Short answer: A prolapse is when tissue from inside the hen, usually part of the oviduct, pushes out through the vent and sits outside her body as a wet, pink or red lump. The usual triggers are very large eggs and double yolks, hens that carry too much fat, diarrhoea with hard straining, and other birds pecking at the exposed tissue. Separate her, keep her clean and dry, and call your vet the same day, because exposed tissue dries, bleeds and gets infected quickly.
Key takeaways
- A prolapse is soft tissue outside the vent, not an egg. Look closely before you decide what has happened.
- Most cases appear in young hens in their first weeks of lay, and in hens at peak production laying big eggs.
- Fat hens prolapse more often than hens at a sensible weight, so weigh a sample every week.
- Vent pecking turns a small prolapse into a serious one. Separate the bird before the rest of the flock finds her.
- Ask your vet what to do with the hen. Many hens that prolapse badly do not recover, and your vet will tell you when culling is the kinder choice.
What the lump actually is
You open the house at six and one hen is standing a little apart from the rest, tail tucked, with something pink hanging out behind her. The first reaction is to grab her and push it back. Hold off for a minute. Pick her up, turn her gently and look.
The oviduct is the tube that carries each egg from the ovary to the outside. Its last short section is the cloaca, the shared exit for eggs, droppings and urine, and the vent is the opening you can see from behind. In a prolapse, the lining of one of those tubes turns inside out and pushes through the vent. It looks like a wet, glossy, pink or red ring or cone, sometimes with a dark tip if it has been sitting out for a while.
That is not an egg. An egg has a hard shell, and when it is caught at the vent it sits among the feathers. A prolapse is soft and moist, and it bleeds when you touch it. If you can see a smooth shell, you are looking at a stuck egg, which is a different problem and the subject of our guide to the egg-bound hen.
Farmers send us photographs of what turns out to be a broken egg or a clump of dried droppings. The picture looks alarming at first. Take two photographs, one from above and one from the side, and send them to your vet before you act.
The egg that is too big for the way out
Most prolapses we hear about start with an egg that was too big. A double yolk is the classic case. Two yolks wrapped in one shell means a heavier load moving through a passage built for one.
Young hens carry the biggest risk. A pullet's first eggs are small, and her passage is still growing and tightening up. As her eggs get bigger over the first few weeks, the tissue has to stretch further each time. Heavy, fast layers put more pressure on the same tissue through the year than a slow-laying older bird does, and the high-production hybrids bred for eggs are in that group.
You will not stop every big egg, but you can spot them early. Pick up the eggs in the morning and look for a run of very large or double-yolked ones coming from the same few hens. Note which nests they come from. A hen laying two doubles in a week needs watching, not punishment.
Egg size is linked to the ration too. A feed with more protein and energy than a bird needs at that stage can push up egg size. If your flock is laying bigger eggs than you expect, look at the feed bag before you look at the hens.
Weight, fat and hens that start too early
A layer that is too fat is at risk, and the risk is not only about the egg. Fat builds up around the reproductive tract and in the abdomen. That takes up room the oviduct needs to move, and the tissue around the passage becomes softer and less able to hold its place when the hen strains.
The problem often starts in rearing. A pullet fed as though she were already laying, or given layer feed in the weeks before she is ready, puts on fat before her body can turn it into eggs. She then starts lay heavy and fat, which is a poor combination. A pullet should come into lay at a steady weight, not a sudden one.
Hens also gain weight in the middle of lay when they eat more than they need and move less. In a house with plenty of feed and little to do, that happens quietly. The birds look fine from the door, and the weight has already crept up.
Here is a simple check. Once a week, catch ten hens at random, weigh each one and write the figures down. Use the same scale and the same time of day every week. If the average climbs for three weeks running, cut back the feed a little and look at how much time the birds spend lying around. Talk to your vet or a qualified feed adviser before you change the ration much, because a sudden cut can drop lay as well.
Diarrhoea, straining and the calcium gap
Straining is what damages the tissue. A hen with diarrhoea strains over and over, and each strain pushes on the tail end of the tract. In the hot months many hens drink less than they need, and their droppings thicken and then loosen again. Wet litter around the drinkers makes it worse, because bacteria and moisture build up right where the birds stand.
