Hen's enlarged abdomen went away on it's own, then came back a few months later

[writerskramp]

It happens, like sour crop or bumblefoot.. Sometimes the best action is no reaction.. or a table spoon of baking soda per gallon of water.. one time.

 

[Fluffy_Feathers]

Ascites can be caused by ovarian problems in hens, other possibilities can be heart, liver or kidney problems.
It is possible that it could be a bacterial infection of the perineum, but usually that’s secondary to the other problems.

Usually these problems don’t come and go, so the fact that she got better makes me wonder if she could have pancreatic issues.

My gander Parsnip developed weight loss and was refusing to eat in the fall/winter of 2019, his tests came back normal for everything other than his blood amylase was through the roof. He had a weirdl swollen abdomen, not to the extreme, but she said it felt like a female about to lay, so his vet sent him home with meloxicam, that was really all she could do.

If you try to look up pancreatic problems in poultry you aren’t going to get much, it isn’t studied in “poultry,” and I’ve only found a few references in parrot forums and articles, so it isn’t hardly studied in avian medicine at all. I was basically flying blind with Parsnip’s treatment.
All I could do is give him meloxicam, turn his feed into mash to aid digestion and encourage him to eat, and I gave him as many blueberries he wanted, which was a lot because it was the only thing he wanted to eat.

His mild “ascites” returned several times coupled with his bouts of not eating, I learned that it helps feeding him only greens and watery fruits and vegetables during these bouts, tomatoes and berries seemed to have had a strong effect. I also gave him b vitamins, gave him milk thistle, aloe detox, grapefruit, and tart cherry extract “it like the grapefruit has a calming effect on the pancreas” during his episodes.
So far he hasn’t had an episode in the longest stretch so far, since he molted last year.

There isn’t a lot to go by with information about pancreatic health in birds so not every case may present the same, if nothing else you might consider getting a CBC to see if her amylase is elevated.

Very interesting! Thank you for sharing your knowledge. Luckily, she's still eating normally. However I may try feeding her the things you listed to see if her abdomen shrinks any.

How long did it take him to clear up when you started feeding him these things?

Do you think that allowing her to eat layer feed along with these things will hinder any progress? Since she still has an appetite and is laying I want her to have access to it.

 

[Fluffy_Feathers]

It happens, like sour crop or bumblefoot.. Sometimes the best action is no reaction.. or a table spoon of baking soda per gallon of water.. one time.

Thank you! Why would the baking soda help, if I may ask?

 

[Fluffy_Feathers]

I haven’t tried draining her yet. She hasn’t really gotten worse, which still surprises me.

In glad she's doing well. I've never done anything like that before so if you did I was wondering how it turned out. I hope she continues to do well

 

[Goosebaby]

Very interesting! Thank you for sharing your knowledge. Luckily, she's still eating normally. However I may try feeding her the things you listed to see if her abdomen shrinks any.

How long did it take him to clear up when you started feeding him these things?

Do you think that allowing her to eat layer feed along with these things will hinder any progress? Since she still has an appetite and is laying I want her to have access to it.

If she’s eating normally and has a normal weight I wouldn’t remove any part of her diet, the antioxidants in the berries and the water content might help relieve some of the fluid buildup and boost her overall health but it will make her droppings dark and watery so be prepared.
Parsnip’s symptoms didn’t start resolving for 4/ 5 months, that’s about when he started gaining weight, but he went back into another bout and swelled up the worst I saw just after. After that his fluid retention dissipated gradually over the week but he was so so for a month, didn’t really feel like himself.
Interestingly his droppings since his first pancreatitis attack haven’t been normal other than rare occasions, and those rare occasions were the days I thought I was losing him he was so sick. This has made me think his pancreatic issues stem from a gall bladder problem with not moving bile back to the liver normally and that the times his droppings “looked” normal were the days his pancreas just wasn’t functioning and he was constipated as a result.

