Explosive diarrhea post ascitite drainage

[Mother-Hen-Michele]

Thank you for checking my post, I have a hen who started watery poops after a drainage for ascitite. I don't know if they are related, but it has been more than 10 days and she shoots water from her bum like an explosive diarrhea.


Looking around for more info

If you have any ideas, please share.

She is eating (drinking lots), sleeping much more than normal.

She is not laying (but it was prior, she had water belly)

She is a Leghorn, production bird, bantam.

She is more than 3 yrs old.

 

[Eggcessive]

That might be just because of her ascites problem and excess bile being excreted. Are her droppings yellow or green and watery? I have only drained one hen with ascites, although several older hens were later to have had it when they were opened up after they died. Since ascites is often associated with reproductive infection or salpingitis, chickens with those things may have loose poops.


I would try to give her some probiotics in her water, or feed a little plain Greek yogurt or buttermilk. A small amount of cottage cheese can firm up droppings. Is she eating mostly chicken feed? Ascites is eventually going to kill her. Draining occasionally can relieve pressure and help in breathing, but it won’t cure her.

 

[Mother-Hen-Michele]

That might be just because of her ascites problem and excess bile being excreted. Are her droppings yellow or green and watery? I have only drained one hen with ascites, although several older hens were later to have had it when they were opened up after they died. Since ascites is often associated with reproductive infection or salpingitis, chickens with those things may have loose poops.


I would try to give her some probiotics in her water, or feed a little plain Greek yogurt or buttermilk. A small amount of cottage cheese can firm up droppings. Is she eating mostly chicken feed? Ascites is eventually going to kill her. Draining occasionally can relieve pressure and help in breathing, but it won’t cure her.

Thank you, I was wondering if the liquid involved could come out in the droppings. It seemed separate since it accumulates under the skin (between organs similar to internal bleeding?)

The liquid was pure as water in the beginning but now is like thin milk&water. Seems to be getting milkier.

I have offered her yogourt she refused it, which is odd. I gave some of the same yogourt to the rest of the flock they practically ate the bowl for how much they loved it.

I'll try some yogourt with flavor (I had offered the really healthy natural yogourt but it is plain)

She is being offered a whole variety of chicken feeds, even mash from chick food, and a bowl of grit and anything to stimulate interest in food. I want her eating to keep awake and stimulated.

I have treated ascitite 3 times now, (including this one), one lasted 8 months, only drained her once and she was basically asymptomatic until she died suddenly.

Another has survived almost a year now, drained twice. Her crop never seems to swell anymore, she is constantly hungry and eats but no swelled crop. She had stopped laying but started again a few days ago (spring is in the air ) I think her crop got misformed or squished somehow by the pressure (?) Now doesn't expand (?)

I know draining is not a cure but they are tiny bantam Leghorns so full of personality and if they can have some retirement where they still get to run around in the garden I will keep spoiling them as long as they are willing to survive.

The first time I drained one it was frightening but it came down to 'she will die from heart failure or something similar if I don't so even if I fail and she dies, this is the only possible road' .

Now I have a little ritual of: bringing them inside, snack! (Super special snacks ) , bath to wash the bum, (and I get better visibility of the bum with wet feathers) , then disinfection of the whole area, puncture with the 18 gauge (I no longer use the plunger part of the syringe) then allow her to drain either through the needle or by removing the needle and letting the hole drain. The choice is not mine, some drain better with the needle inserted some don't need it. I found using the plunger was uncomfortable to them, led to a lot of painful squirming and sad cooing sounds.

If she doesn't need the needle in place she walks around and it pours out of her comfortably. ( This is a mess on the kitchen floor but seems easier on her to drain if she is moving around)

If she needs the needle I keep her still and massage the abdomen to direct the liquid out. I worry about her moving around with a needle in her so I limit movement.

After I disinfect the whole area of the hole. (Sometimes this means another bath If the liquid got the feathers dirty)

I can't say they enjoy it, but they have a nice active life afterwards, so I'll keep at it.

This is the first time I see this afterwards.

 

[Eggcessive]

Let us know how she gets along. With the little bantam I treated for ascites, her fluid became thick and milky after the first or second draining, probably from infection and she died after the third draining. I disinfected her skin and used a sterile needle each time, but she died within about 2 weeks of the first draining. When I did a necropsy, she had fluid filled sacs that looked like a reproductive disorder. She was 11 years old.

 

[Mother-Hen-Michele]

Let us know how she gets along. With the little bantam I treated for ascites, her fluid became thick and milky after the first or second draining, probably from infection and she died after the third draining. I disinfected her skin and used a sterile needle each time, but she died within about 2 weeks of the first draining. When I did a necropsy, she had fluid filled sacs that looked like a reproductive disorder. She was 11 years old.

11 yrs! Gosh I wish that were possible

I will update the thread when I see where this leads, help the next hen (& her keeper )

I am hopeful that the milky color is her normal poo being diluted in this liquid ejection. But I will keep in mind it might be an infection as we go.

I am concerned there might be a co-occuring illness. She is less swollen though, so it is possible this is the liquid coming out of her.

Spring is almost here, transition seasons are hard on the body (fall and spring have high mortality) I hope she survives to scratch up the garden, she is a great little digger. She is the first one out the door in the morning, if she can survive a few weeks, she's good to last the summer from sheer joy.