Just had this happen to me again. Buff Orp was a bowling ball of fluid-filled abdomen. Her comb was purple. She could not get on the roost. We decided NOT to drain or even treat with penicillin, as we had done that weeks before her abdomen had expanded to this extent. We separated her, fed her the easily digestible chick starter, eggs with olive oil and vitamins, just stuff easy on her crop (crops tend to malfunction in dying birds is why the dietary change). She started looking perkier after a couple of weeks, but when we returned her to the coop, she was attacked by the hens, which always happens when a lower ranking hen is dying, so kept her separate a bit longer. Then, one day she was so bouncy, we let her go back. They didn't really bother her much so she stayed.
This is a HUGE hen, biggest I've ever seen, a breeder quality Buff Orpington, but she was skin and bones other than the huge abdomen. Had been a wonderful layer, then went into her first big molt, quit laying, then the going-to-nest-no-egg started and went on for a month.
And she is young, too, a year and a half old. Yesterday, I caught her to check her abdomen when I saw her color was a lovely Pepto Bismol pink in the face and comb. Guess what? Fluid is completely GONE. No explanation for it, other than her body is trying to repair itself. Now, is she healed? Maybe not. Recently, I lost a 3 year old crossbreed hen with the same situation. She seemed okay, just not super perky, but her abdomen was back to normal, just wasn't laying again. Found her dead under the roost one morning. So, obviously, she was laying internally, and this Orp hen may be as well. I won't know that for sure unless we open her up if she passes on.
Now we wait for her to begin laying, if she does. Could go either way. So you see how these things go.
This is a HUGE hen, biggest I've ever seen, a breeder quality Buff Orpington, but she was skin and bones other than the huge abdomen. Had been a wonderful layer, then went into her first big molt, quit laying, then the going-to-nest-no-egg started and went on for a month.
And she is young, too, a year and a half old. Yesterday, I caught her to check her abdomen when I saw her color was a lovely Pepto Bismol pink in the face and comb. Guess what? Fluid is completely GONE. No explanation for it, other than her body is trying to repair itself. Now, is she healed? Maybe not. Recently, I lost a 3 year old crossbreed hen with the same situation. She seemed okay, just not super perky, but her abdomen was back to normal, just wasn't laying again. Found her dead under the roost one morning. So, obviously, she was laying internally, and this Orp hen may be as well. I won't know that for sure unless we open her up if she passes on.
Now we wait for her to begin laying, if she does. Could go either way. So you see how these things go.
Last edited:
I've never had to make that type of decision before so I can only imagine how hard it must have been for you. But you knew her better than anyone else and you did the best thing for her in her situation. *hugs*
