I have a little bantam hen who tends to prolapse from the vent every time she lays. It's not alarmingly noticeable - just once when I was observing them in the coop, she came out of the nest after having laid an egg, and I noticed a small red lump protruding from her vent. Eventually it goes back. I was wondering if there's anything I can do to correct this problem, and if it can cause any other problems with bacteria and such. Also, I notice that she expells alot of "water eggs", or eggs with no shell, just the lining.

Soft shelled eggs can be difficult to pass and that may be part of the problem. You could try a little preparation-H on her vent and see if that helps. She could have a consistent problem though. You will always need to watch her. If other birds pick at the prolapse spot, they will kill her. I even had one bird that picked at its own prolapse. Ugh.

Do you give your birds oyster shell or crushed egg shells to increase the calcium intake? This could be just an issue with her or it could be that your flock is low on calcium. Sometimes it's not visible with soft-shelled eggs and instead, the body is pulling valuable calcium from bones which leads to all sorts of other problems.

Susie

The hen isn't having any more problems, the prolapse went back on it's own. I have heard of putting Prep. H on it, but wouldn't that make it difficult to pass eggs thereafter?

All my birds (the layers at least) get layer mash and a sort of cocktail of scratch feed/oats/barley and I admit they get a lot of table scraps which they go absolutely ga-ga over. I haven't read alot about whether or not it's wise to feed table scraps, though I suppose it's alright, depending of course upon what it is they are eating...I wonder if this could have anything to do with these "rubber eggs." I notice them more than I used to out of several hens, though it seems to almost disappear during the warmer weather when I move them to the outside coop and they have the run of the farm.

Prep-H just shrinks tissue so it would only help the prolapse go back and help create a larger opening.

I guess the "treats" issue is probably a bit controversial, just like with dogs. The treats my chickens get are raw spinach, cooked carrots, scrambled eggs with shells and a bit of scratch. So I don't worry about it since their treats are "healthy". I had a problem with soft-shelled eggs once and putting out oyster shell with the layer feed resolved it within a week. Crushed egg shells are good too.

I would just keep an eye on that girl and work some more calcium into their diet to see if that helps.

Susie

Susie,

I have never fed spinach to chickens, mostly because I know that it is very acidic and it eats away at the bones in reptiles. I kinda consider my chickens a modern age dinasaur, so I am afraid the spinach will take away the calcium that I am pushing into them with oyster shells. Do you find that true?

I haven't had any problems with spinach. I don't get soft-shelled eggs and nobody has joint problems that I have noticed. I'm not feeding them *tons* of spinach. But the issue you are talking about is oxalic acid. It is found in many plants and it binds with calcium so therefore the calcium isn't absorbed as well by the body. It's something I read up on b/c my mother has some joint problems and takes calcium.

Here's a list of foods that contain oxalic acid. You'll probably see from the list that there are many things that chickens are routinely fed. For instance, mine couldn't live without summer tomatoes! And I have heard of planting purslane specifically FOR the chickens to eat when they range. Oats are on the list too. I guess "everything in moderation" and always keep giving them oyster shell and egg shells and a good layer ration as their mainstay.

Excerpt from http://www.cloudnet.com/~djeans/Asides/OxalicAcid.htm
Plant foods with high concentrations of oxalic acid (over 200 ppm) include (but are not limited to): lamb's-quarter, buckwheat, star fruit, black pepper, purslane, poppy seeds, rhubarb, tea, spinach, plantains, cocoa and chocolate, ginger, almonds, cashews, garden sorrel, mustard greens, bell peppers, sweet potatoes, soybeans, tomatillos, beets and beet greens, oats, pumpkin, cabbage, green beans, mango, eggplant, tomatoes, lentils, and parsnips.

thanks everyone for the info...i'm going to look into what kind of feeds work best, especially on the table scrap issue. I guess it's true to say you get out of them what you put in :)