Hen has huge swollen bulge between legs

[Min27]

I have a buff coloured isabrown chicken that has been sick for about 2 months now. Her symptoms are:

• She is MUCH heavier than the other chickens (and heavier than she usually is)
• There is an enormous swollen bulge at the back of her abdomen, on her underside, between the legs - this prevents her from running or even walking quickly, because her legs are being forced further apart. It feels slightly hard (like it's full of something), and it's not bald. My father has checked this and massaged it once. It's not eggbound
• Her comb is now drooping over her face and has turned a deep red in colour (the wattle is deep red too). There is also a purple area on the comb.
• She won't eat normal grain or hard foods like the others. She now prefers soft food like meat. She is still grazing on grass though
• She's sitting down a lot and seems tired

So far we have tried to treat this illness using an antibiotic (avicycline I think it's called) in their drinking water (the powder you add to their water for about 5 days). We have done this twice and each time it has made the swelling go down, but the area quickly swelled back up again shortly after the antibiotic was stopped. The hen's poop looks normal (although the first time this happened it was very runny). She is not losing any feathers and they still look all soft and shiny. She is the only one in the flock to show these symptoms.

We do get a bit of wildlife coming to our yard (pigeons, crows and sometimes mice). The chickens all sleep together on a perch in a cage out in the yard.

I'd hate to think she's in pain. If I have to put her down, then I'd like to know soon, because it would be even worse for her if all I was doing was prolonging her suffering.

 

[CMV]

It sounds like she is laying internally or has EYP. Both conditions do not have a good long term prognosis. You can treat the infection of EYP, but the underlying condition will remain, so as soon as she comes off antibiotics she will likely get a new infection nearly immediately.

I recently euthanized one of my hens for the same condition. I waited until mine was having breathing problems from the excess fluid built up in her abdomen. About the same time the rest of the flock finally realized she was sick and had started to turn on her. I figured that between the breathing difficulties and the isolation from the flock, it was time for her to be put down.

You will need to make the same decision shortly. I am sorry.

Good luck.

 

[Min27]

That's okay. At least I know there may not be any hope for her now. It's better to euthanize her than to keep her suffering (but I would rather not just chop her head off).

Just one question. What does EYP stand for? I'm not good with chicken illnesses.

 

[MEchickenfarmer33]

EYP stands for Egg Yolk Peritonitis. you can search google for it and it will give you more info.

 

[Min27]

Thank you.

I took the chicken down the the vet this morning. They drained the fluids from her area and gave her a worming tablet and pain killing medicine. Turns out she did have internal laying and the yolk of her egg had broken in the lower abdominal area. Her immune system thought it was an infection and reacted to it, which filled the area with fluid. Lucky I took her down when I did, because the vet told me she was actually a lot sicker than she looked, and she was having trouble breathing.

I had a choice of either giving her $800 surgery or giving her a $120 injection every year to shut off her reproductive system and laying hormones. Either way she will never lay an egg again (which is a shame because her eggs were enormous and some were double yolk). In the end I took a 6 month version of the injection just to give me more time to think about it. While I do love my little girl and believe her life does have value I think economically it may not be worth the expenses to save her. She is looking a lot better now, but we have to give her pain killers twice a day for seven days.

The vet did inform us that isabrowns were not bred to live longer than 2 years. They are hardy, but because they were bred to lay so often, they have a much higher risk of these things happening when they lay. I can only wonder how long it will be before my other isabrown gets this.

 

[CMV]

Unfortunately, high production hens are at risk for these reproductive issues. I don't think I would ever get any more high production hens since finding this out. I keep chickens not for their eggs, but for the enjoyment they bring. I don't even like eggs. I got the high production hens just to round out my mixed flock. I had heard they were a sweet-natured addition to any mixed flock. That much was accurate. The last one was so sweet-natured that I hated to put her down. I felt really bad about the whole thing for days after.

I am glad you have some time to make a decision about your hen. It's easier to come to grips with hard decisions when you have the luxury of time. At least she won't spend her last couple months suffering, either. That makes a lot of difference.

Good luck with her and her sister. It's tough to get attached to these silly birds.

 

[7L Farm]

I had this happen to one & chose to put her down. She seemed to recover & pushed the egg out but got egg bound again & figured she was in pain & was told this could possibly keep reacquiring so I put her down. Never thought I'd miss a chicken but I still think of her today.

 

[Min27]

Quote:
Thank you for your advice everyone. My family has decided we'll never get isabrowns again for this reason. They make great pets, but it's hard to let them go when things like this happen. We decided to go back to getting bantams.



Quote:
That 6 months of extra time cost me $300 though (vet consultation, draining, pain killer medicine, poop analysis). She's looking a lot better now, but still won't eat grain or hard food. The vet said it was an inflamed intestine causing that. I need to give her a pain killer medicine each day now (which I'm not used to, because I have to actually hold the chicken's mouth open and be careful not to get the medicine down the wind pipe).

About her sister. I'm not sure if the two isabrowns are related (we got them both as chicks from a produce shop - they came out of a drawer). The other one is looking really healthy and is just finishing up moulting. No swelling on her yet.

 

[70monte]

This sounds like what could be wrong with my RIR hen. I just started a post about this very same thing.

Wayne