Help me diagnose my hen...

JNorth

Chirping
7 Years
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I have one hen that is not doing well, but I cannot figure out what is going on. At first I notice she was always ruffled, then I noticed that she was not moving around much or foraging with her sisters. At that point I brought her in and gave her a warm bath. Her vent and feathers below were fifty with what looked like old yolk. Her belly was swollen and her breathing was just a little labored. The vent itself looked fine, nor red or irritated. Right after her bath she has some clear discharge from her vent with just a touch of stringy white stuff. I kept her in over night since she seemed exhausted. She seemed better in the morning. We put her back into the run but kept a close eye on her. During all of this she ate and drank normally and pooped fine. No egg laying though. A week or so passed with no real change. About 5 days ago I found her in a nest looking awful. Someone had clearly pecked her so I removed her again to the house. She spent the day resting on a heating pad. We thought for sure she wasn't going to survive much longer. She was still discharging the clear to milky liquid and her belly was still swollen. By that evening she had perked up. We moved her into our woodshed coop by herself figuring she wouldn't be there long. She's still with us and other than her back end being fifty with a chalky looking crust on her feathers, she is acting fine. Meeting us at the door, eating, drinking and even running around our legs. Again still no eggs.

Anyone have any idea what is going on?

Edited to add... She's a 1yr 3mo RSL.
 
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sounds like it could be a internal laying and egg yolk peritonits. where the egg is laid inside the body and part of the material is resorbed the other part stays in the body causing infection and some is expelled. basically the egg albumin and yolks are accumulated and coagulated in abdomen. some have been successful in draining fluid from the abdomen and use of antibiotics to help with infection. maybe others might know more and can be of more help. mean while do some research on internal laying and egg yolk peritonits and see if you think the symptoms are a match and in the research it might have ways to help. sorry I can't be of more help. I wish you the best of luck
 
I thought of egg yolk peritonitis at first since her symptoms match, but now I'm not so sure. It seems like she should be acting sicker? She's been hanging in for 2+ weeks now!
 
They attacked her! She was looking really good this morning so I thought I'd take her back out to the run. As soon as I set her down they attacked. They've all been together since day 1, it was like they didn't know her. So now she's sick and an outcast! :he

Tried draining her last night and got absolutely nothing. I'm starting to believe she's an internal layer without ascities. And if she is laying internally then there is nothing that I can do, right?
 

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