bloated miserable hen

[silkiechicken]

Quote:
The broiler thing says why she has ascities, they were bred to grow so fast that their herats can't keep up and they collect fluid. In short, it's heart failure.

 

[trailhound]

Wow, interesting picture silkiechicken! I think the growths were primarily on the intestines, and then there were some random things floating around. My hens organs and everything inside was all brown- not pink like it was supposed to be. It was interesting to see inside, however, I wish I had a normal chicken to compare it too to see the difference- but that wasn't really an option. I have one old chicken I don't particularly care for, and therefore will probably live forever- maybe when she finally dies I will take her in for an autopsy, lol.

It is always sad to lose an animal, but I do have to consider myself lucky- I have only lost one other hen in 7 years to illness. Knock on wood!

Andrea

 

[silkiechicken]

Yeah. Lots of stuff can go wrong inside of the birds. But glad you took the effort to take a look. Always a good learning experience. I like to look and take pics for reference as "icky" as that may sound to some. If you ever get the chance, maybe culling a young rooster destined for the soup pot would give you the best idea of a healthy insides. Most birds dying of old age die because of some sort of organ failue. A 20 week old roo would probably have innards in the prime of conditoin.

 

[evkirk]

Hi I'm new to these forums. Not so new to chickens, but still learning A LOT about them. I just found one of my Rhode Island Red hens with a bloated stomach. I read about ascites in The Chicken Health Handbook and it doesn't sound anything like what my hen has, but I'm not sure. She is lying down a lot and sleeping often. She has trouble walking, I think because her stomach is so distended. She is an older hen and some of ours have died from old age recently. I heard that some of you drained the stomach with a needle. Could you please tell me how this is done and any other suggestions you might have?