You can find out a lot about pancreatitis reading about it on human sites, but be forewarned that it’s like getting sucked down the rabbit hole of disturbing possibilities, pancreatitis can be both a symptom of other organ health issues or a cause of them, or can just happen for no reason at all.

I did add Apple cider to his diet because some say it helps the gallbladder by dissolving and preventing the formation of gallstones, mainstream science doesn’t have clear evidence that it actually does this but why not try everything?


The bottom line is the things I suggested can help you hen for pancreatitis, but are overall beneficial if it’s a different issue too. I hope they work and it helps your little girl.

EDIT: added his usual weird droppings vs. his “normal” rare log droppings Incase anyone’s curious.

 

[Michigan Chicken]

My hen, Dora, is a 4 year old Road Island Red. Towards the end of last year, maybe October/November-ish I found her in the nest box when I went to lock them up for the night. Her abdomen felt noticeably enlarged; not huge, but I could cusp my whole hand around it. It felt squishy, like fluid. My other chickens didn't feel that big. I thought that she was egg bound, even though she wasn't showing any signs of distress. I don't think she was laying at that time as it was winter, but I knew chickens will occasionally lay in the winter so I figured it was a possibility. When soaking her for egg binding, I remember noticing her abdomen seemed pretty red. Anyway, long story short, she was not egg bound. I didn't know what was wrong with her. She hadn't been in the nest box after that, and seemed completely normal. So, I left her be.

I checked her abdomen occasionally and it didn't change in size, until towards the beginning of this year. I felt her abdomen and it felt normal or mostly normal. Still no signs of what it was.

A few weeks ago I checked her abdomen again and it was enlarged once more, the same size and squishiness as it was before. Still no symptoms of anything. She is laying eggs now though, at least every other day. A few days ago she was in the nest box again, much like the first time, but I knew it wasn't egg binding this time since she had laid that day.

Last summer, before her enlarged abdomen, she did get fly strike a little below her vent. It was not severe at all; I caught it very early and treated it. The wound was so mild that by the end of the week I let her with the rest of the flock.

Additional info:

• I can easily feel her keel bone, so her weight seems to be normal.
• Her poop seems to be normal. Her butt is a bit poopy though, but nothing super bad I don't think. Last summer the build-up was worse, which helped lead to her getting fly strike. I figured, even before her abdomen, that she's just the type of chicken to always have poopy butts, but maybe it's actually related?
• After she got flystrike, I switched to sand for the bedding.

I know there are a number of things that can cause enlarged abdomens; most of which I can't really do anything about. But it doesn't make sense to me that it would just... disappear like that. Ascites, tumors, cystic ovaries, etc, don't just disappear. Is this even a health problem or something that just happens naturally? Any ideas?


Note: I don't have any pictures. I'm not sure that I can get any meaningful pictures of her abdomen since it's not like her abdomen is gigantic. Looking at her you couldn't tell anything is abnormal. Just a heads up if you really want pictures. I can try, but they may not be helpful.

water belly, I think also called ascites(?) Caused by rooster, I have read, sort of an STD. I had trouble woth one flock getting that, not other flocks. Redstars I think.

 

[RoostersAreAwesome]

water belly, I think also called ascites(?) Caused by rooster, I have read, sort of an STD. I had trouble woth one flock getting that, not other flocks. Redstars I think.

Ascites is not caused by roosters. It’s usually caused by egg material building up in the abdomen due to egg laying issues such as ovarian cancer or egg yolk peritonitis.

 

[Goosebaby]

water belly, I think also called ascites(?) Caused by rooster, I have read, sort of an STD. I had trouble woth one flock getting that, not other flocks. Redstars I think.

Ascites is fluid retention due to either internal laying issues as RoostersAreAwesome says, heart failure, liver failure, kidney failure, an infection in the peritoneum, or in rare cases pancreatic issues, though in the later it can be mild enough not to notice unless you have a lot of expierience in what’s normal and abnormal in poultry.