Chicken showing sudden signs of illness

[Vasicos1]

So I have a hen who is a couple years old and has always been a very healthy active lady up until today. I didn’t notice any of my chickens showing signs of illness at all when I let them out this morning and gave them their food. All seemed normal. This afternoon I went down and noticed this hen had poop around her vent stuck in her feathers. Obviously I grabbed her which was far too easy, telling me that she obviously doesn’t feel good. Her abdomen is squishy. Almost feeling like a water balloon which i know is never good. Her crop also seems quite squishy like it’s full of fluid as well which I haven’t really seen before in any of my chickens. When she bent done to eat she picked her head up and kept swallowing as if there was fluid coming up. I know she most likely will not make it but I’m just wondering what causes this? Do I need to worry about my other chickens getting the same thing? I have obviously separated her and provided soft bedding and fresh soft food and water with some electrolytes as well as completely cleaning out my chicken coop and replacing the bedding for the rest of my flock but I’m not sure what else to do.
I had a chicken last year show similar symptoms with the squishy belly and she died two days after I noticed her symptoms despite my best effort to help her. I know birds can be very good at hiding their illness but I spend a lot of time with my chickens and seriously have not noticed her feeling down… I appreciate any help you can give. Thanks

 

[coach723]

Do you know when she last laid? They are very, very good at hiding symptoms of illness, often by the time it's obvious it has been going on for a while. It sounds like she has ascites, which is fluid in the abdomen from a leaking liver. Causes are varied, from cancers, to organ failures. It's often hard to know exactly until necropsy as the symptoms can be similar for many of the causes. Reproductive cancers are not uncommon. Some birds that develop ascites will live for a while, some pass quickly, it just depends on the underlying cause and how advanced it is. The fluid in the abdomen causes pressure on other organs, digestion often slows or stops which causes the crop to back up. There are not really any good treatments for ascites, some people will drain the fluid, which can help make them more comfortable for a time, but it usually recurs at some point as the underlying problem is still there. It does carry some risk, they can go into shock if it's drained too much too quickly, and that can be fatal. And some small risk of infection from the needle stick. There are youtube video's showing how to do that if you want to try. I leave them with the flock until they are obviously feeling unwell, not eating or drinking, isolating themselves, or get attacked by flockmates (this is also not uncommon, they will try to drive a sick or weak bird away), and then I euthanize. It's unlikely that whatever the underlying cause is, would be something that would affect your other birds. but if you lose her, it would be good to have a necropsy so you know for sure what the cause is. You can also learn to do an informal one yourself, to look for obvious abnormalities in organs, if you are up to that. There are people here that will look at pictures of organs you take during, and tell you what they see based on their own experience. You can search for necropsy picture posts to kind of see how they work.
If you are in the US, these are some resources, by state, for necropsy:
https://www.aphis.usda.gov/animal_health/nahln/downloads/all_nahln_lab_list.pdf
https://www.metzerfarms.com/poultry-labs.html

 

[Vasicos1]

Do you know when she last laid? They are very, very good at hiding symptoms of illness, often by the time it's obvious it has been going on for a while. It sounds like she has ascites, which is fluid in the abdomen from a leaking liver. Causes are varied, from cancers, to organ failures. It's often hard to know exactly until necropsy as the symptoms can be similar for many of the causes. Reproductive cancers are not uncommon. Some birds that develop ascites will live for a while, some pass quickly, it just depends on the underlying cause and how advanced it is. The fluid in the abdomen causes pressure on other organs, digestion often slows or stops which causes the crop to back up. There are not really any good treatments for ascites, some people will drain the fluid, which can help make them more comfortable for a time, but it usually recurs at some point as the underlying problem is still there. It does carry some risk, they can go into shock if it's drained too much too quickly, and that can be fatal. And some small risk of infection from the needle stick. There are youtube video's showing how to do that if you want to try. I leave them with the flock until they are obviously feeling unwell, not eating or drinking, isolating themselves, or get attacked by flockmates (this is also not uncommon, they will try to drive a sick or weak bird away), and then I euthanize. It's unlikely that whatever the underlying cause is, would be something that would affect your other birds. but if you lose her, it would be good to have a necropsy so you know for sure what the cause is. You can also learn to do an informal one yourself, to look for obvious abnormalities in organs, if you are up to that. There are people here that will look at pictures of organs you take during, and tell you what they see based on their own experience. You can search for necropsy picture posts to kind of see how they work.
If you are in the US, these are some resources, by state, for necropsy:
https://www.aphis.usda.gov/animal_health/nahln/downloads/all_nahln_lab_list.pdf
https://www.metzerfarms.com/poultry-labs.html

Thank you so much. That’s super helpful. Super sad when something like this happens but i’m happy to know it shouldn’t affect my other birds. Thanks again.