EE egg issue *updated necropsy photos*

[Isadora]

Found my 2 yr old EE hunched over today.

She was more hunched in posture when I saw her initially. She straightened up a bit when she saw me.
She has had mild symptoms (dull comb, poopy butt, a bit lethargic) for a couple months. She had a breast blister last fall which got taken care of, and the whole flock was treated for scaly leg mites (side question: how long for new leg scales to grow in? I treated everyone with ivermectin last fall, so it's been a few months, so I'm not sure if I used the wrong dose or if I just haven't waited long enough for new scales to grow back in). I thought her comb was dull because she stopped laying for the fall, but all of the other hens' combs have pinked up since the weather has turned warmer but hers still hasn't.
She's also underweight and the area around her vent feels like it's full of fluid, like a water balloon, but a little harder. I didn't distinctly feel an egg when I checked her over today.
I have no idea if she's currently laying or when she last laid an egg. She's now separated into a large dog crate.
She ate eagerly yesterday when I fed everyone but didn't go for the food I put in her cage just now. Her diet is layer pellets.
I'm going to go to town and pick up some calcium for her. Is there something else I should get?

 

[Painted Calls]

@Wyorp Rock @Eggcessive

 

[Eggcessive]

It sounds like she may be suffering from ascites and a reproductive disorder, and can common in some hens over 2-3 years old. I would try to determine if she lays eggs, otherwise calcium would not help. Clean up her vent if it gets messy. Do you have any pictures of her droppings. Do her normally white urates appear yellowish? That is the white part of the dropping. Usually with leg mites, coating the legs with vaseline, castor oil or other oil twice a week can help get rid of them. One treatment of ivermectin, probably won’t do the trick. You could repeat the ivermectin, and then repeat it in 14 days. Dosage of the pour-on is 0.3 ml for a 5-6 pound hen.

 

[Isadora]

It sounds like she may be suffering from ascites and a reproductive disorder, and can common in some hens over 2-3 years old. I would try to determine if she lays eggs, otherwise calcium would not help. Clean up her vent if it gets messy. Do you have any pictures of her droppings.

Not yet. I only just separated her so I don't know which poop is hers. This is what her butt looks like. I see a bit of white in there so maybe no yellow urates?

I'll check on her crate in a little bit and see if she's pooped more.

One treatment of ivermectin, probably won’t do the trick. You could repeat the ivermectin, and then repeat it in 14 days. Dosage of the pour-on is 0.3 ml for a 5-6 pound hen.

I did 2 treatments of ivermectin 10 days apart. Thank you for the dosaging info. The stuff I have is for sheep, which is a 0.08% solution.

 

[Isadora]

It sounds like she may be suffering from ascites and a reproductive disorder, and can common in some hens over 2-3 years old.

Ascites is waterbelly, right? That's not curable, is it?

 

[Wyorp Rock]

Your right, Ascites is water belly which is a symptom of an underlying condition. Fluid can accumulate in the abdomen due to something like reproductive disorders, cancer and organ dysfunction. While there is no "cure" it really depends on what is causing the fluid as to how well she'll do.

I'd work on hydration, get the calcium into her, see if her crop is emptying overnight. If she's not been dewormed, then consider doing that and look her over again for lice/mites.
Hopefully she's just having some trouble with a soft shelled egg, but with laying hens, you just never know, time will tell a tale.
IF you don't see improvement and she's struggling badly, then you can try draining the fluid in the abdomen as part of supportive care to see if that makes a difference.

 

[Isadora]

@Wyorp Rock @Eggcessive
Crop emptied overnight. She doesn't have much of an appetite but she did eat some scrambled eggs yesterday afternoon and this morning. We also got some calcium into her last night and another one this morning. She's not standing as hunched today, but her abdomen still feels the same. No egg, either.
I washed her behind and trimmed her feathers.
She has not been wormed, but I did check for external parasites and found nothing.

 

[Wyorp Rock]

I'd continue with the calcium for a couple of more days.
See if she's able to expel and egg. It may be that she laid internally, but hard to know.

 

[Isadora]

Yesterday she seemed pretty much the same. Continued with the calcium and offering some scrambled egg because she doesn't seem to want her pellets. Still no egg and her abdomen feels the same today, but she seems to have perked up a bit. She's pacing the dog crate and trying to get out. I'm going to give her some calcium and then let her go. I'm kind of hoping she wants to find somewhere to nest and hopefully pass an egg.

 

[Isadora]