. Her comb is turning a deep maroon/purple from the top down. Now she did have frostbite last winter. (Very Mild case nothing urgent or harmful.) Her tail feathers are frayed and some of them are just a quill.
After bathing her I dried her off and blow dried her back end on cool just to give her a little fluff so I can see how many feathers she actually has.
I realize this problem is harming her and we are putting her out of her misery tomorrow on Monday August 24.
If anyone knows what has happened to her, or has had anything like this happen to them, I would greatly appreciate any responses. I will try and post some pictures soon.
I noticed about 1 week ago that her insides had come out her vent about 1 inch, they did not look in bad shape and were squishy and healthy colored, I put my gloves on and went to work with some vaseline, and honey. I stuck my finger inside of her and tried to reposition it. This worked for about 15 seconds when it started to come out slowly about a 1/2 of an inch. I stuck my finger back in with only a little luck, it was late so I separated her from the rest of the flock in the hutch with some food and water. ( 2 female wyandottes, 5 ducks)
Before this happened we had not been getting our normal three chicken eggs, my family and I thought Lady Mary had just been laying under the shed like she used to do. Once I pushed everything back inside the vent I got an egg in the morning. I checked her vent to see if after she laid the egg if everything was alright and it was.
She never displayed any behavior that seemed unusual. She has always been a friendly chicken who enjoys being held and meeting new friends. This might be why I never inspected her further.
I clean their coop regularly and they have a fenced in area they roam in while I am at school, and when I come home I let them out into our yard, which is a little more than half an acre. There water is clean and I feed them laying pellets, and scratch. They often get lettuce scraps and tomato ends from the kitchen. Their environment has not been stressful but it is hot outside, although I assume this problem has been going on longer than I thought.
Now a week later I pick her up to bathe her backside since it had some crusted poop on the back. When I was scrubbing her backside gently with a toothbrush I saw that there were not many feathers on her backside. This must have gone unnoticed for awhile because there was no sign of swelling or bumps around where the quills would be. I continue to use light soap and discover that her underside have very few fluffy feathers and her skin is a yellowish color, she also has a small red rash. I felt the skin and it felt plump and full. After assessing the situation I began to notice more and more and I hate myself for not seeing this sooner. Her comb is turning a deep maroon/purple from the top down. Now she did have frostbite last winter. (Very Mild case nothing urgent or harmful.) Her tail feathers are frayed and some of them are just a quill.
After bathing her I dried her off and blow dried her back end on cool just to give her a little fluff so I can see how many feathers she actually has.
I realize this problem is harming her and we are putting her out of her misery tomorrow on Monday August 24.
If anyone knows what has happened to her, or has had anything like this happen to them, I would greatly appreciate any responses. I will try and post some pictures soon.
