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Help! please, sick chicken with swollen abdomen

post #1 of 9
1/24/11 at 12:09pm
Thread Starter 

Hi everyone my name is Michelle and im new to this site and i stumbled upon it to see if anyone here can help me with my chicken. Well i have a five year old Americauna, she's been sick for about a week or more. She hasn't been eating much, not drinking water, she has a hard time breathing, first couple of days she would sit around alot but lately she stands most of the time. She's looks pretty depressed, her abdomen was really swollen and kind of blue as well as her comb, and i took her to the vet the other day and they told me i had to get x rays for her but they were a kind of expensive so i don't have much money right now to get them. But the vet drained about 60cc of fluid, it was clear, she said that the only diagnosis, but she wasn't sure, was Marek's disease, but i looked up the symptoms and she doesn't have any symptoms of that disease. I would really appreciate it if anyone can help me right now, i don't want to lose her.

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post #2 of 9
1/24/11 at 1:09pm

sorry I don't really have any ideas. Is she still laying? could she be egg bound, internal laying comes to mine from what I have read here.
look up swollen abd in the search engine, egg bound and internal laying, you may get some answers. I hope she does ok

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post #3 of 9
1/24/11 at 2:12pm
Thread Starter 

well she hasn't been laying eggs for quite sometime, i was thinking that as well at first but when i asked the vet she said that she didn't think she was eggbound or anything cause her abdomen is squishy and filled with fluid. I looked up a whole bunch of stuff online and the only thing that seems a bit similar to me is ascites, but im not sure. But thank you for your response.

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post #4 of 9
1/24/11 at 3:01pm

Doesn't sound like Mareks at all to me. Sounds like egg peritonitis/internal laying. Your hen is up in years and her reproductive organs probably malfunctioned. I've been through this over and over again, just lost my Olivia, whose abdomen was drained four times (by us, not a vet). There is no cure. Even draining the abdomen is only a temporary relief for her. If you read my thread, "Drained a Hen's Abdomen Today", you'll understand a bit more about what I'm saying. Internal laying is not the same as being egg bound. Your hen sounds like she's become an internal layer. There is no cure for that, sadly. Her comb is purple because of the strain all that fluid and infection is putting on her internal organs, especially her heart and lungs.

http://www.backyardchickens.com/forum/viewtopic.php?id=362422

 

~A dog on its owner's property is a pet; A dog on someone else's property is a predator~

 

 

Living the Good Life in the North Georgia Mountains~ Cynthia

 

 

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~A dog on its owner's property is a pet; A dog on someone else's property is a predator~

 

 

Living the Good Life in the North Georgia Mountains~ Cynthia

 

 

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post #5 of 9
1/24/11 at 4:22pm
Thread Starter 

Im so sorry to hear that, i was thinking that too as a possibility because i remember my mom telling me, now that you brought that up, a couple of days right when she got sick, she woke up one morning and there was yolk spilled on the newspaper she was sitting on, but there's no sign of that now, i told the vet but she said the fluid didn't seem to have signs of infection or if she did have that it would have been a sign of some infection or yolk or something like that, but im really doubting that vet right now cause it didn't seem to me like she knew much, that's why i turned here. Thank you for your response as well, i really appreciate it.


Edited by msoriano - 1/24/11 at 4:37pm
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post #6 of 9
1/24/11 at 4:55pm

Most vets really know nothing about chickens but they hesitate to just say they don't know. I'm sorry about your hen, but from experience, I'm sure she has the same condition as my own hens. It's chronic and there is really nothing you can do short of a hysterectomy on her; even then, at this stage, she probably wouldn't survive that.

 

~A dog on its owner's property is a pet; A dog on someone else's property is a predator~

 

 

Living the Good Life in the North Georgia Mountains~ Cynthia

 

 

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~A dog on its owner's property is a pet; A dog on someone else's property is a predator~

 

 

Living the Good Life in the North Georgia Mountains~ Cynthia

 

 

Reply
post #7 of 9
1/24/11 at 5:00pm

Im sorry, I lost my hen yesteday from internal egg laying. She had the same exact symptoms yours does. She was sicks for 2 weeks. hugs

4 Barred rock hens, A RIR hen, A white rock hen, A wellsummer cross, a australorp hen, 1 pullet (leghorn), 1 cockeral RSL, 1 RSL hen, and 3 black sex links... 4 Austalorp chicks, 5 EE chicks, 4 BR chicks, 1 RL blue wyandotte chick.... Ducks 2 mallards, male and female..... a chihuahua, a mini dachshund, and a german wired hair pointer....
         *IM A CRAZY PULLET, The broody one*
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4 Barred rock hens, A RIR hen, A white rock hen, A wellsummer cross, a australorp hen, 1 pullet (leghorn), 1 cockeral RSL, 1 RSL hen, and 3 black sex links... 4 Austalorp chicks, 5 EE chicks, 4 BR chicks, 1 RL blue wyandotte chick.... Ducks 2 mallards, male and female..... a chihuahua, a mini dachshund, and a german wired hair pointer....
         *IM A CRAZY PULLET, The broody one*
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post #8 of 9
1/24/11 at 5:32pm
Thread Starter 

Im so sorry to hear that, it's always so hard to see your animals go. Right now she seems better after she got drained but she's still not the same.

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post #9 of 9
1/24/11 at 5:40pm

Thanks. Im glad shes better.

4 Barred rock hens, A RIR hen, A white rock hen, A wellsummer cross, a australorp hen, 1 pullet (leghorn), 1 cockeral RSL, 1 RSL hen, and 3 black sex links... 4 Austalorp chicks, 5 EE chicks, 4 BR chicks, 1 RL blue wyandotte chick.... Ducks 2 mallards, male and female..... a chihuahua, a mini dachshund, and a german wired hair pointer....
         *IM A CRAZY PULLET, The broody one*
Reply
4 Barred rock hens, A RIR hen, A white rock hen, A wellsummer cross, a australorp hen, 1 pullet (leghorn), 1 cockeral RSL, 1 RSL hen, and 3 black sex links... 4 Austalorp chicks, 5 EE chicks, 4 BR chicks, 1 RL blue wyandotte chick.... Ducks 2 mallards, male and female..... a chihuahua, a mini dachshund, and a german wired hair pointer....
         *IM A CRAZY PULLET, The broody one*
Reply
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BackYard Chickens › BYC Forum › Raising BackYard Chickens › Emergencies / Diseases / Injuries and Cures › Help! please, sick chicken with swollen abdomen