We lost our favorite auracana hen today to this horrible disease:
"When an egg passes down the oviduct, it can be deposited in the abdominal cavity. This will become enlarged and inflamed. It is likely that chickens which have a distended abdomen which feels hot are suffering from this condition. Such birds cannot be saved and are best put down. The condition can be chronic, or a bird can die suddenly, with no obvious external symptoms."
When our birds first started laying, she layed beautiful green eggs, but only a few. This past spring/early summer she stopped laying and we noticed white gunk stuck all over her vent, and she was leaking clear fluid. We bathed her and tried to keep that area clean; even felt around to see if an egg was stuck but didn't feel anything. Over the summer and early fall the dripping slowed and the gunk lessened but still no eggs. She acted perfectly fine - free ranged with her buddies every day and ate/drank just fine. DBF called the vet a couple weeks ago and her appt was yesterday. They did x-rays and said that a huge egg was stuck in her uterus and they could do surgery to remove it. Also said that even though she looked like a huge bird, she was really just skin and bones but the swelling made her look big.
Her surgery was this morning and she didn't make it. They found a mass of yolks in her abdomen surrounded by more of the white gunk. According to the disease description, I guess it was just a matter of time. She didn't appear to be suffering so we were a little surprised.
R.I.P. "Leaky Butt", as we affectionately called her.
"When an egg passes down the oviduct, it can be deposited in the abdominal cavity. This will become enlarged and inflamed. It is likely that chickens which have a distended abdomen which feels hot are suffering from this condition. Such birds cannot be saved and are best put down. The condition can be chronic, or a bird can die suddenly, with no obvious external symptoms."
When our birds first started laying, she layed beautiful green eggs, but only a few. This past spring/early summer she stopped laying and we noticed white gunk stuck all over her vent, and she was leaking clear fluid. We bathed her and tried to keep that area clean; even felt around to see if an egg was stuck but didn't feel anything. Over the summer and early fall the dripping slowed and the gunk lessened but still no eggs. She acted perfectly fine - free ranged with her buddies every day and ate/drank just fine. DBF called the vet a couple weeks ago and her appt was yesterday. They did x-rays and said that a huge egg was stuck in her uterus and they could do surgery to remove it. Also said that even though she looked like a huge bird, she was really just skin and bones but the swelling made her look big.
Her surgery was this morning and she didn't make it. They found a mass of yolks in her abdomen surrounded by more of the white gunk. According to the disease description, I guess it was just a matter of time. She didn't appear to be suffering so we were a little surprised.
R.I.P. "Leaky Butt", as we affectionately called her.
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