Hen With Swollen Abdomen

[Arya28]

Hello,

We picked up our hen to put her on the perch, and noticed her abdomen feels swollen- not hard, just swollen and a little tender. She laid her egg yesterday, but not today.

Obviously egg binding is the first thing that came to my mind, but she doesn't always lay every day and she did yesterday, so would symptoms be that obvious that fast?

We can feel her crop has food in it, but it isn't like, stuffed. She's been eating and drinking and acting normal. Her butt looks good, too.

Could it be internal laying? Did an egg break inside her? Any other suggestions of what it could be/what to do? Should we just wait until morning and see if she lays her egg, or is it a more immediate problem than that?

 

[Arya28]

... any thoughts?

 

[rebrascora]

Hi. If she was egg bound, she would be obviously distressed and it doesn't normally cause notable abdominal swelling but you will see the hen straining to pass it. If it was internal laying then she would not have laid an egg for weeks before her abdomen became swollen enough to notice. Assuming you are sure she actuallylaid an egg yesterday, rather than just spent some time in the nest box, then I think you can safely rule that out and probably salpingitis (infection of the oviduct), so she is either carrying a bit too much fat or perhaps ascites.... both can be caused by an incorrect diet...... usually too much carbohydrate in the form of scratch grains..... it's just far too easy to over treat them with scratch. I know I have to consciously check myself on a regular basis over how much I give them because they do love it.

 

[Arya28]

Hi. If she was egg bound, she would be obviously distressed and it doesn't normally cause notable abdominal swelling but you will see the hen straining to pass it. If it was internal laying then she would not have laid an egg for weeks before her abdomen became swollen enough to notice. Assuming you are sure she actuallylaid an egg yesterday, rather than just spent some time in the nest box, then I think you can safely rule that out and probably salpingitis (infection of the oviduct), so she is either carrying a bit too much fat or perhaps ascites.... both can be caused by an incorrect diet...... usually too much carbohydrate in the form of scratch grains..... it's just far too easy to over treat them with scratch. I know I have to consciously check myself on a regular basis over how much I give them because they do love it.

Thank you, this is really helpful!

...there is a slight possibility it could be from too much scratch. We normally don't give them a lot, only a couple handfuls in a pen (with about 25 birds in a pen). But the past couple days it's been pretty cold and wet so they haven't been outside so we've been giving them a little more than usual.... could that make her swollen in just a couple of days?

 

[twilightgecko]

is she molting? i ask because i thought my barred rock was suffering from a swollen abdomen, but come to find out a hard molt made it look worse.. the bare bum, the feathers starting to poke out, made her all red.. and i checked her inside for egg shells and such.. when she got her feathers in, she was fine..

 

[rebrascora]

No, I would say not in that short of a time scale. I would monitor her, maybe get a base weight on her and have a weekly check to see if she is gaining, but I wouldn't be overly concerned that she is dangerously sick in the short term, if she is acting normal and not in any obvious distress.