Chicken with swallen stomach

Mequita

In the Brooder
7 Years
Jul 26, 2012
11
0
22
Hello everybody,

One of my hens has a big swollen stomach. I noticed this yesterday but I thought it was an egg. Today, I noticed she was walking funny, like a penguin with her tail down almost dragging it.

I took her inside and gave her a warm bath with Epson salt. I examined the vent and couldn't feel an egg, so I don't think she is egg bound. I started to gently squeezing her stomach and but I got nothing.

What can I do for her? I don't have an avian vet where I live.

She is an ex-bat and I know they live approx. 4 years and they are not the strongest chickens but I've been in similar situations, egg-bound, hernia, etc., and I've been able to help them. I have lost a fair amount of hens too but I need to do something more.

Can somebody give me a hand please.

Kindly,
Sandra
 
Is it the crop? Any sour smell around her beak? If its impacted you can try gently massaging it and feed her some olive oil to try and get things moving.
 
No, It's not the crop. It's the lower part of the abdomen. From behind it looked like a big bag but then yesterday, the weight was too much so her tail was down to. She was walking still but in a very strange way.
Can this be a tumor? Even though, it very swollen, when you touch it is not hard. It feel like a water balloon.
Thank you for replying to me.
 
One of my hens has been doing this off and on. The only thing I've found that sounds like what she appears to have is internal egg laying. She absorbs it within a few weeks, goes back to normal, then does it again. I haven't found a cure for mine yet.
 
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Your chicken is almost for shore suffering from ascites, it is an accumulation of fluid in the abdominal cavity do Failure of the liver or the kidneys or both. This situation is almost always fatal! If you want to try and help her you should reduce the protein in her food, give here grains like whet, corn, sourgum, for few days and you should try to drain the liquid. Google it and learn more on this situation.
 
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I guess I can live with that. But then I can't let her back with the rest because they are going to peck on her since she looks so weak.
Thank you for sharing your experience.
I will keep posting her progress in the hope somebody can tell me what is wrong with her and what I can do.
Kindly,
Sandra
 
Hi there,
I just so your post. Thank you. I will read about this ascites and see how I can drain the fluids. So no more layer pellet and just wheat and corn for her.
Thank you
 

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