Guts coming from abdomen

[cutiekk17]

Last weekend we had a chicken that we had to dispatch because she had guts hanging out of her abdomen(not her vent) This chicken had previous issues with water belly but improved on her own. But We had noticed her earlier in the day that she was bleeding from that spot so we put some blue coat on and sent her on her way. A few hours later we checked on her and she had guts coming out of the same area and make the decision to end her suffering. We figured it was a fluke since that chicken had problems before with water belly.

This morning we found a chicken dead with the same issue and now im worried it's something else.

I did notice a chicken pecking the butt of the first chicken but we thought it was attracted to the blood and that's why we blue coated her. We also have rats that we are trying to get rid of but I dont know if that's the problem or not.

I thought someone here might be able to give me an idea of what's going on.

I have attached a picture of the dead chickens abdomen and circled the areas since it's kind of hard to tell what's going on.

 

[ChickenCanoe]

Rat is the only thing I can imagine.

 

[coach723]

From reading, rats usually bite the head and neck, but since you know you have an infestation, I wouldn't rule it out completely. Rats prefer going after chicks and eggs, but will go after older birds if the population is large and food is scarce. I really hope you can get rid of the rats, you probably have exponentially more than you are actually seeing. They can fit through an opening the size of a quarter, and will travel much farther than mice in the search for food. Any brush or debris piles can be a home, as well as spaces under buildings. The one time I had a problem with rats, they were coming from a neighbor who had made a big debris pile of cut brush and trees that sat for over a year. When they finally cleaned it up it was loaded with them. With previous water belly symptoms, then these birds may have had an underlying condition that caused the death (the only way to know is through necropsy) and if they were not found right away then cannibalism from other birds is also a possibility. Likewise another predator that had access. Not knowing what your set up looks like and how secure it is, makes it hard to say. I'm very sorry for your losses, and hope you can take care of the rats.

 

[Eggcessive]

Very sorry for your loss. Sometimes I have had a hen with a large lower belly, either from fluid or what looks like a hernia. It probably would not take much to injure the skin to herniate the belly. Chickens will peck at anything red, so if there is any injury or paking going on, it wouldn’t take long for that to happen. With wintertime, many chickens are inside a lot more due to snow or freezing temperatures, and vent pecking or cannibalism can be common. There is another thread somewhere in the last 2 years here of a hen with a hernia bursting. Unfortunately it does happen.