Drained a Hen's Abdomen.. Rest in Peace, Olivia 11-5-10

[Year of the Rooster]

I never thought I would see myself posting this.... But unfortunately, Cyn, I lost one of my hens to what I believe to be this. We necropsied her and there were small bumps/tumors all over the place. It smelled of rotten eggs with yellow liquid in her body cavity. There were even, what seemed to be, egg yolks attached inside. My dad let them out this morning around 8 and she was dead in a couple hours. She was a Rhode Island/Production Red from Ideal, and lived to be about 2 1/2 years old.

 

[speckledhen]

I'm so sorry, Brad. She was the right breed and exactly the prime age for this to happen, unfortunately.

 

[Year of the Rooster]

Thanks. In all honesty, I guess I wasn't surprised. She hadn't laid an egg for at least a month and her abdomen seemed bigger. Despite the loss, the experience of opening her up was interesting. I would like to thank you though for providing this info. Hope all you're girls are doing well

 

[SuperChiks]

ok I gotta ask - what is it about hatchery hens? How are homebred better than hatchery?

 

[speckledhen]

Hatchery stock is bred with no thought to longevity, however, chicken hens are the only animals that are prone to spontaneous ovarian tumors like human women anyway. None of my breeder stock has suffered from internal laying so far, just better genetics overall.

 

[tdgill]

since I had a rooster diagnosed with FLD (fatty liver disease) early sypmtoms were ascites or jelly belly or water belly a swollen tight abdomen, I wonder if a hen with FLD would retain enough fluid to make her unable to pass an egg

 

[speckledhen]

That's possible, but I've never found an entire egg inside one of these hens, just the solid infection and egg yolk gunk. Fatty liver disease and heart issues can build fluid as well, but you wouldn't know which it was unless you could take the hen to a vet. Most folks don't do that and must operate on the symptoms that they are seeing.

Since internal laying/egg peritonitis is so common, and I've seen so darn much of that, it's the main thing I think of, but I always tell folks that I am not an avian vet, haven't seen and observed the bird in person, and without actual tests, wouldn't be able to say with 100% certainty anyway. They want a course of action based on the symptoms. Penicillin is the first and main thing to try, but I never would say it will cure the bird as this condition is chronic. It may buy time, maybe make the bird more comfortable for awhile, but that's all. And if it's fatty liver, then there is nothing that can be done that I'm aware of anyway.

 

[lizzie201296]

My *supposed* internal layer hen is still around, and still seems perfectly fine!! I'm very happy, obviously, but at the same time rather confused - she still has the over sized red abdomen thing below her vent, and still hasn't laid at all, but other than that, she's eating, running after bugs, poking around the place and behaving perfectly normal! Is she just a little trooper, or could the ''bulge'' be something else?
L

 

[speckledhen]

Lizzie, I can't say anything for sure. You'd have to get a vet who knows chickens to look at her for that. Most vets are clueless about chickens, but many of them will still fiddle around and charge you, unfortunately. I had one go 8 months before she passed and one lived about 14 months.

 

[lizzie201296]

Thanks, as long as she's happy and still doing all the chickeny things (apart from laying, obviously....)

Just waiting for the day when she starts to go downhill

L