Ascites? in desperate need of some help and guidance...

Bocktobery 10 said:

Hi!

Just an update..

EGG PERITONITIS! That's what it was. Not ascites. Just a large mass of cooked egg yolk stuck inside which my gracious vet removed from her this afternoon during an operation.

I wrote more about it in this thread:


https://www.backyardchickens.com/t/...can-hens-survive-hysterectomies#post_12995067


She may still die. It all depends and we are waiting to see if she survives the night.

Thanks everyone for the help and support. Sorry I don't have any pictures of the cooked egg mass for you. Then again, maybe you'd be thankful I didn't!

Click to expand...

I am going through a similar event I think. I know your thread here is old, but these health issues effect our birds everyday!! My hen is almost 7 years old. In mid-Dec I brought her inside because she is now a lone bird and we had sub zero temps. For the last year now her abdomen has been getting full and tight as if full of air, not fluid. I have had 3 hens die from Ascites and their bellies were very water balloony and they had the penguin walk. She has none of those symptoms. Her tummy is tight and full. Once she came into the house and had more light she started laying eggs again. She was laying about every 2-3 days (pretty awesome for almost 7). She laid for about 6-7 weeks and has stopped. Last egg was maybe 3 weeks ago. Because she was laying I assume she is NOT have egg issues internally......but she is losing weight slowly, minimal interest in food though she acts pretty normally. Not drinking a lot, pooping small amounts, though she eats very little so that seems right. Her legs are spread because of this swelling. The swelling has gotten a bit bigger in the last 2 months in the house. I tried draining her last night "hoping" it was fluid. But only got about 1ml of a fluid that had "eggy" looking white in it and nothing else. Picture below. I do not want to put her through surgery at her age but I also do not want her to suffer. She does tend to sit down more often and at times seems to have some labored breathing. No wheezing or anything. She will fight off the dogs and cats if you throw her lunch meat or a hot dog! But I know she is slowing starting to go downhill a bit. Does this sound like your bird when she had egg peritonitis??

It's tough because so many ailments have similar symptoms. I wish I could be more helpful, but I have no idea what it could be.
Could there be a blockage? Maybe worms? Full and hard could also be some type of reproductive issue.

My fav hen Cuddles had something similar. She was not going crazy for food (her normal personality), so I brought her inside. I treated her for cocci & dewormed. She slowly lost more interest in food and then became so weak she stopped eating/drinking. I tube fed her to keep her alive & eventually she got strong enough to eat/drink on her own. She was strong enough to go back to the flock for 5 months, then the mystery swollen abdomen and reduced feed intake came back. She did not live through the second time. I never knew what it was but perhaps it was egg peritonitis. Perhaps when her egg production shut down for the winter, she experienced some relief which gave me a few more months with my fav hen.