23 month old pullet with 'jelly belly'

I have a situation with a pullet that has been not herself the last couple of weeks..... she was 'hanging back' from the flock and sleeping in a nesting box at night which is why she caught my attention. About a week ago her comb and wattles started to have a bluish look to them like she isn't getting enough oxygen and she was looking like she was struggling when breathing (like her whole body would move as she breathed)..... I picked her up to isolate her and her underbelly is like a giant water balloon! You know, like the old water beds - kinda squishy and full; like its full of water/liquid.

Last fall I had a pullet who had the same waterbelly feeling, droopy and such but no blue wattles.....she never got better and slept all the time so hubby put her out of her misery. That was hard on me of course (him too he said) but hadn't had any problems with any of the others until now. When I flipped that one over it was like her belly was filled with blood maybe cuz it was redish colored under her skin or maybe like a bad rash or something on a human.... quite strange but I thought maybe she swallowed a small screw or something and perhaps that's what the problem was- bleeding internally or something??

Anyhow, this one doesn't have the red colored underbelly but is walking like she has major hemmoroids (yikes) when she does walk.....her crop feels empty and not full at all and she's not skinny by anymeans.... I've isolated her and gave her some of the sugar water and feed.....she eats/drinks just fine. I gave her some cottage cheese this morning. She hasn't laid any eggs since she has been ill. Her comb/wattles is still a slight bluish tint but her breathing is back to normal. I looked in her beak and all looks good. It's the 'jelly belly' syndrome that has me totally puzzled and I can't find anything on line that matches her symptoms.

Any ideas?

Oh, her poops look normal....no worms or weird stuff.......

Thanks so much!

Good description - can't wait to hear an answer from those in the know. I hope it isn't' contagious to the rest of your flock. Sorry this has happened to you. I'll be watching...

Hi,
Are you sure its her abdomen and not her crop?
If it is her abdomen, she might have ascites...............not a good sign. I had a buff orp that developed this when she was about 6 months old. I took her to an avian vet, who wanted to do a ton of expensive tests to determine what might be the cause........liver, heart, etc. I said no thanks and took her home. The vet did drain her abdomen, and I paid close attention. The next time her abdomen swelled up, I would drain it myself, and it would really give relief to the hen. She never got really strong and I had to keep her isolated from the others her entire life (6-7 years). Whenever I would drain her, it was crystal clear fluid....which was a good sign.
I had another one with a big abdomen and when I drained her it was bright green. She died shortly after that.

So my guess (if it is indeed her abdomen), is that she needs it drained, but that doesn't treat the real cause. ....which might be hard to determine, and also expensive if you find a good avian vet.
Oh.....and you might consider giving her some antibiotics too. Good luck to you! Its very frustrating when we don't know what to do.

Hi and thanks for the replies.

I'm sure it is not her crop.... this is way down below her legs belly area....so full that her legs are kinda spread apart..... I'd take pics but she just looks like a pullet who has a bluish comb/wattles and is very short/stout. I've read about black head syndrome but I don't believe that is it......perhaps all the liquid is pressing up into her lungs and she can't breathe as well as normal is causing the slight off color of her comb/wattles. I suppose I should go and get her out of sickbay to see if anything has changed this morning....she's been in there for a few days now.... I'll take a better look at her in the direct sunlight and report if there are any changes.

It's definately the whole lower belly area.

What did the vet say caused yours to fill up?

Thanks so much.

~Tammy

I looked up ascites in poultry and am reading up on it now.

One of my hens has a similar problem so i did some research... YOLK PERITONITIS. The yolk misses the oviduct and goes into the abdominal cavity. Hens can live with Sterile peritonitis for a while, but it puts stress on their system. Of course if an infection sets in, it is even more serious. However my cochin hen has lived with it for about a year. When I first looked it up at the first signs of symptoms several sources said the liquid in the belly might naturally be reabsorbed, and it was best to do nothing. She did not develop and infection, but unfortunately her body did not reabsorb the fluid either. She still can roost with the others and eats normally, but she does not run around like the other hens. I tried to drain the fluid after it was clear that her body was not going to reabsorb it, but by that time the fuild was too thick to really drain.

I copied the following from another thread:

"Peritonitis can be caused by a number of things, most often by yolks missing the "funnel" and falling directly from her ovary into her abdomen. Other types of infections and sometimes cancer can also cause peritonitis. There are also two types of peritonitis - sterile and septic. If your girl has sterile peritonitis, it means that the fluid in her abdomen is not filled with bacteria and is not caused by an internal infection. With this type of peritonitis, the best thing to do is leave the hen alone. If she is extremely uncomfortable and having a hard time breathing, you can try draining off some of the fluid to relieve pressure AS LONG AS you do the procedure under sterile conditions- if you introduce bacteria into her abdomen, she will get a nasty infection and the peritonitis will turn septic - then she will likely die. With sterile peritonitis, the hen will have trouble getting around and will have some loss of appetite, but she will continue to eat and will improve gradually over time- potentially she will recover totally or she will always have fluid build-up. I have a hen with sterile peritonitis and she has been this way for over 3 years now. She has a harder time breathing as the fluid has put pressure on her airsacs and lungs (this is especially evident when she roosts at night) but she is still hanging in there. When she stops ovulating for the year, usually in winter, the fluid is reabsorbed into her body and she is totally normal. She's running around and acting quite silly at the moment... Your vet can choose to remove the fluid, but it usually builds up again quite quickly. Massive fluid loss all at once can cause shock, as well, so if fluid is removed, usually only about half of it is taken at a time.

