Before I go further I believe I need to introduce myself and give you a warning.
1. I’m not a vet, It's just a nickname gifted to me that’s special to me. I don’t have the luxury to visit a vet and never have and because of this, I've had to treat every disease, infection, and injury from home. I’m not glorifying myself, the nickname is dear to my heart and that is all.
2. Maybe my dosages are not good/good (and some will say so) or something else is incorrect, I am happy to work with fellow chicken keepers and want to make sure I am doing the best I can but please do not be mean. I am a human and therefore have emotions to
This is something I made completely from home with help from nobody and because of this, my dosages were made to the best of my knowledge.
3. Lastly this may not be a full-proof plan, what helped my hens may not help yours. The reason I created this home remedy is that like many others, I was afraid, stressed, and unsure of how to save my precious girls who gave me so much and were now wasting away. When I asked on Facebook groups, here on BYC, or did my research through articles, and so on, all I was told over and over again was to syringe the liquid from their abdomens and prepare for their death. After I saw the recovery in my hens using my treatment I wanted to share it with everyone else as well.
So to treat my hens I used two things, a chicken supplement called kicken chicken, and a liver powder. I used both hand in hand and I believe they both helped in separate areas, The liver powder helped to heal the liver because water belly is caused by heart or/and liver failure, and the kicken chicken helps by giving them nutrients and everything else they may have been lacking (I am also a firm believer that a healthy body can heal itself/have an easier time healing itself). The entire treatment lasts *about* 1-2 months and I only saw a recovery after I had been doing it for 1-2 months. I assume it starts working a few days in.
So I used two different plans depending on my schedule, both are pretty simple and have the same doses.
The next part is important: You will need to give the hen the kicken chicken and liver powder by mouth with a syringe to make sure she is getting the full dose of both.
I have this short tutorial on how to syringe feed if it's needed.
Dosages:
K.C= kicken chicken
L.P= liver powder
The dose per day for the K.C is 1/4cc for bantam and 1/2cc for average hens once a day.
The dose per day for the liver powder is 1/4 teaspoon L.P mixed with 1 tablespoon water for bantams and 1/2 teaspoon for standard hens mixed with 1 1-2 tablespoon water once per day
This link is for the kicken chicken, it can also be purchased locally at Tractor Supply Co, or pretty much anywhere online.
kicken chicken
This is the liver powder, which can also be purchased locally and probably found online and made by another brand.
Liver Powder
She had stopped laying
Was sleeping all the time on the floor of the run
Was gasping with her mouth open when she would lay on the floor
Reduced appetite
Reduced water intake
Huge abdomen that felt watery and not hard like that of an internal layer I had
Overall sluggish and wasting away attitude
She would lay down and take in huge heaving breathes as if she was suffocating
After about 1-2 months on the kicken chicken & liver powder (although some may need to stop earlier because each hen is different) this is what I noticed
She was running around the coop again chasing bugs
Eating and gaining good weight (not in her abdomen but overall healthy body weight)
Laying again
Yelling/squawking and being as active as a young pullet
She was not laying down or gasping anymore
And the water in her abdomen had gone down.
Q&A
because you might have some questions similar to the ones below
What happens to the water in the hen's abdomen if it disappears?
Honestly no clue, she doesn't poop it out (and I believe that wouldn't even be possible) so my best guess is that her body absorbs it.
My hen is acting better after two weeks of the treatment should I continue?
Probably not, I'm not sure about how long the treatment phase is and I don't have an exact treatment plan timeline but I believe my hen was in the late stages of water belly and would have died in the next few weeks if she didn't get treated so I believe that why I needed to do it for so long. If your hens acting better sooner it's best to stop when you see a full improvement and continue with a preventative dose after that just in case.
Can I use this remedy to prevent water belly?
Absolutely! you just need to use a smaller dosage. It can even be sprinkled into the food.
I know roosters don't get water belly but can they have K.C and L.P?
Yes! roosters cant get water belly but they can suffer from liver problems so they can also benefit from this remedy but probably in a lower dose.
My hen is still declining, what can I do?
