Egg bound or water belly?

[Mp13]

Hi, I have a 5 year old chicken that has a very swollen abdomen, and has had it for about 3 days now. At first I thought she might be egg bound and have given her a few epsom salt baths, which she seems to enjoy, but it hasn’t changed her condition yet. I’m starting to wonder if it’s possibly something else, like water belly? Does anyone know how to determine what the problem is?
Her belly feels hard, not squishy, and she’s still interested in eating so I’m not sure what the cause is.
Thanks for your advice!

 

[Wyorp Rock]

Is she lethargic?
Is she in distress?
Not eating/drinking?
Trouble walking?
Any trouble with being picked on?

Personally, if she's eating/drinking/relatively active/interacting with the flock, crop emptying overnight and seems happy within herself, then personally I would just monitor her and evaluate her daily.

If she's not well - distressed, lethargic, having a hard time walking or breathing, etc. then draining the fluid may make her more comfortable. A detox could also be given to see if that makes any difference as well.

Ascites is a symptom (fluid) that accompanies different conditions. A couple of common conditions are reproductive disorders and organ dysfunction (heart/liver).

 

[Lizzy733]

Water Belly will feel like she's full of fluid. She'd be solid, like a beach ball but it's pretty obvious it's not 'dense', like organs etc.

It could also be tumors or internal laying if it's not the above.

All of these have a pretty poor prognosis and are usually terminal, meaning you can only really offer palliative care in the meantime and cull when the eventual downturn happens. - which could possibly be months from now.

Did you mention her breed? Particularly, hybrid layers are prone to these sorts of issues from around 2 1/2+ years old and is why they tend to be so short-lived.

 

[Mp13]

Thank you for the responses! I appreciate it! Yes she is a red sex link, and what you said makes a lot of sense. She is more lethargic and was being picked on, so we brought her into the house. We also took her to the vet and they were able to diagnose it as a reproductive organ infection, common with older aged chickens. They drained fluid and prescribed an antibiotic!