Laying hen Lyn's healing journey

After 72 weeks in a barn that was packed to the rafters with screaming hens, Lyn arrived at the sanctuary during one of our rescue missions.

Having laid enough eggs to be past her best, Lyn is considered a 'spent' hen and would normally be sent to slaughter then replaced ruthlessly with another unlucky hen. She arrived with a prolapsed vent - a condition that sadly affects a great number of laying hens, due to the huge amount of strain that producing an egg every day has on their little bodies.

Extreme eggs

To put this into context, hens should only be laying around 12 eggs a year. However in the UK barns are cruelly lit 24-hours a day to stimulate their genetically modified bodies and force them to lay up to 300 eggs in the same amount of time.

Treating prolapses

When treating a prolapsed vent it's vital to isolate the hen straight away before treating it. We bathed Lyn in antiseptic (hibiscrub) to cleanse the area. This may need to be done a few times to soften any hard poo, and gently remove it from the prolapse. We then carefully reinserted her prolapse, holding it in place for a few moments. We also use metacam as a painkiller and anti-inflammatory, plus antibiotics if we feel there may be any risk of infection.

Please always consult your vet if you are not confident in any treatments - we are always here to offer our support and advice too.

Room for recovery

Some peace and quiet, a warm, darkened room and lower-protein diet helped to stop Lyn’s egg-production for a few days to allow her body to recover. Sometimes this procedure is fairly straightforward but for poor Lyn it took almost 7 days of gentle, consistent care to resolve her prolapse.

Now Lyn's completely recovered and in a small flock of our ‘extra care’ hens. The only thing that's well spent in her life is time, scratching around and having dust baths with her new bff Shirley. 

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