Ascites Draining

[Eddie12109]

Will do, after Devs I decided to look at SJ(ascites) and found that hers didn’t look too noticeable but when I squeezed it, stuff came flinging out... none of it was liquidy. It had texture and when squeezed, popped out

 

[Eddie12109]

I am really concerned about Dev...

She lays two eggs every week and the past week she hasn’t laid any. She has just been laying down so much. She will scratch around and be a chicken but then when I let her out to free range she isn’t interested and will just plop down... even my ascites hen has more energy than her.

Her poops aren’t odd, if anything a little blackish but I don’t think they are that out of the ordinary.
She has lost some red to her face as well. I am finishing up giving her baytril and I just dewormed her for five days.

She is in between Eddie (9 in March) and ascites girl so I can assume she is 7 or 8 years old.
Could it be that she is lonely? But even so she shouldn’t be laying down so much... I’m stuck and I am really not wanting to lose her... any ideas?
@azygous @Wyorp Rock @Eggcessive

 

[Eddie12109]

She is also just starting her molt it seems so that could explain the eggs but I doubt the molt is causing her that many issues.

 

[azygous]

Molt can definitely sap a chicken of energy. I offer periodic feedings of high quality animal protein throughout molt. That helps with more efficient feather regrowth and appetite improvement.

 

[Eddie12109]

Things like mealworms?

And this is her breast blister.... I was cleaning it twice a day and putting neosporin on it and she developed this weird thing underneath it, I have left it alone and cleaned it and did neosporin but looks weird.

 

[Eddie12109]

I think I am going to drain my ascites girl tomorrow. She is having somewhat labored breathing and she’s filling up.
I’m just nervous that she is too far down... I will hydrate her in the morning through tube feeding and drain later.

@azygous, you said the hen you drained most recently was most likely dehydrated which is why she didn’t make it...
Was she acting sick as well? What were her symptoms, if any? Was she acting very active before the draining?

I am asking because I am nervous that she is slowing down a little and won’t make it through it but worth trying I guess you can say.

 

[azygous]

My hen that died after I drained her fluid was very sick, had not been eating well or drinking. She had been on an antibiotic for a possible reproductive infection. Of course she was doomed at any rate, but I kick myself for not taking her general condition into consideration before deciding to drain her.

But we both know that even if I had remembered to hydrate her and beef up her physical condition, she wouldn't have gained more than a few more weeks from being drained. Ascites is a death sentence, whether death comes sooner or comes later. It was scheduled to come for her.

 

[Wyorp Rock]

Hard to tell in the photo of the breast blister. Any way you can get a clearer one?
If she's laying down a lot, then another may have formed.

How many times have you drained the Ascites hen now?

 

[Eddie12109]

Well said, I will most likely drain tomorrow if it’s causing her discomfort but I don’t want to accidentally kill her, I will just see how she looks tomorrow. Besides hydrating her in the morning... is there anything else I can do?

 

[Eddie12109]

Hard to tell in the photo of the breast blister. Any way you can get a clearer one?
If she's laying down a lot, then another may have formed.

How many times have you drained the Ascites hen now?

I can definitely try to get a better picture soon.
That’s what I would think but it looks weird, it’s like her skin healed and created a fold with the scab. Hard to explain and I never saw a cut on her so I would assume breast blister.

I have drained her twice. She started in October and I gave her my herbal treatments and it completely went away until December I think, then I drained her first on December 18 if I remember correctly.