Distended abdomen, not egg bound UPDATE: passed, necropsy photos added

[AinaWGSD]

I feel bad making a third thread about my 26 week old legbar pullet but I can't figure out how to edit the title to make it more visible.

I have a lethargic. pullet with a soft descended abdomen. Appetite is decreased. She is still eating but not much outside of treats. Unsure if she is drinking. Droppings are watery yellow and mostly urates. Not currently laying. It's possible she laid her first egg on Saturday (10/26) but as time goes on I'm not entirely convinced it wasn't my other blue egg layer.

I have given 600mg calcium with vitamin C sunday, Monday, and Tuesday. 1/4 325mg aspirin Sunday, Monday, and Wednesday. No improvement. Soaked in warm water with Epsom salts yesterday, did not seem to make a difference.

I don't know what else to try. I do not think she's egg bound as i can't feel anything hard when I palpate her abdomen. But I don't know what else causes these symptoms. None of the other chickens have any symptoms

 

[GracePoultry]

water belly?

 

[Wyorp Rock]

I feel bad making a third thread about my 26 week old legbar pullet but I can't figure out how to edit the title to make it more visible.

I have a lethargic. pullet with a soft descended abdomen. Appetite is decreased. She is still eating but not much outside of treats. Unsure if she is drinking. Droppings are watery yellow and mostly urates. Not currently laying. It's possible she laid her first egg on Saturday (10/26) but as time goes on I'm not entirely convinced it wasn't my other blue egg layer.

I have given 600mg calcium with vitamin C sunday, Monday, and Tuesday. 1/4 325mg aspirin Sunday, Monday, and Wednesday. No improvement. Soaked in warm water with Epsom salts yesterday, did not seem to make a difference.

I don't know what else to try. I do not think she's egg bound as i can't feel anything hard when I palpate her abdomen. But I don't know what else causes these symptoms. None of the other chickens have any symptoms

You're other 2 threads are linked below.

What's her poop like?

If she's lethargic and shaking, especially after being handled, it may not be a good idea to give her a soaking.

Her abdomen is distended, does it feel hard or fluid filled?

She may be laying internally, hard to know.

I'd continue with the calcium, see that she's staying hydrated and eating. Check that her crop is emptying overnight.
Any lice/mites?

Sorry, I don't know what else you can do. Taking a sample of her poop to see if worms are a contributor to her decline may be helpful.

https://www.backyardchickens.com/threads/effects-of-calcium-w_vit-d-on-non-eggbound-birds.1644340/
https://www.backyardchickens.com/threads/26-week-old-pullet-lethargy.1644491/#post-28108145

 

[AinaWGSD]

You're other 2 threads are linked below.

What's her poop like?

If she's lethargic and shaking, especially after being handled, it may not be a good idea to give her a soaking.

Her abdomen is distended, does it feel hard or fluid filled?

She may be laying internally, hard to know.

I'd continue with the calcium, see that she's staying hydrated and eating. Check that her crop is emptying overnight.
Any lice/mites?

Sorry, I don't know what else you can do. Taking a sample of her poop to see if worms are a contributor to her decline may be helpful.

https://www.backyardchickens.com/threads/effects-of-calcium-w_vit-d-on-non-eggbound-birds.1644340/
https://www.backyardchickens.com/threads/26-week-old-pullet-lethargy.1644491/#post-28108145

Thank you.
Her poop is runny, yellowish but mostly urates. Her belly feels soft and squishy.

The shaking really only happened when this first started. Painwise she's been clearly uncomfortable but not acutely painful since the first dose of aspirin. I didn't have much time to observe her before work this morning but her stance seemed closer to normal today.

I haven't seen any evidence of lice or mites and the run is fully enclosed so the risk of her getting them from wild birds is low.

water belly?

Maybe? That's caused by organ failure, right? Her comb has had a dark, kinda purple tinge to it at times during this whole thing.

 

[AinaWGSD]

Update: I found 3 colored eggs in my nest box today. So unless my RIR, wyandotte, or cookies and cream are laying wildly off color for their breeding one of them has to be the legbar.

Unfortunately I didn't have much time to check on her between getting home from work and trick or treating began. After trick or treating I'll give her a quick once over and see how her crop feels. I'll check it again in the morning before they get off the roost.

Bedtime update: belly still distended and soft, crop firm with small amount in it. Comb red when I started my check but had that purplish tinge to the tips by the time I was done.

 

[Wyorp Rock]

Thank you.
Her poop is runny, yellowish but mostly urates. Her belly feels soft and squishy.

The shaking really only happened when this first started. Painwise she's been clearly uncomfortable but not acutely painful since the first dose of aspirin. I didn't have much time to observe her before work this morning but her stance seemed closer to normal today.

I haven't seen any evidence of lice or mites and the run is fully enclosed so the risk of her getting them from wild birds is low.

Maybe? That's caused by organ failure, right? Her comb has had a dark, kinda purple tinge to it at times during this whole thing.

Update: I found 3 colored eggs in my nest box today. So unless my RIR, wyandotte, or cookies and cream are laying wildly off color for their breeding one of them has to be the legbar.

Unfortunately I didn't have much time to check on her between getting home from work and trick or treating began. After trick or treating I'll give her a quick once over and see how her crop feels. I'll check it again in the morning before they get off the roost.

Bedtime update: belly still distended and soft, crop firm with small amount in it. Comb red when I started my check but had that purplish tinge to the tips by the time I was done.

The purplish tinge is a bit of concern, does this only happen when she's stressed or being handled?

I'd still get extra calcium into her for a few days. She may have something else going on, but most of the symptoms point to reproductive problems. The yellowish urates could indicate liver problems.
Do the best you can, working on keeping her eating/drinking.

 

[AinaWGSD]

The purplish tinge is a bit of concern, does this only happen when she's stressed or being handled?

Yeah, im not a fan of that at all. It mostly seems to happen then, but I've noticed it at random times too.

She may have something else going on, but most of the symptoms point to reproductive problems

That's what I'm worried about. She's been fine right up to this week, and now that she's at onset of laying suddenly she's in trouble. I like her a lot, but if she's already having reproductive issues I don't see her having much of a future

Husband and I talked about it tonight. As long as she doesn't deteriorate we'll keep an eye on her for now. If she doesn't make a significant improvement before we process turkeys for Thanksgiving we'll probably cull her at that time.

 

[AinaWGSD]

Morning update: no real change. I went out to check my pullets crop this morning and it wasn't empty. There was a small firm (not hard) ball, maybe slightly smaller than last night, maybe not (it was hard to say)

 

[AinaWGSD]

She's eating scrambled egg enthusiastically, but didn't seem very interested in the soaked pellets or squash seeds i offered this morning. She is at least moving more normally, and I haven't seen any of the purple tinging today.

 

[AinaWGSD]

Tonight her crop was reasonably full. It felt about the same as the other chickens. And we got another of the green speckled eggs that we suspect are hers.

Husband seems to think the speckles are blood embedded in the shell. I think they look like normal pigment.