Emergency - dying hen

[aitchbe]

my hen has a swollen area below her vent . severe weight loss with her breastbone sticking out sharply. i noticed the weight loss about two weeks ago and treated with wazine and dust for mites and worms, tried giving yogurt and more protein. now she is much worse - just skin and bone and now won't eat or drink.

when dusting i noticed this swelling which has now increased several hundred percent so it is the size of a huge softball. the photo is from when i first saw it.

i'll take another photo today if she is still alive.

i tried pricking to see if it was an abcess but got blood not fluid. swelling is internal to skin doesn't appear to be a prolapse. the area is warmer than the rest of her body. poop is watery. i don't notice any unusual smell and the skin isn't broken.

her comb color looks normal and until two days ago her behavior was normal. now she is lethargic, won't eat or drink and the weight loss has gotten much much worse along with the alarming swelling.

 

[jjthink]

Poor hen

Can you possibly get her to a vet immediately if not sooner?
JJ

 

[aitchbe]

i live in detroit. trying to find a vet outside of city. here is a pic from this morning. i also noticed she has no feathers between her legs.

 

[LynneP]

Option A- possible eggbound and needs a shallow belly bath, which can last up to an hour in warm water. Stay with her, comfort her and be prepared for some really sloppy and odorous matter to be expelled. You may have to repeat this many times, and may get more than the contents of one egg, though one egg's worth would be nice. Search under eggbound and belly bath. Afterwards you can offer her a hot water bottle wrapped in a rag or twoel to keep the chute slightly dilated. Be sure she is fully dry after each bath.

Option B-She may be prolapsed and will require some Preparation H (no added benzocaine or other ingredients, use the original) and you'll need a latex glove. This is a nasty procedure and you'll need someone to assist. The area needs to be covered generously with the Prep H and gently pushed back in, in stages, and held in position for at least 5 minutes. Now, keep in mind that without the vet you are the primary caregiver and that she must be separated. You may have to repeat this but she has been in trouble for a long time and if it does not work it is kinder to cull. I assume she is separated and if not, the other hens may peck her to death. If she survives she will need to be away from them for a long time. She will probably need vitamins in her water, preferably with antibiotics, and may also be eggbound.

Search here under prolapse to get many suggestions to help.

I wish you had a vet, my heart goes out to you and to the hen, I don't have a vet for chickens either.

She also looks like a broody to me, who has been self-plucking, and it wouldn't surprise me if she had pecked at the swelling herself, in frustration.

 

[aitchbe]

I did find an emergency vet and they said she has fluid in her abdomen. i don't know if that cancels out the eggbound situation. she was producing soft shell eggs, so perhaps there is stuff loaded up in there? i will do the search on warm bath etc.

the vet suggested liver damage or cancer based on the xray but couldn't give more info without bloodwork. wasn't an avian specialist but didn't think prolapse was the problem.

i don't know what broody means. i've seen that in posts and tried to find a definition in the forum but was unsuccessful. can you help?

Helen

 

[toredano]

Quote:
Broody means she has eggs and wants to sit on them.. she wont get up to eat or drink and wants to just sit on her eggs trying to hatch them..Can last a long time.

 

[muell112]

As far as I know, broody means when they sit on the nest and don't want to come off their eggs. Sounds like the fluid/tumor is probably just taking up a lot of room inside and causing the lack of interest in eating/drinking. Did he do a biopsy/take a sample of the lump or just look at the Xray? Very sorry she's not doing too well...

 

[miss_jayne]

Helen, she is not broody at all.wish that was the issue, she'd be in much better shape right now.

broody chickens are setting to hatch eggs. a hormonal instinct. this is an illness you are dealing with.

i'm north of you up in Lapeer, i think we've chatted before here on byc.

contact MSU and see if they may be able to help.

there are not a lot of other choices here in Michigan for avian vets, especially that deal with chickens. hope that this may be a little help at least.

 

[LynneP]

Will the vet be intervening?

Did he/she mean the hen has ascites or a tumor?

If the vet means fluid in the abdomen=ascites here are some links

https://www.backyardchickens.com/se...RID:10&ie=ISO-8859-1&q=ascites&sa=Search#1051



What a difficult situation for you...how is she?

 

[lisahaschickens]

I don't want to be a downer, but could the swelling be a tumor? I don't know about cancer in chickens at all, but I know it in humans and I know it in dogs. It can cause3 weight-loss, fluid retention, pain, hair loss (feather loss, maybe?), and a general feeling of discomfort. I don't know how much of an issue cancer is in chickens or how if manifests... I'm just tossing out ideas. Hopefully it's something simpler than that!

Good luck with her!