Abdomen area between legs very swollen, walking funny

[aSliceOfLife]

Hello. My Barred Rock hen has been having problems for over a week now. She is about 3 years old, and her abdomen between her legs is really large and swollen, and therefore her legs are farther apart and she's walking funny. (Waddling like a duck!) I had her checked last week to see if she's eggbound but they didn't feel any eggs inside her. She's eating and drinking just fine, but is slightly lethargic. I've put her on antibiotics and a dewormer, have given her several warm 20 minute baths (her poop is crusty), and have separated her from the rest of the flock. It almost looks like someone put a water balloon between her legs. Could it be some type of cancer or tumors? Not sure what else to do for her. Thanks!

 

[speckledhen]

Egg yolk peritonitis, internal laying, cancer or all of the above, complicated by ascites (retained fluid). There really is no cure for internal laying or cancer and egg yolk peritonitis is also chronic. Her age and her most likely being a hatchery hen(she is, right?) tells me she is at the prime age for it. Have lost many hatchery hens to these things. My breeder birds just don't get this to any real degree, better genetics. Unfortunately, all you could do is a massive dose of penicillin and hope it helps for awhile, but trust me when I say, it will not be permanent.

These threads may be helpful to you.

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

https://www.backyardchickens.com/forum/viewtopic.php?id=195347

https://www.backyardchickens.com/t/...lks-update-rip-beautiful-reba/50#post_8068877

https://www.backyardchickens.com/t/...ences-on-egg-reproduction-production-necropsy

 

[aSliceOfLife]

I spent some more time on the forum and figured out she had ascites. I went to the feed store, purchased an 18 gauge needle and 12cc syringe and followed directions on this site for draining. Yikes, a bunch of yellow liquid came out of her!! I was able to get two full vials of the 12cc syringe but there is still a lot more fluid in her. I will try again tomorrow. As I mentioned before, I already had someone check inside of her for eggbound or anything else like that. Ascites was the best guess and luckily I was right. Thanks for you help!

 

[aSliceOfLife]

P.S. Here are the directions for draining the liquid from your chicken by Country4ever:

How to drain a chicken

I'm fortunate in that I obtained an intracath to drain my chickens. This is a small rubber tube that's over a needle. Once I stick in the needle, I thread the tube over it, and pull the needle out. With this intracath, I don't have to worry about puncturing an organ. But I dont think they are available.

Supplies:
#18 gauge needle or intracath.
A 10 cc syringe
Collection cup
Cotton swab and alcohol

You must be very careful to stick the chicken in the right spot, or you could puncture an organ or a blood vessel. Actually, its good if the chicken is really full, because that helps to keep the needle from hurting anything else.

The best place to insert the needle is on the right side of the chicken's abdomen right close to where the leg is attached. Its mid-way down the abdomen and off to the right side.

The first thing you do is pull out some feathers around where you will be inserting the needle.

This is really a 2 person job. The person holding the chicken should hold her like a football on their right side (the persons right side). The chickens head will be under their arm and the chickens butt will be facing you and be up a little. Make sure they hold the wings down well. You don't want the chicken taking off in the middle of this. But be careful not to squeeze the chicken so much that they cant breathe. Their breathing is already compromised from all the fluid.

When you've decided on the best spot (over to the right side of the abdomen, about even to where the leg connects), clean the area with rubbing alcohol. Use preferably an 18 gauge needle to pierce the skin, going in only about ¼-1/3 inch in (bevel up). You don't go straight down in, but more parallel. You should immediately get fluid out. In my experience, its a better sign to get clear liquid than green.

When fluid starts coming out, I use at least a 10 cc syringe to attach to the needle and begin to pull out fluid. Be very careful as you attach and detach your syringe, since you can easily accidentally move the needle around and it could puncture something important. If it accidentally comes out, put it in again.

There have been times when I pulled out hundreds of ccs of fluid.so be prepared for this to take a little while. Have a container there to collect a lot of fluid in.

When it starts getting hard to withdraw any fluid, have the other person gently tilt the chicken around a little, to help trapped fluid get over to where the needle is. Fluid should come out easily.so dont pull back on the plunger too hard or you might hurt the chicken.

My hen always continued to drain fluid onto her bedding for about a day.which was a good thing. In fact, Im thinking if some people don't feel comfortable about using a syringe to withdraw fluid, maybe they could just make a needle hole or 2, and let the fluid passively flow out.

I always give my hen a 22.7mg Baytril before I drain her, and then 2 pills a day for 2 days afterwards. I dont know if this is completely necessary, but its what my vet told me to do.

We drain our chicken in our house, on a plastic covered ironing board. Put it where theres lots of light so you can see better. I think doing it in the house is a lot cleaner than in the coop.

You could possibly put triple antibiotic ointment over the needle site afterwards, but I never wanted to obstruct the outflow of anymore fluid, so I quit doing it.

There is always the chance of the hen having big problems once all this fluid is taken out, but in my experience, they actually feel sooooooo much better. My hen Nobie suddenly becomes very active and eats a ton of food. She usually doesnt poop at all when shes full of fluid, but poops constantly afterwards. Always look for signs of infection for about a week afterwards.

If your chickens breathing is too compromised from someone holding her like this, you can figure out a way to get her up higher.like a TV tray on top of a card table.so that she can be set up on there, with someone just stabilizing her, and you can drain her from below. This way, no one has to hold her too tightly for her to breath. When they are full of fluid, holding them seems to make it close to impossible for them to breath. But I think its easier to deal with the procedure, if someone can hold them.
Good luck!
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A 22 gauge needle is pretty small. It would take forever to drain her.
What you might do is make several small pokes (only going in about 1/4") and rotate the needle around, to make the hole bigger. Then just set her down and let gravity/pressure drain the fluid.

You do have to be very careful not to puncture any organs. In my experience, its best when the hen is VERY swollen, since you'll be less likely to poke anything important.
As I said above, I always drained to the right side of the abdomen, close to where the right leg attaches. That's where my vet did it a couple times. Supposedly on the right side, there's fewer organs right there.
Good luck to you.

 

[speckledhen]

I spent some more time on the forum and figured out she had ascites. I went to the feed store, purchased an 18 gauge needle and 12cc syringe and followed directions on this site for draining. Yikes, a bunch of yellow liquid came out of her!! I was able to get two full vials of the 12cc syringe but there is still a lot more fluid in her. I will try again tomorrow. As I mentioned before, I already had someone check inside of her for eggbound or anything else like that. Ascites was the best guess and luckily I was right. Thanks for you help!

You have to understand something. She doesn't just have ascites. Ascites is almost always a symptom of a system shutdown. The yellow stuff is not just fluid, but probably egg yolk plus infection. You can drain her, but it will return. It always does because the underlying cause will still be there.

The most unfortunate thing you can do is think you are home free because it's just simple fluid buildup. Sorry your poor hen is so uncomfortable.