Ascites?? Swollen, squishy abdomen - WITH PICS & VIDEO (page 9)

[Romochickencrazy]

Thank you Tamtam84 and Arkansaschick for your condolences! In the end she went down hill very quickly. Sad she's gone but happy she didn't have to suffer very long. <3

 

[redhen689]

I have a 1 year old hen that I suspect has been laying internally. It is so sad. My home-schooled niece hatched a bunch of eggs for me in a home-made incubator last year. This hen was from the first egg to hatch, and my niece's favorite. I'm undecided as to what I will do next.

 

[tamtam84]

I'm so sorry redhen. It is a very sad thing to deal with, that's for sure. Does your hen have a squishy, swollen abdomen and walk upright like a penguin? If she has a lot of fluid and it's making her uncomfortable, you might want to try draining her to make her feel better. When a lot of fluid builds up it can be hard for them to breathe.

 

[redhen689]

`Yes, her abdomen is swollen, and it does appear that she has a hard time walking. Her legs are spread apart. She's panting, and the other chickens aren't. I might try to drain her later today. I've kept chickens for 12 years now and this is the first time I've seen this.

 

[redhen689]

Her abdomen felt like a water balloon, and I stuck it with a needle on each side and pulled 10 ml out of each time, It continued to squirt out probably another 10 - 20 ml after I withdrew the needle. I'll see how she looks tomorrow.

 

[sassy chickens]

I have a hen doing the same thing.... I need to know is she going to give this to my other hens ?? and what do i need to do to help her ?

 

[PandoraChick]

Hello all. I read through about 10 pages of the posts on here and am now afraid my girl "Hot Red"( a 1 yr old RIR hen) is suffering from this.
A little background info:

Hot Red is an egg eater that I have chosen to "manage". She is a sweet hen and never picks on anyone, always one of the first to greet me with "waaaa waaaa waaa" when I come out to the coop/run.I have 15 hens, all a little over a year old, and have recently(in the past few weeks) slowly integrated some newbies(leghorns and 2 more RIR). I have switched them all over to non medicated chick starter because of the newbies(about 12 weeks old), and have provided free choice oyster shell for the hens. I have noticed that some odd things since this.

- shell less eggs laid on the coop floor, assumingly from when they were roosting from the "splatter" pattern
- thinner shells on a few
-a jello egg here and there
- some of my hens are missing feathers or looked like they have been "roughed up"

Tonight, when I went down to do my nightly check, I noticed my RIR hens bottom was swollen/nasty with something sticking out. I got my kit, and took out the thing, which appeared to be a nasty (STINKY) hard piece of egg membrane. I soaked her bottom, and felt her abdomen and crop...both felt kind of squishy. A week ago I found the strangest egg ever in the box(1st and 2nd pic below) and I am not betting it is from her.

I guess I am asking what this could be and also if the egg eating could cause this? I am ordering the chicken health handbook tomorrow.
I am torn if I should try and save her or not, with the egg eating issue and then having learned the hard way about prolonging the inevitable.

Egg shell was incredibly thin and small/oblong..like the size of my pinky finger,. No egg yolk in site, but It did appear to have some clear liquic membrane mixed in with the nasties.

Strange insides of egg...looked like waste/wood shavings/poop and a really long egg membrane



This is what I found tonight on her....what really gets me is she has not been acting sick one bit..walks normal, "talks" normal, eats and all that good stuff. I feel really bad for her and want to help her, whether it be saving her, or ending her suffering.

Thank you in advance for your help!

 

[arkansaschicks]

I had a couple of hens that had the same kind of eggs you were talking about and I just really increased their calcium. I gave them cottage cheese, yogurt, oatmeal and spinach,kale and collards greens. I researched things that were high in calcium and gave them tons of it. I would put flax seeds, sesame seeds and almonds in a chopper and mix that with the oatmeal or yogurt. It is extra work and money but my chickens are my babies. It is just a suggestion but it worked for me. We have a big gardener guy here in Arkansas that is also into chickens and he had a GREAT chicken workshop and he had people speak on how important nutrition is for the chickens. The Purina representive stressed how the right food needs to be given to the right age birds. Your older birds really need lots of calcium because the are using it for their eggs and if they aren't getting enough their body is robbing it from their bones. It is good to offer oyster shell but how do we know if they are really eating it. Sometimes I don't think mine are eating much of it. Then on the flip side the calcium can hurt the young ones. It is really hard to juggle the food when adding new chicks.

About the egg eater, I have never had that problem. I am curious if there is anything that can be done to stop that. I might do a little search on that.
Hope your eggs get better and again I don't know for sure if extra calcium will fix the problem. If this hen is one of your favorites them I would certainly try to do all that you can. I have saved several of my girls by just caring and trying things. Those have been times others have said "just cull it cause it won't get better".
It is always worth a try

 

[tamtam84]

@redhen - How is your girl doing? I found that often times when I poked Buttercup a couple times with the needle she would just drain out completely on her own after that. I hope your hen is feeling better!

@sassy chickens - If your hen is laying internally, no, she cannot give it to the other hens. It is something happening inside her reproductive system and is not contagious. That being said, there are different reasons for a hen to be retaining fluid, but it is not likely that what she has is contagious. If she has a lot of fluid in her abdomen, you can try to relieve her discomfort by draining her with a small needle. You can check out my video of how I drained my hen here -

Feel free to private message me if you have any specific questions on the draining. Good luck!

@Pandora Chick - arkansaschicks said it best! You said your hen is acting normal, and they usually will up until the very end. Since they are prey animals, they do not show outward signs of being sick until it is very bad. One of my hens was laying internally and I didn't realize it until a couple days before she was gone. But my other girl, Buttercup, lasted 8 months from the first time I noticed she was retaining fluid. So you never know because each chicken is different, but I would try to do everything you can for your hen before you call it quits. I know some people may say differently and a lot of people will tell you that once a chicken stops eating/drinking and roosting, that is a very bad sign and then you may want to reassess your options.

 

[PandoraChick]

I would normally go above and beyond to save a hen/chick and have many times..I am currently nursing a long a blind rooster, his half blind sister and a bad leg Roo.
It is just from what I have read, with the combination of her being an egg eater I worry it will be in vain. I dont care if she ever lays another egg again, we already get way too many we give them away....I just dont want her in pain or me or my daughter to find her dead. I have tried everything for the egg eating, including mustard filled eggs, which she appeared to love and ate the whole thing, yuck.

I give them treats every day or so...yogurt, oatmeal, some veggies/fruit. I was hoping the hens would eat the oyster shell...this is always a problem when adding new members to the flock that arent yet laying.

I am going to keep her in the garage in the nursery coop, and see if I can't help help through this episode. If it happens again, I will have to let her go. I just cant bear the thought of her in severe pain and hiding it so she doesn't get pecked. I know thats what they do, but I can imagine how painful it must be.
Thank you for the info in this thread and also the link for the video...It has been a huge help. I was originally thinking she had vent gleet, until I found this thread and now it all adds up(sadly).