Hen panting heavily 24/7 - reproductive, gapeworm, or respiratory?

[Cinnaminute]

Update: Intermittent laying, swelling and deflating without needing a draining!

So early September Cleo started to lay eggs again, but only 2 in the span of 1-2 weeks. One egg was a huge double yolk. Then she just stopped.

September 20th, Cleo started to fill up again. I noticed she started feeling heavier and couple days she was panting a little bit. She also seemed a tad under the weather, but generally still fine - eager to run out into the yard to free range and dust bathe. I was trying to decide if I should drain her then or wait a bit longer for her to fill a little more. I opted to wait.

Then Hurricane Helene hit and we didn't have power for 6 days. During that time I was really stressed and wasn't paying much attention to her (or the others - just bare minimum care).

Anyway, a few days ago I noticed something odd - Cleo was lighter! All that fluid she was starting to build up was gone again. And she's doing great.

I'll update this post with pictures tomorrow! But I'm very glad she cleared up on her own. It's odd, though. The ascites seems to coincide with egg laying. Most of my hens are going into a molt and I wonder if she might be too and if that's related to her not filling/deflating.

 

[Cinnaminute]

Cleo Update

Sorry for forgetting the pictures last time.

I wanted to share that since my last post, Cleo would fill up a bit every so often and then the buildup would decrease. So she was doing super.

However, during April she filled up really bad. I let it go since it didn't seem to be bothering her (though apparently I didn't notice her eating less and less). I was hoping she would follow the same trend, but she didn't. It got so bad she had to stand with her legs far apart and would waddle when she walked. She was practically a walking water balloon. But her behavior was fine and normal.



On May 3rd I poked her and let her drain on her own (as I do). I also preemptively gave her some aspirin. Pretty much all of the fluid came out over the next 24 hours. She slow dripped for that long!



Comb as it started turning purple.

I was shocked to see how thin she truly was: her breast bone is insanely prominent. She's likely emaciated. The draining made her more active, running and foraging like normal. Her behavior was good, but her appetite was next to none. She was very weak, enough to fall over with too much exertion. Her comb was already flopped over and not as plump as the laying girls, but it turned so purple and shriveled that I thought it'd fall off. I didn't get a picture since I was really stressed and worried.

It took a lot longer for her to recover. Her comb finally started losing the purple hue and turning pink around the 9th. I've been offering her everything I can to encourage her to eat. She'd eat tomato before her feed, so I'd give her that. A few blueberries. Finally yesterday she started eating her feed a bit again, so she's getting there. Her feet and wattles are no longer cold to the touch. All this to say, she definitely went into shock but is on the up. Here's hoping I don't need to drain her for a good 6+ months again.

P.S. I'm wondering if there's a way to stop her draining on her own after she's lost some of the fluid, just so she doesn't go into shock. Wound glue, perhaps? Will research this.

 

[Cinnaminute]

Update: I had to drain Cleo yet again. She started filling up within a week after the last draining. About 3-4 days ago she started standing legs apart again and waddling as she walked. 1-2 days ago she started losing her appetite. So it was time to drain her for sure.

Around 4:30 I popped her. Managed to get her still enough that the needle went in and stayed in and I was able to watch as straw colored fluid shot out the other end of the needle. I pulled it back out, as I do, and let her drip.

I noticed pretty quickly that the fluid staining the potty pad was blood-tinged. At first I thought maybe it was the excess betadine (I wet her rump down with water, then spray a lot of isopropyl alcohol on the skin and follow that with a liberal spray of betadine before and after pricking). But it didn't go away after 30 minutes of dripping. Cleo seemed unfazed. Just begging and dancing around to be let back out.





Of course, I panicked. I'm really not cut out for this stuff, I've learned. But whatever I can do for her. She's proven time and again that she's determined to live so I'll do all I can until she gives up. Being a walking water balloon doesn't stop her from foraging to her heart's content, cooing at me, and trying to escape the house any time I bring her in. So I won't stop trying to help her.

Long story short, I saw that some of the fluid drops were straw colored and others were more bloody. Once I was able to restrain her again while she's flinging bloody bodily fluid all over me and the room, trying to perch on me/escape the house/peck random lint off the floor... I found that several feathers on her rump had scabs. And soon found the offending feather that was bleeding. Sorry the picture is blurry, she just wouldn't sit still for anything and my phone camera was non too pleased about that. Looking back at the picture, looks like maybe two feathers started bleeding.



She stopped dripping pretty quick. Which kind of sucks but maybe she won't go into shock this time? She pooped a couple times after the fluid emptied from below her cloaca, so I'm glad to free up the pressure back there. But she still is heavily swollen right between her legs. I also feel a large lump. I'm suspicious she's laid a couple eggs (a fairy egg and a regular one). But I'm also super tired and maybe missed grabbing another hen's olive egg. Who knows. The point is, I've never pricked her further down. I've always done 2-3 inches below and to the right of the vent. Soooo... I'm hoping the other fluid moves back and I can drain off some more in a few days.

Fingers crossed. She's such a trooper. She's been dealing with this for over a year now and I'm so proud of her determination for life. She's already 3 years old (born the later half of May). She's such a sweetheart and always talks to me. One of my first 6 chickens ever, got as chickens June 6th of 2022. In 5 days it'll be her adoption anniversary. I hope she at least lasts until then so I can give her some special treat for the occasion. She was the one chick that had an interest in me and always roosted on my arm. She'd often sleep on my arm. She had these little black stripes on either side of her beak, the only one like that. So I called her Egypt for a bit before naming her Cleo.

Sorry for blathering so much. I had such a scare with the blood and have already lost two of my OG 6, so I'm feeling nostalgic, and grateful for her determination. And sad about her filling up so quickly this time. After the last draining, it took so long to get her to eat again. All she ate was tomatoes at first. Some blueberries. Then she lost interest in that. She got into my ferrets' turkey and devoured that, so I started giving her turkey every day until finally she started eating her feed again. She had no interest for treats anymore and just ate her feed. Only for us to be back at this again, with her losing her appetite. Although she did want some bread earlier so I let her have very small amount.

EDIT: Decided to rewrite the post with more info, pictures, and me blabbering on. TL;DR is, the blood was from a feather. She's fine. She didn't drain long nor did she drain much, so hopefully she wont' go into shock this time. But I'll likely try to drain her again in a few days.