Drained ascites fluid and now in respiratory distress

[TwoCrows]

Quote: Yes not all well water is equal. Some have harder water than others. Ours was tested for very high mineral and salt content and was definitely the issue in my flock.

Here is a map of the hard water in this country...

If you live in that soft area as I believe you do, you shouldn't have a problem. Unfortunately I am in that bright red area. I mean you can cut the water with a chainsaw! Ha! We drank this water for 5 years and only stopped because it did make tea and coffee taste a bit off. However birds are very suseptable to salts and minerals. Unlike Sea birds, which actually have a salt gland, birds have a difficult time clearing salt from their bodies like most mammals. So they are very open to salt and mineral poisoning. I would say if you don't live in any of those blue areas, you need to add a filter or purchase water.

 

[casportpony]

Quote: Yes not all well water is equal. Some have harder water than others. Ours was tested for very high mineral and salt content and was definitely the issue in my flock.

Here is a map of the hard water in this country...

If you live in that soft area as I believe you do, you shouldn't have a problem. Unfortunately I am in that bright red area. I mean you can cut the water with a chainsaw! Ha! We drank this water for 5 years and only stopped because it did make tea and coffee taste a bit off. However birds are very suseptable to salts and minerals. Unlike Sea birds, which actually have a salt gland, birds have a difficult time clearing salt from their bodies like most mammals. So they are very open to salt and mineral poisoning. I would say if you don't live in any of those blue areas, you need to add a filter or purchase water.
What salts are in hard water?

-Kathy

 

[speckledhen]

Yes not all well water is equal. Some have harder water than others. Ours was tested for very high mineral and salt content and was definitely the issue in my flock.

Here is a map of the hard water in this country...

If you live in that soft area as I believe you do, you shouldn't have a problem. Unfortunately I am in that bright red area. I mean you can cut the water with a chainsaw! Ha! We drank this water for 5 years and only stopped because it did make tea and coffee taste a bit off. However birds are very suseptable to salts and minerals. Unlike Sea birds, which actually have a salt gland, birds have a difficult time clearing salt from their bodies like most mammals. So they are very open to salt and mineral poisoning. I would say if you don't live in any of those blue areas, you need to add a filter or purchase water.

No, I'm not in a soft water area, according to that map, I'm east of where NC and TN meet just above GA so where the yellow and aqua meet and the yellow dips down, dead center of extreme N. GA. I have a sediment filter as I said. That's it.

I have seen no evidence of hard water here-we had super hard water when we lived up in Ohio (orange). Sinks were always gunked up/stained, shower heads looked chalky, nothing like that here. Still, the chickens will be drinking what we drink. I'm not buying bottled water for chickens or putting an expensive filter system on, other than the little sediment filter.

 

[casportpony]

Quote: The map shows us as green, but I think our last test came back as orange. What I worry about more than calcium and magnesium are nitrates (farming country) and bacteria, so that's why we have ours tested.

-Kathy

 

[TwoCrows]

You know you have hard water when your faucets get all full of calcium and such. Much of what is in hard water is calcium and magnesium carbonates. If there is enough of, it does the same thing that it does to your faucets and hardens the arteries.

 

[TwoCrows]

Stiffens the heart valves, gives high blood pressure, causes plaque to build up in artery walls. Kidney stones too.

 

[dana0710]

Well, she seemed to be doing better. We turned her on her side to give her her antibiotic injection. She is emaciated. When we stood her up she did the gurgling/choking again. After she got over it she had bright green poop. Am I right to think that this is probably the end?

 

[TwoCrows]

Sounds like she definitely has a heart condition with water in the heart chamber. Bacterial infections, cancer and old age will cause this as well, along with infections from internal laying.

The fact that she is rail thin and has nasty green poop is never a good sign. When their bodies begin to shut down, and this can take weeks to completely shut down, they can start by flushing everything from their bodies...minerals, fluids, proteins, etc...the poop can be a greasy greenish yellow, even a bright green.

It doesnt sound too good to me. I am so sorry about your girl. Try to keep her as comfortable as possible, but I doubt there is much more you can do for her.

 

[casportpony]

Well, she seemed to be doing better. We turned her on her side to give her her antibiotic injection. She is emaciated. When we stood her up she did the gurgling/choking again. After she got over it she had bright green poop. Am I right to think that this is probably the end?

So sorry...

-Kathy

 

[speckledhen]

So sorry...

-Kathy

Me, too. Been there way too many times.