Excuse me....it is protrusion.
I gave her epsom salt bath three times today. Her belly is firm, so it is a bit like a drum. I felt something egg-ish thing on her belly. I was able to move it towards the vent. She tried to push it out but it was unsuccessful.
She is sleeping now, but she is breathing heavily. Probably the belly is putting pressure on her chest.
I hope she makes it tonight. I am thinking of calling the vet tomorrow morning. My kids are getting very upset and want me to take her to the vet.
If she has laid internally, what would happen????
Laying internally means the egg gets dumped into the abdomen instead of making its way out to the vent. This ultimately causes infection because unlike people, chickens do not have anything separating their reproductive tract from the rest of the organs.
She may benefit from having her abdomen drained. If she is breathing heavily when laying down, this is almost certainly the case as the fluid takes up all the room making it hard for her other organs to function - hard for the lungs to inflate etc.
You can take her to a vet - make sure they accept chickens, sadly not many will - or you can do this yourself at home.
At your local feed supply store by the cattle vaccination stuff you should be able to find a 1" long 16 gauge or 14 gauge needle. You will not need a syringe, but you can get one if you like. They usually sell them in packs of 4 or 5.
At the bottom of this post is a video on how to drain the hen with only one needle poke. There are other youtube videos out there where people use little bitty needles and poke their poor hens in many spots - and I was SO happy to find a better reliable way to do it.
Depending on the hen and her condition, she may gain a substantial amount of time from being drained- or she may pass within a couple of days. Be prepared for the reality that draining her is not a cure (btw there is no cure!!) but it WILL make her soooo much more comfortable. So whether you get months more or just help her be more comfortable for her final days, it is a valuable tool. Gasping for air is a MISERABLE experience. Whatever else happens, giving her the gift of unencumbered breathing is important, unless of course you intend to put her down.
When a hen has waterbelly (ascities), it is likely to re-occur - so you will need to keep an eye on her and be prepared to drain her again down the road.
I suggest watching the entire video, she does a great job explaining how and why to do it.
Because I don't usually have the luxury of someone to hold the chicken for me, I skip the part with the syringe and just use the needle. The fluid will flow straight out of the needle cap, much like a water balloon (if you didn't break the balloon inserting the needle!) I like this way for another reason - it flows at a gentle pace so you don't have to worry about taking too much at one time via syringe. This is best done outside. If you want to collect the fluid, I suggest a big wide bowl type container. Towards the end she does exactly what I've described- I just modified it to do that same way from the beginning.
When the needle hits the right area the fluid will run out. As she exhales the fluid will come out faster, so it may be kind of a spurting action in the beginning as her lungs get more room to expand as the fluid runs out.
Here is the video:
