Ailing hen -- bruising on abdomen.

[mksauce23]

I have a RI red that is ill. What started as slight lethargy quickly escalated to extreme lethargy and a nonexistent appetite. I brought her inside and have been trying to nurse her back to health.

Symptoms :
• lethargy
• will not eat or drink herself
• the typically white stuff in droppings is yellowish, and her poop is overall watery, but she's also not eating much of anything
• body overall feels swollen
• heavy breathing
• muffled sound when she breathes (congestion)


Since her lungs sounded very congested, I checked some threads on BYC and picked up the seemingly best antibiotic for lung issues, Tylan 50. I have been giving her a little less than half a mL of this for three days now in her breast. Her breathing and lungs have greatly improved, she's gotten a bit of her strength back. Still no eating or drinking on her own. And her body still feels very swollen. More alarming, today when my roommate and I were treating her we noticed her entire lower abdomen is seemingly bruised? We've been quite careful with handling her, in which she puts up a bit of a fight, but overall I can't think of how her entire lower abdomen could have gotten bruised like that. It's almost greenish colored. Are there any side effects to the Tylan? Could there be an underlying digestive problem hence the yellow poops and swelling?

Thanks for any and all insight and advice!

 

[MrsBrooke]

This sounds like your girl has Egg Yolk Peritonitis. I am sorry for your troubles,

EYP is also a cause of ascites, which is what could also be happening. Ascites is the abdomen filling with fluid. You can drain the fluid and make the hen a little more comfortable, but it doesn't treat the underlying cause, and it's likely to come back.

EYP is also called "internal laying."

I would Google some on EYP and see if that matches your girl's symptoms.

Keep us posted.

MrsB

 

[mksauce23]

She's been a pretty consistent layer up until the past couple weeks. I'm not sure about the onset of EYP, if it comes on quickly or over time. She didn't fully molt last fall and I feel like every once in awhile she's still losing a few more feathers, so short periods of slower egg production hasn't worried me. Some symptoms sound similar, her droppings I wouldn't say are yolk colored but rather more yellowish-greenish. She's never laid double yolkers. And I handle my hens daily and haven't noticed abdominal swelling besides as of late. I guess I'm struggling because so many symptoms span a lot of problems.

I haven't found a source that outlines a difinitive treatment of EYP. Is this an end-all-be-all type of condition, or is there steps I could take to preserve her health? I watched some YouTube videos of draining the abdominal cavity, I might try this tomorrow when I'm giving her her antibiotics.