Calcium is the other link. A hen short of calcium lays thin or soft shells, and a soft egg can be squeezed out of shape and stick. It can also take longer to pass, so she strains harder. We cover shell quality in our calcium and oyster shell guide. The short version is this: give layers a laying feed, and keep oyster shell in a separate container so the hens can take what they need.
A hen that sits in the nest for a long time, strains, and walks away without an egg has a problem worth noticing that same day. Note the time, check her vent and her droppings, and do not wait until the next morning to see whether she has laid.
Why the other hens make it worse
Chickens are drawn to red, moist, shiny things. A prolapsed vent is all three. If the bird stays in the flock, the others will peck at the tissue. Pecking tears it, bleeding draws more pecking, and within a day a small prolapse becomes a wound the hen may not recover from.
This is the same pattern behind cannibalism and feather pecking, and it is the main reason we tell farmers to separate a prolapsed bird straight away. Put her in a pen she cannot see or reach the flock from, with clean dry litter and low light. A dim box with a little clean litter is better than the open house.
Check the rest of the flock too. A bird pecked at the vent shows a bald or bloody patch, and the pecking often moves on to the next hen. If you find it on one bird, look at the others the same day.
What to do in the first hour
Most of what you do in the first hour is stopping things getting worse. You are not trying to fix the prolapse yourself. You are keeping the tissue clean and away from the flock while you get advice.
- Move the hen to a clean, dry pen away from the others, out of direct sun and out of draughts.
- Check the tissue for droppings, straw or dirt. Wipe it gently with clean water and let it air dry.
- Note the time you found her and how long the tissue has been out. Take two photographs.
- Put water in a shallow dish she can reach without moving far, and a little of the feed she likes.
- Check the rest of the flock for pecking, and remove any bird that has started.
- Call your vet and send the photographs, and follow your vet's advice on whether to try returning the tissue and on any medicine.
Please do not push a large prolapse back in unless your vet has shown you how and told you it is right for that bird. Tissue that goes back in can come out again, and pushing with dirty hands is an easy way to bring infection in.
The hard decision, and when your vet makes it
Some prolapses settle with cleaning and rest. Others do not. A small, clean prolapse in a bird that is still eating has a fair chance. A large, dark, dried or bleeding one, or a bird that is weak and standing hunched, usually does not, and the hen suffers while the tissue dies.
A hen that prolapses once is not always a write-off. A hen that prolapses again, or one that stops laying after a bad episode, is usually a candidate for culling. Our advice on when to let a layer go is in the guide to culling and replacing the flock. The decision should be made with your vet, and it should be quick and humane. Do not leave a suffering bird in the house to see what happens.
Keep a short history for the vet: her age, her lay rate before the prolapse, any diarrhoea and any pecking. They will ask. It also shows you whether this is one unlucky bird or a flock problem.
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Preventing it across the house
Prevention is a set of small habits. None of them is expensive, and together they keep the number of prolapses low.
- Feed a proper layer ration once the pullets reach point of lay, and do not give layer feed too early to pullets that are not ready. Our layer feeding guide sets out the phases.
- Weigh a sample of hens every week and act if the average climbs for several weeks.
- Keep water clean and within reach at all times, especially in the hot months.
- Offer oyster shell in its own container so hens can take calcium as they need it.
- Pick up eggs at least twice a day, and watch for runs of very large or double-yolked eggs from the same hens.
- Check the house for pecking every day, and separate any bird with a wound before it spreads.
- Keep the litter dry around the drinkers so the hens do not get diarrhoea from wet, dirty bedding.
| What you see | Usual cause | First step |
|---|---|---|
| Big or double-yolked eggs from the same nests | Heavy laying, young hens, a rich ration | Mark the nests, check the feed, watch those hens for straining |
| Hens getting fat and the flock average rising | Over-feeding and too little movement | Cut feed a little and check the plan with your vet or feed adviser |
| Loose droppings in several hens | Short of water, wet litter, heat or infection | Check water and litter, and call your vet if it persists |
| Hens straining in the nest with no egg | Stuck egg, blocked passage or a prolapse starting | Separate, look at the vent, call your vet the same day |
| Wet pink tissue at the vent | Prolapse | Separate, keep clean and dry, call your vet at once |
| One bird pecked at the vent | An open wound drawing the flock | Remove the bird and the worst pecker, then check density and light |
What a lost hen costs in eggs and feed
Say you run a flock of 300 hens and lose three to prolapse in a month. That does not sound like much, so look at what it really takes.
