Ascites in older hen still refusing to stand up or eat

[periwinkleclouds]

Hello friends!
I'm a bit in distress here and would appreciate any advice from more seasoned poultry caretakers. I've raised chickens since I was a little girl but I've never had something like this happen.

I have a 6 y/o Golden Star (her name is Applesauce) that's past her years of laying. She at least has not laid an egg for close to 5-6 months. Before that she wasn't laying for almost a year, but we introduced 4 young hens (total of 6 backyard hens) outside and I assume something hormonal happened and she and my other 6/o Black Barred laid for a few weeks when the young hens also were. The young hens continue to lay, but Applesauce stopped a while ago. Acted totally fine ever since, healthy and vocal.

Recent events, including one where I was out of town for a while, leads to this. I found her on the floor of the coop, laying on her belly. She wasn't vocal, but alert to my presence. She fluffed a little when I picked her up. There was no effort to get up, as if she was really weak. I didn't realize at this time that she had a bloated belly. She was moved into a large dog kennel with some alfalfa bedding while I did some research online and talked to a couple friends. I sadly cannot afford to take her to a vet, but I did call one for advice, but they told me she may be bound with an egg which didn't make much sense to me. Either way, the recommendation was a warm epsom salt bath, which I gave her. She enjoyed it a lot! And thats when I gave her a thorough look over and felt a very squishy mass on her belly. More research, and I found out it's identical to the identification of Ascites/Water belly. I gave her some water with poultry electrolytes in a syringe, but she didn't want it at all. Refused food as well, but I settled with the water for now.

Next day (now about 3-4 days since she's shown these symptoms), I get a 18 gauge/35CC syringe and after watching some videos, go ahead and try to draw some of the fluid out. She still had feathers on her butt, and it seemed she's tried to poop but it was a little pale and very stinky. I washed her in a vegetable glycerin/warm water bath then went to draw fluid. Sprayed everything with alcohol. I ended up pulling close to 100ccs of a yellowy, clear liquid from her belly... when the drawing of liquid became a little too hard, I stopped. There's two needle holes that were subtly leaking when we were done. (I lost the one when I went in the second time, but they were in similar locations and I did my best to keep it all clean with alcohol) She was very calm during the whole thing. There may have still been some liquid in her when we were done, but I didn't want to overwhelm her or draw too much at once. Still refused water and food. Still did not even try to stand up.

Now it's the day after, today, and she's still laying down. Still refusing food (I've offered yogurt and moistened crumbles, as well as her favorite snacks like BSF larvae and arugula) and I would need to force her to drink with a syringe. By myself, I usually partially hold her head and slowly squirt some near her beak so she can drink up the droplets, but she's very stubborn.

She's very weak still, and doesn't lift her head up as much as usual to notice me. In fact, her head has moved a little strangely like she's confused nearly every time I interact with her. Slow head movements.

I don't want her to suffer, but I feel like draining all that liquid should have helped. Do I just wait longer for her to perk up and continue to offer her water and food through a syringe? Should I try to draw more liquid from her belly? Or is she just... on her way out and we're beyond home treatment?

Would appreciate any and all advice. Thank you.
I will be sure to post whatever the conclusion is for future thread readers.

 

[Eggcessive]

You confirmed the presence of ascites (water belly) with the yellow fluid. It sounds like she is in the late stages, and probably dying. You could try for a couple of more days to feed and water her, while keeping her comfortable. But I would consider putting her down and preventing any suffering. Acscites can be due to liver failure related to a reproductive infection or disorder, cancer, fatty liver disease, or heart failure. All of those are eventually fatal. I would plan to do a necropsy, and open her abdominal cavity to have a look at her major organs. Take pictures if you do one, to post here. Sorry that you may lose her, but it is a common thing in hens over 2-3 years.

 

[Shadrach]

She is very probably dying from one or more internal organ failures. I doubt there is anything you can do to save her so it's a question of how she dies. I pretty much stopped killing sick chickens unless they were injured beyond recovery a few years ago. I may not be right.
The recent deaths have been under my chair with an acre of green allotment stretching in front of them, with the other group members coming and going and sitting with the dying. I've seen a lot die in the company of their family and friends and that is what I aim for now.
If you believe she is in pain you can give metacam, ibuprofene, asprin, even parcetamol at the correct dosage. Given she's dying the long term effects aren't really an issue.
If you can sit with her out with her friends, I'm sure she would appreciate it.

 

[periwinkleclouds]

You confirmed the presence of ascites (water belly) with the yellow fluid. It sounds like she is in the late stages, and probably dying. You could try for a couple of more days to feed and water her, while keeping her comfortable. But I would consider putting her down and preventing any suffering. Acscites can be due to liver failure related to a reproductive infection or disorder, cancer, fatty liver disease, or heart failure. All of those are eventually fatal. I would plan to do a necropsy, and open her abdominal cavity to have a look at her major organs. Take pictures if you do one, to post here. Sorry that you may lose her, but it is a common thing in hens over 2-3 years.

The last thing I want to do is to make her suffer more than she already is. She is hardly alert anymore, and just wants to sleep. Since it's the weekend, I'll give her lots of love and perhaps some water, but at this point I am leaning towards the inevitable of putting her down. It's a terminal illness, so either way it will be the end of her. I was just hoping to get a couple more years with her. Thank you.

 

[periwinkleclouds]

She is very probably dying from one or more internal organ failures. I doubt there is anything you can do to save her so it's a question of how she dies. I pretty much stopped killing sick chickens unless they were injured beyond recovery a few years ago. I may not be right.
The recent deaths have been under my chair with an acre of green allotment stretching in front of them, with the other group members coming and going and sitting with the dying. I've seen a lot die in the company of their family and friends and that is what I aim for now.
If you believe she is in pain you can give metacam, ibuprofene, asprin, even parcetamol at the correct dosage. Given she's dying the long term effects aren't really an issue.
If you can sit with her out with her friends, I'm sure she would appreciate it.

It's very sweet of you to give your chickens a peaceful passing like that. And a wonderful idea.
I have a large coop for the rest of my girls and will often let them free range, but right now I haven't because of weather and having not chicken-proofed my garden yet. But this may be a good cue for me to let them roam and I can sit with her for a while. Wish there was more I could do, but sometimes there isn't.
Thank you. It means a lot.