My hen may have gall bladder bile in her peritoneal fluid! ? (Pictures) Can anyone help shed any lig

Yikes! Look at this!! Not what we expected at all...




My hen has had peritoneal fluid accumulating and drained 4 times between June - and the first week of November (picture below after first time). We were assuming egg yolk peritonitis and that it would kill her eventually, but she took to it pretty well and was so much more comfortable that we kept doing it as long as it was a problem. After her last drain in November, it seemed to stop and she was doing incredibly well: bright, full of energy, running getting excited about food etc. we couldn't believe how well she was doing.

Then, a few weeks ago, after a week of heavy rains, she started to have diarrhea - which according to the poop pictures looked like she had clostridium perfingens. I was afraid she'd gotten into some moldy grain when the floor in the coop got wet - but the vet didn't think so - but didn't test for it. He gave me a 7 day course of antibiotics to give her - but the diarrhea did't go away. Last Sunday I cut off some vent feathers and cleaned her rear because it was so poopy.... and noticed at that time that she seemed to have some peritoneal fluid.

Then yesterday I noticed that she'd accumulated a *lot* more fluid and her appetite was way down. So I took her back to the vet since she had so much fluid. I was not surprised that he removed about 800cc of fluid - but I was shocked that it was green! (picture above) Previously, it was a yellow brown (pic below).

The vet said her gall bladder was involved and that maybe she has a liver tumor pushing on the gallbladder. It was hard to get anything else from him (he's Chinese and his engilsh isn't very good) So I've been trying to find out more about chicken gall bladders but there is very little info about them in live chickens.

I'm sadly assuming she's not going to be with us much longer. (she's been living on borrowed time as it is)... but I'd like to know if there is anything at all I can do for her . I'd like to find out what might be going on and to see if anyone has any info or experience or suggestions about this. Would it have ruptured? If it did, can it heal or will it kill her - and if so, how soon? Is she in pain? If so, is there anything I can give her for it?

Today she is even pickier about food and seems a bit week, but is hanging out with my other two chickens....

Her comb is also a little darker (not purple, just a darker red).... can anyone tell me what that might mean?

Looks familiar. This is what I got out of one of my own hens years ago. I think the color is the result of infection and yolks together, personally.

speckledhen said:

Looks familiar. This is what I got out of one of my own hens years ago. I think the color is the result of infection and yolks together, personally.

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Oh Wow! Thanks. It really helps to see what you got.... So you don't think it's bile? What course did this run.... I'm assuming you lost her, but how long after? Were you able to help her at all? Interestingly, looking at it closely, Loudy's fluid looked almost bluish - I didn't see any brown in it.. or oddly, even any trace of yellow... (which I think I see in yours) I've read about a number of your hens - which one was this?

I also read elsewhere that gall bladder problems can be caused by moldy feed... and clostridium causes necrosis in the intestines.... maybe that's the green?

amyduck said:

Oh Wow! Thanks. It really helps to see what you got.... So you don't think it's bile? What course did this run.... I'm assuming you lost her, but how long after? Were you able to help her at all? Interestingly, looking at it closely, Loudy's fluid looked almost bluish - I didn't see any brown in it.. or oddly, even any trace of yellow... (which I think I see in yours) I've read about a number of your hens - which one was this?

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amyduck said:

I also read elsewhere that gall bladder problems can be caused by moldy feed... and clostridium causes necrosis in the intestines.... maybe that's the green?

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I drained Olivia multiple times. I don't recall how old she was when she died, but I think this went on over the course of a year or so. Sometimes, I would see more brownish yellow, sometimes more green. ALL hens who've needed draining died eventually, except for one I did not drain at all, refused to do it. I only habitually drained two hens, Olivia and Ivy and a couple others only once when the fluid was too much for them to even walk well but they seemed to be going on fine other than that at the moment. I drained those as a last resort to make them more comfortable, knowing they would die anyway. The fluid inside this last hen I mentioned who I did not drain eventually dissipated on its own and she gained weight and began laying again, so I honestly do not know what the fluid/bloat looked like or was from.

Honestly, I've been through this stuff so many times, SO many times (though not lately since I quit buying hatchery stock), that I know what's coming and I don't make attempts to "fix" them. I may give one round of penicillin in case I'm catching an infection at the very beginning but that is all I'll do, no more. And I don't drain the hens now, not unless, as I said, they are dragging a bowling ball and they need relief from that.

My "Loudy" waiting to see the vet yesterday - in my car - away from the dogs ... hard to tell she had so much fluid inside her!

speckledhen said:

I drained Olivia multiple times.

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I wondered if it might be Olivia! Poor dear.

In Loudy's case, as I mentioned, she has taken to the process pretty well and done so very well between drainings - especially for the 3+ months since the one in November - that my boyfriend and I have commented numerous times about her quality of life and how glad we are that we drained her... we also know there will be a time, likely soon, that we will stop. She has a much, much harder time when we give her pills! I hate to do that to her! I wish there was a better way.

amyduck said:

My "Loudy" waiting to see the vet yesterday - in my car - away from the dogs ... hard to tell she had so much fluid inside her!

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I wish the best for her. You know I adore Delawares. I have only one left and she is 7 years old this month. My rooster in my avatar, Isaac, as you can see by the dates on the painting, died at the end of last year. As far as egg issues, I had only one Dellie hen with an egg problem and it was due to her massive egg size-she got one with another egg inside of an egg, making it impossible to pass, and died because it dropped into her abdomen. Mine came from a breeder in Ohio.