As I mentioned this isn't a full-proof plan and even though I really hope it works for everyone, it might not. You can still try researching other methods or at home treatments and see if she responds to those.
If I use this treatment do I still need to draw liquid via syringe from her abdomen?
This is different for every hen. For my hen I didn't draw any liquid out and used only the at home remedy. If your hen is walking like a penguin or you feel she needs to have liquid drawn, then do so.
How did I come up with this plan?
Well, I had some liver powder left over after using it on a hen with gout, and at the time I wasn't sure if she was internally laying or had water belly so I also picked up some kicken chicken from TSC after seeing a review that a lady left saying it helped her 5+ year old hens lay again.
I honestly doubted that it would help but it's all that I had left to try and it did!
What if the water belly is caused by heart failure?
For this, I don't have an answer. I'm busy with chicken projects and my personal life and because of this finding time to research and learn is hard but I hope to someday add a remedy for water belly caused by heart failure here too.
Do I have to use that exact chicken supplement and that exact herbal liver powder?
I'll be honest. I will ask you to use everything exactly as I described it unless you want to be explorative. If you can't find the exact liver powder made with the herb called "phyllanthus niruri" you can try using another but make sure it's similar. If you cant find kicken chicken (even though I implore you to try and use it) you can do some research and find some chicken supplements that are similar and have the same ingredients or properties.
I usually use about 1 tablespoon of the L.P for a flock of 13, and 3-5 tablespoons of K.C for a flock of 13
If you have any more questions or comments let me know down below! Each case is different and unique, if you see you're having problems and need 1-on-1 help you can directly message/contact me, or create a new thread at the link below
forum for injuries-emergencies-cures-diseases
And dont forget you got this,
With lots of love,
Chicken Vet Of Our Flock
1. I’m not a vet, It's just a nickname gifted to me that’s special to me. I don’t have the luxury to visit a vet and never have and because of this, I've had to treat every disease, infection, and injury from home. I’m not glorifying myself, the nickname is dear to my heart and that is all.
2. Maybe my dosages are not good/good (and some will say so) or something else is incorrect, I am happy to work with fellow chicken keepers and want to make sure I am doing the best I can but please do not be mean. I am a human and therefore have emotions to
This is something I made completely from home with help from nobody and because of this, my dosages were made to the best of my knowledge.3. Lastly this may not be a full-proof plan, what helped my hens may not help yours. The reason I created this home remedy is that like many others, I was afraid, stressed, and unsure of how to save my precious girls who gave me so much and were now wasting away. When I asked on Facebook groups, here on BYC, or did my research through articles, and so on, all I was told over and over again was to syringe the liquid from their abdomens and prepare for their death. After I saw the recovery in my hens using my treatment I wanted to share it with everyone else as well.
Water Belly Support
So to treat my hens I used two things, a chicken supplement called kicken chicken, and a liver powder. I used both hand in hand and I believe they both helped in separate areas, The liver powder helped to heal the liver because water belly is caused by heart or/and liver failure, and the kicken chicken helps by giving them nutrients and everything else they may have been lacking (I am also a firm believer that a healthy body can heal itself/have an easier time healing itself). The entire treatment lasts *about* 1-2 months and I only saw a recovery after I had been doing it for 1-2 months. I assume it starts working a few days in.
So I used two different plans depending on my schedule, both are pretty simple and have the same doses.
The next part is important: You will need to give the hen the kicken chicken and liver powder by mouth with a syringe to make sure she is getting the full dose of both.
I have this short tutorial on how to syringe feed if it's needed.
Dosages:
K.C= kicken chicken
L.P= liver powder
The dose per day for the K.C is 1/4cc for bantam and 1/2cc for average hens once a day.
The dose per day for the liver powder is 1/4 teaspoon L.P mixed with 1 tablespoon water for bantams and 1/2 teaspoon for standard hens mixed with 1 1-2 tablespoon water once per day
Here are the two plans. You can do whichever fits your schedule best
This link is for the kicken chicken, it can also be purchased locally at Tractor Supply Co, or pretty much anywhere online.
kicken chicken
This is the liver powder, which can also be purchased locally and probably found online and made by another brand.
