Heart Failure in chickens

[fourpawsfarm]

Is this common and something I need to look for in my own chickens?

 

[seminolewind]

Tofupup, thanks for coming back and replying. You sure have done a lot for your hen. I don't think that my altogether 3 are laying at all.

Fourpawsfarm, Years back a chicken died because he died. But now there are so many people involved in diagnosing illnesses, and their chickens are part of the family, so all sorts of reasons come up. I think it might be more commonly discovered.

I hear that 5 years old is old for a chicken but I have 6 that will be 6.5 this winter. 4 of them lay.

I have to say that my hen that died last month had some weight on her. I wonder if it was water retention.

 

[Beth K.]

Hey, I have a 2yo BO (Lil' Buff) who has a tight swollen underside/abdomen and I'm wondering if it's heart failure. Her comb is dark on the tips and she is lethargic. I checked and couldn't feel and egg inside her.

Is there anything other than heart failure that it might be?

 

[Eggcessive]

It could be ascites or fluid in the belly which can be due to heart or liver failure, as well as egg yolk peritonitis. Sometimes draining it with a needle every few days can make them feel more comfortable, but inevitably, there is no cure. Here is a link for you:
https://www.backyardchickens.com/t/853726/ascites-in-desperate-need-of-some-help-and-guidance

 

[casportpony]

Hey, I have a 2yo BO (Lil' Buff) who has a tight swollen underside/abdomen and I'm wondering if it's heart failure. Her comb is dark on the tips and she is lethargic. I checked and couldn't feel and egg inside her.

Is there anything other than heart failure that it might be?

If her belly feels like it's full of fluid you could try draining her. Some need to be drained every few day like eggcessive said, but others might only need it once every six months, just depends on the hen and what the cause of the fluid build-up is.

This is how I do mine. The hen pictured here died a few days later and had numerous cancer tumors.

Hen was cleaned with Chlorhexidine, had a 1" 18 gauge needle inserted and I syringed out about 500 ml of fluid.
















-Kathy

 

[tofupup]

If it's egg yolk perotinitis and she doesn't have cancer, you can cure it with the Deslorelin implant. This is expensive and needs to be renewed every 6 months on average. It depends on how much you love your hen and are willing to sacrifice for her.

 

[casportpony]

If it's egg yolk peritonitis and she doesn't have cancer, you can cure it with the Deslorelin implant. This is expensive and needs to be renewed every 6 months on average. It depends on how much you love your hen and are willing to sacrifice for her.

If it's egg yolk peritonitis from egg bits floating in the abdominal cavity, they need to be surgically removed. I was quoted $1000 for that surgery. Then one can do the implant.


-Kathy

 

[tofupup]

If there is no impaction, she won't need the surgery. Did you go to Monterey Avian and Exotics? (I see you're in Gilroy.) I had a severely impacted hen go there for the impaction surgery, for around $1,000. The implant is $200 more. If it's just EYP and the egg yolk material is not hard, but liquid, it is possible that antibiotics and draining the fluid, along with the Deslorelin implant, will fix the hen. I've had 14 of these implants done on hens with EYP, and 7 surgeries for impactions. (I run a hen sanctuary, so we don't kill birds that can be saved here.)

 

[casportpony]

I was talking about internal layers that would need to have the surgery.

-Kathy

 

[casportpony]

It's nice that you can afford to care for your birds that way, I wish I could.

-Kathy