The other type of peritonitis is septic peritonitis- the fluid gets bacteria growing in it and then there isn't much you can do for her as the infection is so wide-spread and huge that usually even massive doses of strong antibiotic aren't enough. In that case, you can tell that your hen has this type because they go downhill rapidly and lose their appetite. Often they have a fever (hot comb- very hot under wings). If your hen has cancer, this can also cause peritonitis, but she will go downhill with this type as well, and will stop eating and act very sick indeed.

If your hen is still eating well and drinking, she likely has sterile egg-yolk peritonitis and may very well just carry on for years without any added intervention. If you have the resources and this hen is a pet, you may want to ask about getting her spayed and having the offending ovary and the yolks removed from her. There is risk involved, but many have done it with success".

Another thread:


Egg yolk peritonitis (the presence of yolk material in the coelomic cavity) is a common cause of abdominal distension in birds. Yolk material by itself induces a mild inflammatory response and may be reabsorbed by the peritoneum. Because yolk is an excellent growth medium for bacteria, peritonitis may result from secondary bacterial infection. Localized to diffuse fibrinous peritonitis may result, and may lead to secondary ascites and organ inflammation or compromise in chronic cases.

Egg peritonitis is characterized by fibrin or albumen-like material with a cooked appearance among the abdominal viscera. It is a common cause of sporadic deaths, but in some flocks may become the major cause of death and give the appearance of a contagious disease. It is diagnosed at necropsy.

Lodgment of eggs in the oviduct was probably due to reverse peristalsis brought about by breakage of the thin-shelled eggs and secondary bacterial infection. Peritonitis follows reverse movement of albumen and Escherichia coli bacteria from the oviduct into the abdomen. If the incidence is high, culture should be done to differentiate between Pasteurella (fowl cholera) or Salmonella infection.

When hens have too many large ovarian follicles, a problem described as erratic oviposition and defective egg syndrome (EODES) is seen in broiler breeders.

Herbal AntibioticsThis condition is accompanied by a high incidence of double-yolked eggs, prolapses of the oviduct, internal ovulation, and/or internal laying that often results in egg peritonitis and mortality. EODES is prevented by avoiding light stimulation of underweight pullets too early and following body weight and lighting recommendations for each breeder strain. Overweight hens may also have a higher incidence of erratic ovulations and mortality associated with egg peritonitis.

Clinical Signs:
Sudden death, loss of appetite/anorexia, weakness, depression, respiratory distress, lethargy, fluffed feathers, lack of vocalizations, yolk-colored droppings, swollen vent and/or abdomen (the swelling feels spongy to the touch), and ascites. Some of these symptoms also mimic egg binding. Ascites is most commonly seen in cockatiels and waterfowl.

Nesting behavior or recent egg laying is commonly reported at presentation. Abdominal wall herniation may be a complication in cases of extreme abdominal distension secondary to increased coelomic pressure. Although ascites is not present in all birds with egg yolk peritonitis, fluid evaluation may be diagnostic when ascites is a presenting clinical sign. Grossly, the fluid is slightly yellow to yellow, with possible visualization visualization of yolk material and protein strands. The fluid may appear noninflammatory (as in this case) or inflammatory, with or without sepsis. Typical findings would be only yolk or fat globules in the former case and a mixture of heterophils, macrophages, lymphocytes, fat globules, and yolk globules with or without bacteria in the latter case.

Any ascitic fluid from a bird should be cultured, especially in cases of egg yolk peritonitis. Coliform bacteria have been the most common isolates in egg yolk peritonitis. (Sources: Abdominal Effusion in a Bird, Merck Vet Manual, Ruptured-yolk peritonitis and organochlorine residues in a royal tern.)

Hi again Tammy,

You would be able to narrow it down if you could drain her a bit. With yolk peritonitis, you definitely wouldn't get clear fluid.
Since my hen had very clear fluid, chances are it had to do with her heart. When the heart can't move blood around well enough, it backs up and puts alot of pressure on the vessels in the body, and the clear serum can ooze out into the abdomen.
When my hen got full, she had big problems breathing too. In fact, it got so bad, we couldn't always drain her because it would make her just about die. My husband used to hold her in a football hold, head down under his arm, while I would drain. Finally, I figured out that we could set her up on something higher and I could drain her without hubby pressing on her so much.
I guess they have alot of air sacs throughout their body and that fluid can really press on them.
I had the right equipment to drain mine without worrying about puncturing anything important.....and you do have to know where NOT to stick them.
But what you could do would be to take a big gauge needle and and hold her skin slightly away from her (on the part of her abdomen that would hang down the lowest)and poke that in several places........so that when she stands up, it will naturally drain out of her.
Can you get hold of some antibiotics too?

Oh and if you do drain her, I read that it is important to disinfect her skin and the needle with rubbing alcohol to prevent the introduction of any bacteria to the abdominal cavity. Good luck what ever you decide to do.

And it also helps to pull out the feathers around the site(s) you might poke with a needle. Chickens seem to handle external stuff well, in terms of not getting infected. It seems to be their inside stuff that gets them. But always try to be clean.
Keep her separated so you can see how wet the bedding might get (meaning she's draining). And you can gently pick her up and massage her a little, in order to hopefully get more fluid out.

I've got an Easter Egger hen that seems to have developed these symptoms....her abdomen is swelled, makes her walk kind of bow legged, she is still acting pretty good otherwise aside from the looking uncomfortable that way.