HELP! Sick hen, bloated abdomen

[Blisschick]

I'm kind of concerned about feeding her anything if she still has grain in her crop from yesterday. I've tried giving her water, but she doesn't want it. She's resting now, so I'll try in the morning.

Another thing, I guess her underside is really bothering her because she won't lay down like normal, but prefers to stand. I kind of propped her up on a towel to kind of take most of the weight off her legs and give her some support. She really liked the soak, so I'm guessing it helped take some of the pressure off her underneath.

 

[Blisschick]

She drank readily this morning, and ate some soggy bread and some oatmeal with gusto. I tried at first to give her some oatmeal with a little oil in it, but she quickly decided she didn't like the taste I guess, so I made her another bowl without it. She didn't like it sticking to her beak, so I fed it to her off my finger (ow!). I was really surprised at her appetite--she acted like she was starving! The swelling hasn't gotten any better, though. She's leaking watery urea with the white stuff, but not pooping any at all now. She's still alert and talking to me some this morning, and even laid down before I left the house. No hard breathing, just puffed up. I don't know where to go from here. I'll be getting her some yogurt and picking up some antibiotics from the feedstore this afternoon.

 

[dlhunicorn]

I have been following this thread but not posting till now as nothing really specific to be useful to you has popped into my head however it does remind me somewhat of this:
http://www.browneggblueegg.com/Article/PennysSurgery/PennysSurgery.html

 

[SeaChick]

Wow, that is an amazing article and amazing photos of the surgery. Thank you for sharing that link.
Stacey

 

[Blisschick]

Oh man, that's depressing! If she has this problem, I won't be able to do anything for her except put her down. I can't afford the vet bill, aside from the fact that I don't know of any vet in my area what would do surgery on a chicken. (They're viewed as expendable in these parts.) My husband would never allow it either.

 

[SpottedCrow]

Instead of going straight to antibiotics, try a drop or two of molasses...my humble opinion is that she may be constipated...you know how miserable you are when you haven't gone for a day...especially since she hasn't gone at all today.

 

[dlhunicorn]

please dont take my post as a "diagnosis' per se...it was meant as informative to add to the list of (many) possible candidates...

 

[Blisschick]

I when I got in yesterday, she had gone poop some, and boy does it stink!!!! It smells like broody poop. I fed her some more of the oatmeal and some dry bread soaked with the antibiotic, and this morning she's got a big poop that looks like it may be partially stuck, but still pliable. I'm about to go and wash her and see what the deal is. If she's constipated, I'm trying to think of ways to hide more oil in her food, since doesn't really like it. I'm going to stick with the soggy bread...she tries to take my fingers off to get it! At least that way I know I'm getting plenty of fluids in her.

Off to feed her oatmeal...I'll see if I still have some molasses.

 

[Blisschick]

Well, poor Best Bird finally passed on last night after putting up a brave fight. Up until 4 days ago, she was still trying to eat, but she had lost nearly all her muscle and the fluid was still there. She just got progressively weaker, so I knew I was going to lose her. I said my goodbyes last night before I went to bed, and she passed quietly sometime early this morning.

This morning I decided to do an autopsy to see what it was that had caused her problems. Immediately a large amount of fluid came out of her, and I spotted an yolk that had adhesed to her insides. I thought that she'd probably became an internal layer after all, but after further inspection, I found it was probably the result of something else. She had tiny polyps all over her intestines, and her intestines had become very rigidly bound together by what looked like adhesions or scar tissue holding them tightly. They were slightly bloated, like they had lost their elasticity. Her gizzard had a huge bulge on the bottom, and when I opened it, she still had food in it from over a week ago. There were a few other smaller ovum stuck to the insides, but after thinking about it, they may have been stuck to the ovarian tissue. Her liver looked clean and healthy, as did her heart. My conclusion is that she died from whatever disease had caused her intestines to cease functioning properly.

Any insight as to what this could be?

 

[CarriBrown]

:aww I'm so sorry to hear about your girl. I was really hoping she'd pull through.