Help! My 9 mo old cream legbar has a baseball sized hard mass below her vent! Xray attached. Vet says not eggbound!

[LilMissChickeneer]

Ok! I have two 9 month old cream legbar hens that have never laid yet! They have always seemed happy and healthy. Until a few days ago. my girl (Honey) was hunched in a nesting box a couple nights ago and she always roosts at night. When I picked her up to put her on the roosting bar I immediately noticed she felt heavy, her abdomen was very enlarged and hard and full! Her comb was more pale than normal too. I brought her inside the house, gave her a warm epson bath soak and felt inside her vent and did not feel an egg. Gave her some crushed tums and water and went to bed. In the morning she looked way worse. Extremely pale comb and lethargic and “puffed up”. I took her to vet who did an Xray and quick physical exam and confirmed she was not egg bound. Vet didn’t really offer any other advice or suggestions. Said she could run more tests but it was up to me how much I wanted to spend on a chicken. It was $85 just for that! I felt discouraged and brought her back home. Kept her in my garage again overnight and was surprised that the color had returned to her comb the next morning. She was also acting perky and had escaped her garage box twice so I let her rejoin the flock.
She still has the hard baseball between her legs but no other symptoms at the moment! I have heard of water belly but doesn’t that usually occur in meat birds or older birds? And isn’t it more like a squishy water balloon under their vent? I also had the thought that since she has never produced any eggs but has been eating high protein layer feed with the rest of the flock since she was 6 mo old- maybe it has damaged some of her organs? This is my first time posting. If anyone has had a similar situation and figured out the issue, please share!

 

[coach723]

She may be laying internally, or it could be a tumor or infection like salpingitis. Internal laying is a snafu that causes the egg matter to be deposited into the abdomen rather than traveling down the oviduct. The only way to stop that is a suprelorin implant (hormone) that stops the bird from laying. They are not inexpensive and have to be redone every 4 to 6 months usually. Prognosis in that case would depend on how much matter is in the abdomen and risk of infection from that.

 

[LilMissChickeneer]

She may be laying internally, or it could be a tumor or infection like salpingitis. Internal laying is a snafu that causes the egg matter to be deposited into the abdomen rather than traveling down the oviduct. The only way to stop that is a suprelorin implant (hormone) that stops the bird from laying. They are not inexpensive and have to be redone every 4 to 6 months usually. Prognosis in that case would depend on how much matter is in the abdomen and risk of infection from that.

Wouldn’t something show up in the xray if she was laying internally?

 

[nuthatched]

Wouldn’t something show up in the xray if she was laying internally?

Laying internally doesn't include the shell, just the yolk and whites.

 

[coach723]

Sorry, when I answered I wasn't seeing the pictures. Just the text.
I am NOT great at xrays. But often with internal laying you can see it on xray, found this image for example:

Found this thread, might help, seems a little more similar to yours. A image at a different angle of your bird might have helped some.
She's young for a cancer, but it's not unheard of.
https://www.backyardchickens.com/th...y-x-rays-from-hen-with-ovarian-cancer.929056/
Sometimes ultrasound gives a better image for soft tissue stuff, but as your vet said, it's kind of up to you how much you want to spend. Often times we don't know for sure what's really going on until necropsy.

 

[LilMissChickeneer]

Sorry, when I answered I wasn't seeing the pictures. Just the text.
I am NOT great at xrays. But often with internal laying you can see it on xray, found this image for example:
View attachment 2984006
Found this thread, might help, seems a little more similar to yours. A image at a different angle of your bird might have helped some.
She's young for a cancer, but it's not unheard of.
https://www.backyardchickens.com/th...y-x-rays-from-hen-with-ovarian-cancer.929056/
Sometimes ultrasound gives a better image for soft tissue stuff, but as your vet said, it's kind of up to you how much you want to spend. Often times we don't know for sure what's really going on until necropsy.

Wow thank you for taking the time to answer and help! Both the X-ray Example you posted and the link to the thread you shared are very helpful. Specifically the pictures from the thread- I feel that the X-ray shared in the thread is very similar to my hen’s X-ray. I believe the likely diagnosis is unfortunately cancer. I will post an update if she shows any improvement or if she passes away. Thank you again!