Each of those hens is a bird you bought and fed up to point of lay. A Hy-Line Brown day-old chick from us starts from GH₵23, and a box of 50 is GH₵1,150. That is only the first line. A hen at 30 weeks has already eaten a large share of her feed, and feed is the biggest cost on any layer farm. Losing her at that stage means all that feed turned into nothing.
Then add the eggs. A healthy hen laying at 0.8 eggs a day gives about 24 eggs a month. Three hens give about 72 eggs a month, which is 2.4 crates of 30. At GH₵50 a crate that is roughly GH₵120 of sales a month. Over six months, that is about GH₵720, before you count the replacements and the hours spent on sick birds.
The lesson is not that every prolapse is a disaster. It is that a few cheap checks each week, such as weighing ten birds and picking up eggs twice a day, cost very little next to birds you have already fed for months.
Buying layers so you start with fewer problems
Where you get your birds matters. A pullet from a good hatchery comes with a batch record that shows what she was vaccinated against. Our chicks leave the hatchery vaccinated, and the batch record tells you what was given. That covers a lot, but it does not cover every disease a layer might meet, so talk to your vet about the rest of the schedule.
When you choose a strain, ask how fast it comes into lay and how big its eggs are. A fast-laying, big-egg bird needs more careful feeding and watching than a slower one. Hy-Line Brown, Lohmann Brown and Bovans Brown are all common choices for Ghana layer farms, and each has its own guide on our site. Read the guide for the strain you plan to keep before the chicks arrive. You can compare the options on our breeds page, and our Hy-Line Brown guide covers that strain in depth.
If you are ready to order, the layer chicks page has the current starting prices, and you can place an order on the order form. For questions about a batch, WhatsApp us on +233 24 915 1503.
Questions farmers ask
Can a hen recover from a prolapse?
Some do. A small, clean prolapse caught early can settle once the bird is kept clean, rested and away from the flock, and some hens go back to laying. Large, dried, dark or bleeding prolapses often do not recover, even with treatment. Follow your vet's advice on what to try and on whether the bird should be culled. A hen that has prolapsed once is more at risk the next time, so watch her closely.
Should I push the tissue back in myself?
Only if your vet has shown you how and agrees that it is right for that bird. Unwashed hands can carry dirt and bacteria inward, and tissue that goes back in can come out again, sometimes worse. Keep the tissue clean and shielded from dirt, separate the bird and call your vet. Most farmers are better off waiting for the vet than attempting a home repair on a bird already in pain.
Is a prolapse contagious?
Not in the way a virus is. The real risk is the pecking that follows, because other hens are drawn to the exposed tissue. A single prolapse is usually a bird problem. Several hens prolapsing in a short time points to something bigger, such as the feed, the water, a diarrhoea outbreak or the way the birds are housed, and that needs a vet to look at the whole flock.
Does bad feed cause prolapse?
Feed can be part of it. A layer ration that is too rich for young hens, or too much feed for birds that do not move much, pushes up weight and egg size. Mouldy or spoiled feed can cause diarrhoea, and the straining that comes with it stresses the tissue. Check the date on every bag, store feed dry and off the floor, and talk to your vet if more than one bird is affected.
Will she lay again after a prolapse?
Sometimes. A hen that recovers well may lay again, but she may lay fewer eggs for a while, and some never return to full lay. Keep her clean, feed her well and watch her weight. If she is still losing weight or refusing feed after a week, that is a reason to talk to your vet about culling rather than waiting longer.
What is the difference between a prolapse and an egg stuck inside?
A prolapse is soft, wet tissue outside the vent, often pink or red and bleeding when touched. A stuck egg is hard and smooth, and sometimes you can see shell at the vent or feel the egg low in the belly. The hen usually strains in both cases. If you cannot tell which it is, separate her and send a photograph to your vet. Our egg-bound guide covers the stuck-egg signs in detail.
Can prolapse be prevented completely?
No. Some hens prolapse even with good management, especially at peak lay with large eggs. You can lower the risk a great deal by keeping weight steady, feeding the right ration for each age, keeping water and litter clean, stopping pecking early and checking the flock every week. Most of the prevention is ordinary routine done consistently.
