- Nov 7, 2015
- 43
- 12
- 104
Hello,
I returned from a few days a way to a hen waddling and after checking I am pretty sure she has ascites / water belly. Swollen and squishy, comb very dark. Eating but fussy, running when treats come. No feathers on her belly but she has been like that for over a year. She is 2.5 years old, stopped laying late summer but that can be normal. I immediately called the vet which has a new owner and they informed me they can't help with chickens anymore to which I just cried - because if I have a sick bird I used them for treatment and for euthanising. We don't have another vet option.
I don't like the idea of her suffering continually so my first question is, can they last very long with this condition?
I don't want to drain it, from what I have read, it just prolongs the inevitable.
My second is, if I have to end her life, what should I do? I have never done it before
Thank you for any help
I returned from a few days a way to a hen waddling and after checking I am pretty sure she has ascites / water belly. Swollen and squishy, comb very dark. Eating but fussy, running when treats come. No feathers on her belly but she has been like that for over a year. She is 2.5 years old, stopped laying late summer but that can be normal. I immediately called the vet which has a new owner and they informed me they can't help with chickens anymore to which I just cried - because if I have a sick bird I used them for treatment and for euthanising. We don't have another vet option.
I don't like the idea of her suffering continually so my first question is, can they last very long with this condition?
I don't want to drain it, from what I have read, it just prolongs the inevitable.
My second is, if I have to end her life, what should I do? I have never done it before
Thank you for any help