chicken extremely bloated

[msshepherdess]

One of my older chickens (maybe 4 yrs.) can hardly walk she is so unnaturally huge. Any ideas?

 

[priszilla]

eggbound? internal layer?

 

[ruth]

Here's one of my threads about a hen that was bloated with water. See if it sounds like the same thing and you can try what I did. Today I can't even tell which hen it was - she looks good as new.

https://www.backyardchickens.com/forum/viewtopic.php?id=66650

 

[msshepherdess]

Thanks Ruth, It sounds just like what my girl is doing. What size needle did you use and can you tell me exactly where to put it? I'll try the water bath and confining today. She's eating and drinking, just can't hardly walk she's so heavy. I don't have any antibiotics and can't come close to affording a vet visit. Thanks for your help.

 

[ruth]

It would only require the smallest of needles if she's full of water. I buy them at the feed store - sometimes they will just give them to me. They're only a few cents each.

If you read my thread you saw that once I had poked her a few times the water kept leaking out of some of the holes - that's how full she was and how stretched her skin was. She had been getting larger by the day for almost a month and was at the point of being unable to move. I say all this with the disclaimer that I am not a vet, the vet would not see my chicken, and I had nothing to lose by trying to drain her myself. Happy to say today she is doing great.

I used the small needle and inserted in the water bag at the back of the chicken to the lower left and right of the vent - in the part of the bag that was just hanging down with the weight of the water. I first moved feathers back so I could see if there were any little surface veins and gently pushed in and felt with my finger to be sure I was in the water balloon area and not near bone. Then I would insert the needle and draw out the water. Because I had also used a small syringe I had to keep doing it over and over. She had so many holes by the time I finished. If I were doing it again I would buy a small needle but the largest syringe I could find so I could draw out more water without having to restick. There wasn't any blood except for a small dot one time when I hit one of those tiny surface veins which I learned to look for.

If she's just full of water and bloated like mine was it should be easy to tell the water balloon area. Mine continued to leak for hours and soaked through three folded towels - that's AFTER I had drained a cup of water from her.

I'm not sure mine is laying again - I don't think she is. But in all other respects she seems normal. I'm still checking her daily and the extra skin has gone back to normal and she does not seem to be refilling.

Of course draining the fluid is treating the symptom and not the cause. If she is an internal layer there could be yolk building up inside that will poison and kill her eventually - also if there is liver damage or other issues that are causing the fluid build up they will possibly continue. I'm giving mine penicillin because I think her case might have been caused by the staff infection from her bumblefoot because she kept laying eggs while bloated so badly.

You can also buy penicillin at the feed store. It's about $9 for a bottle that you can use forever there's so much in it. A 10lb chicken only needs about 1cc.

I wish you the best of luck.

 

[ruth]

Whatever happened with your hen? Did you try the draining procedure? I'm hoping she made it. If not, I'm so sorry.