Food going in, not coming out! Abdomen is huge! Green/yellow diarrhea!

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mysweetpeeps

mysweetpeeps

In the Brooder
11 Years
Aug 31, 2008
25
9
22
CT
I have a 7 yo hen that was fine until last weekend. Well, I thought she was okay... she hasn't been eating that much (but she never did when she molted and her comb always shrunk like it is now) and has been flying over the fence to forage so apparently she seemed normal. I went away for the weekend and my daughter who took care of them said she cold. The night temp did drop into the 40s.

Well, on Sunday, she I picked her up and she was really skinny... but her abdomen is large and hard, which it has been for months (I think she has a growth because one side is larger than the other. When I had taker her to the vet in Feb. for a prolase, the vet didn't offer any possibilities.) I can't remember the last time she laid an egg... in the spring I found what looked like a "cooked" egg on the floor... I would say it was hers.

She was pooping ALOT of clear urine with very yellow runny streaks and small green solids. My 3 others are also starting to have alot of clear liquid. She did not go to sleep in her usual spots but slept with others.

I started gving her I gave her Duramycin-10 2x/day and feeding her a mixture of eggs, oatmeal, and feed and water by dropper. I also started giving her Aloe Detox Formula today for liver support.

She is progressively getting worse.... just standing in one spot and not moving all day. She stands huddled, wings droopy, sleeping alot, sometimes turning her head over her back. When I feed her, she is constantly moving her head as if looking for something. She can walk if needed, but chooses to stand in one spot all day!!! Oh, and her legs were very warm.

Yesterday she pooped what looks lie a white bean!! Same size, same color! Since then there has also been tan/brown mucus.

What is puzzling me is... for the amount of food I am giving her... shouldn't about the same come out???? I think it is all getting stuck inside her! Is it possible to have a blockage? Should I keep feeding her or "juice" everything so it is liquid? Is there something else I can try? Medications? What kind of illness do youthink she has?

I hope someone can help!
 
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I'm sorry your hen is sick, and I wish I had an explanation for whats going on, but it sounds very serious, if you can get her to the vet I think that would be best, I wouldn't even try to guess. At age 7 it could even be cancer. I hope you can find out and make the right decisions on how best to help her.
fl.gif
 
Oh, thanks for your advice and support!! I just wish there was something I could try... she is my favorite and has such a personality that I don't think I could find another one like her in a million chickens.
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:hit

I haven't thought about worming her. I will do that tomorrow!

Does molasses give them the runs? Do you think that will help clear things out?

I was thinking that she got bitten by a mosquito and that caused her illness... they have been really bad lately.
 
I had a hen, just a year old, have a similar problem earlier this year...swollen abdomen, lethargic, not eating much and getting real skinny. I ended up culling her and did an autopsy. She did have a blockage, it looked like chicken feed in color (tan) but was the consistency of cooked liver. There was no grass or corn or anything else in it, as I'd the food was digested but not absorbed by the GI tract. Ultimately, I had 2 more do the same thing. They were all RIR's. I thought at first she was egg bound and treated for that, but that wasn't it. I tried olive oil, soaked her in warm water in the sink, which she seemed to enjoy a lot, but nothing helped and I had to put her down.
 
I wonder if you should try to drain her. A farm supply would have a large needle and syringe (I think it's like a 16 gauge needle). There are plenty of good threads on this. You come in at an angle on her right side down on the fat part of the abdomen behind the back leg. Try no more than two spots. Use alcohol to disinfect the needle and skin. You want to come in at a fairly low angle because you don't want to poke any organs you just want to penetrate the skin and abdominal wall (you'll feel the needle passing through each one). Get it all the way in and then try to draw liquid in the syringe. If you get liquid, keep filling the syringe, remove the syringe, snap it back on the needle and repeat. It sounds like she has peritonitis. Get a towel, but her in your lap, come in from behind on the right with the needle (oh, wrap her in the towel and cover her head that helps), and go for it. If it's full of liquid it will probably drain on it's own after that, you can try a little bit of light massage.
 

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