very swollen abdomen

[kroman]

My poor girl has a very swollen abdomen. I have been reading up on egg binding and I am not so sure that is what the problem is. I cant feel anything hard like I thought. I have had her in the house since yesterday and have given her 2 sitz baths but no egg. I can see her muscles almost constantly moving like she wants to lay. I am not 100% positive that she has been laying but I think she has due to the number of eggs to hens ratio. I don't want her to suffer and I cannot afford to take her to a vet. I am not sure about putting my finger in and feeling for the egg because I have read you have to be careful not to hurt them. Thanks for any help/advice

 

[Judy]

You could try a warm soak and a darkened cage in the house to relax her for a day or two. If she seems to be full of fluid, you could try draining it with a hypodermic needle. But really, I'm afraid there isn't a lot you can do. If it helps any, there probably isn't a lot a vet could do, either. Sorry.

 

[ChickensAreSweet]

https://www.backyardchickens.com/forum/viewtopic.php?id=26414
Here is a thread on eggbound hens.

It might be something else- I really have no experience with this problem- sorry!!

Also here is another thread if you think it might not be an eggbound problem:
see post #48 GRAPHIC PHOTOS
https://www.backyardchickens.com/forum/viewtopic.php?pid=4322823

 

[RhodeIslandRedFan]

Good morning, kroman. I have no experience dealing with these symptoms in any of my chickens, but the swollen abdomen reminds me of what I have read on this site regarding egg peritonitis/internal laying. If you search this site you will find much information about this. Here is a link to one thread that discusses this. See if your chicken's symptoms match. You can also try searching for "swollen abdomen". Good luck to you and your hen. https://www.backyardchickens.com/forum/viewtopic.php?id=443748

 

[speckledhen]

Swollen abdomen is not egg binding usually. It's fluid and gunk building in the oviducts and abdomen from egg peritonitis/internal laying. You can drain the abdomen, but it will build up again, plus you can only get out the fluid, not the solidified stuff in there. It's a frequent ailment in the most common hatchery breeds, less so in good quality breeder stock, in my experience. There is no cure other than a hysterectomy by a vet.

https://www.backyardchickens.com/forum/viewtopic.php?id=362422

 

[kroman]

Thanks for the response. I am happy to say that after 2 days in the house in a dog kennel and a couple of sitz baths Ruth layed an egg! We had to go leave for several hours and when we came home there was the egg. Her abdomen is a little swollen still but it doesn't look red like it did previously. I am going to keep her in the house for another day or two just to see it the swelling goes down more. Thanks for the threads on the other problems it could be. I am wondering if maybe there is some internal laying or egg peritonitis going on becasue of the swelling. Does anyone know if she will have temperature shock going back out in the cold after being in a heated house for several days. I don't want to make her sick but I am not sure how to transition her back to the coop. The temperature has been hanging out around 10 degrees for the last couple of days.

 

[speckledhen]

She could be in the beginning stages of internal laying. One of my girls, Ivy, was found with a huge abdomen. We dosed her with penicillin and a couple months later, she began laying again, miraculously. That didn't last long and same thing happened again. We dosed her and she laid one egg, and we tried the penicillin, but it didn't work and she never laid another one. She finally died last year of this ailment. It's possible for your hen to still be laying internally or have the start of egg peritonitis and still produce an egg, but you'll have to watch that swollen abdomen. That isn't a good sign.

If the coop is draft free, she should be fine. Put her out in the warmest part of the day and the air temp will cool down as night approaches and she'll settle with the others.

 

[kroman]

We decided to put her down this morning. After reading up some more and the info you all gave I felt it was the right thing to do for our situation. It turns out she was definitely laying internally. Her abdomen was full of egg yolk looking substance. It was not fat, it was much more orangey, yellow looking. Thank you all for your help in trying to figure this out. It was truly a learning experience.

 

[nuchickontheblock]

Sorry to hear about your hen. Sounds like you did the right thing to take care of her.

 

[speckledhen]

I'm sorry about the hen, but it was what I suspected. Wish it hadn't been! Every layman's necropsy you do when you lose or euthanize one will teach you something.