Liver Powder
The symptoms my hen had:
She had stopped laying
Was sleeping all the time on the floor of the run
Was gasping with her mouth open when she would lay on the floor
Reduced appetite
Reduced water intake
Huge abdomen that felt watery and not hard like that of an internal layer I had
Overall sluggish and wasting away attitude
She would lay down and take in huge heaving breathes as if she was suffocating
After about 1-2 months on the kicken chicken & liver powder (although some may need to stop earlier because each hen is different) this is what I noticed
She was running around the coop again chasing bugs
Eating and gaining good weight (not in her abdomen but overall healthy body weight)
Laying again
Yelling/squawking and being as active as a young pullet
She was not laying down or gasping anymore
And the water in her abdomen had gone down.
Q&A
because you might have some questions similar to the ones below
What happens to the water in the hen's abdomen if it disappears?
Honestly no clue, she doesn't poop it out (and I believe that wouldn't even be possible) so my best guess is that her body absorbs it.
My hen is acting better after two weeks of the treatment should I continue?
Probably not, I'm not sure about how long the treatment phase is and I don't have an exact treatment plan timeline but I believe my hen was in the late stages of water belly and would have died in the next few weeks if she didn't get treated so I believe that why I needed to do it for so long. If your hens acting better sooner it's best to stop when you see a full improvement and continue with a preventative dose after that just in case.
Can I use this remedy to prevent water belly?
Absolutely! you just need to use a smaller dosage. It can even be sprinkled into the food.
I know roosters don't get water belly but can they have K.C and L.P?
Yes! roosters cant get water belly but they can suffer from liver problems so they can also benefit from this remedy but probably in a lower dose.
My hen is still declining, what can I do?
As I mentioned this isn't a full-proof plan and even though I really hope it works for everyone, it might not. You can still try researching other methods or at home treatments and see if she responds to those.
If I use this treatment do I still need to draw liquid via syringe from her abdomen?
This is different for every hen. For my hen I didn't draw any liquid out and used only the at home remedy. If your hen is walking like a penguin or you feel she needs to have liquid drawn, then do so.
How did I come up with this plan?
Well, I had some liver powder left over after using it on a hen with gout, and at the time I wasn't sure if she was internally laying or had water belly so I also picked up some kicken chicken from TSC after seeing a review that a lady left saying it helped her 5+ year old hens lay again.
I honestly doubted that it would help but it's all that I had left to try and it did!
What if the water belly is caused by heart failure?
For this, I don't have an answer. I'm busy with chicken projects and my personal life and because of this finding time to research and learn is hard but I hope to someday add a remedy for water belly caused by heart failure here too.
Do I have to use that exact chicken supplement and that exact herbal liver powder?
I'll be honest. I will ask you to use everything exactly as I described it unless you want to be explorative. If you can't find the exact liver powder made with the herb called "phyllanthus niruri" you can try using another but make sure it's similar. If you cant find kicken chicken (even though I implore you to try and use it) you can do some research and find some chicken supplements that are similar and have the same ingredients or properties.
Preventative dosage:
I don't have an exact dosage for a preventative dose but what I like to do is sprinkle some L.P into the chicken's daily feed, it's best if you can mix it into something wet like yogurt or wet feed. As for the K.C I like to drizzle it over pellet feed and mix well to coat evenly.
I usually use about 1 tablespoon of the L.P for a flock of 13, and 3-5 tablespoons of K.C for a flock of 13
If you have any more questions or comments let me know down below! Each case is different and unique, if you see you're having problems and need 1-on-1 help you can directly message/contact me, or create a new thread at the link below
forum for injuries-emergencies-cures-diseases
And dont forget you got this,
With lots of love,
Chicken Vet Of Our Flock
Her poop also alternates between normal looking and white and runny, which I would assume is due to a liver issue? I'm going to try this on her. I figured it's worth a shot given there's not much else that can be done to cure it. Question: I ordered both supplements but the liver powder is going to arrive first. Is it alright to start her on that while I wait for the Kickin Chicken to arrive?
