I just drained hens swollen belly

[Ranchwoman]

Any advice would be helpful. She had about 1/2 cup fluid that was a clear yellow. First stick with needle in her then she fluttered and I STUCK MYSELF with the needle. I do hope it is not something that I can catch from a chicken... zoo-ionic type thing.
ANY ADVICE OR INFO, I am worried about my hen and now ABOUT MYSELF...

 

[TwoCrows]

Hello and welcome to BYC!!

I have stuck myself a couple of times with the needle while draining a hen as well and lived to be here.

So I think you will be fine. But do use some alcohol on the area and put some antibiotic lotion of some sort and a bandaid on it. Not that many things are crossed from bird to human, although there are a few. Many things are species specific.

Did the color look like this?


This came from a hen suffering from heart failure.

 

[Ranchwoman]

The fluid was a light yellow and was clear. She is going down fast ... I just didn't want her to suffer with the pain any longer. Now looks like it didn't matter at all. I put her in her coop and she is still draining fluid from the stick. She is not looking very good this evening, probably will not make it through the night. She has a coop mate her 'sister' hen. I lost the 3rd one this spring from some sort of wasting .. just lost weight and died . The one I have left seems bright and fat, happy & eats well. Don't know if the fluid is contagious from hen to hen or anything. Why is there no other info on this strange problem. I had not heard of this till a few days ago while looking on BYC and decided to join (again, lost previous p/w LOL) thanks for your reply I will re-post in morning as how Big Red is doing...

 

[TwoCrows]

No, the fluid is not contagious or anything. But there are a few reasons why fluid leaks into the birds body cavities and belly, from internal laying, reproductive cancer, heart ailments and heart failure, liver disease and failure...I am sure I am missing other things as well. The heart can leak fluid into the birds cavities, infections will cause fluid to accumulate in the cavities, etc...

The only way to truly know what they are dying from is to have a necropsy done on them at the time of death.

I am so sorry your bird isn't doing well. I have found that once they get to the point of their bellies filling and you have to drain, there is no saving them. The drainings can help them feel a bit better sometimes, but it is no cure. There isn't much info out there on this because generally they are too far gone to save at this point. Once in a while, if you catch an internal layer early enough, and get them on the proper antibiotics and it happens to be internal laying from a simple infection, you can save them. Most of the time this isn't the case.

I am so sorry.

 

[Ranchwoman]

Thank you for responding to my post !!! I am relieved to know it won't harm me or the other fowl as I have many bantie, and guineas about 50 in all :/ it would be awful to loose everything for sure. Not to mention loosing ME LOL that would not be good either I think.
thanks again. I will try to open her up ... UGGG .... I hate that part but have to know what is going on. Do you think it would be a good idea to doc with pics? Don't know if folks want to see pics of that tho...

 

[TwoCrows]

Thank you for responding to my post !!! I am relieved to know it won't harm me or the other fowl as I have many bantie, and guineas about 50 in all :/ it would be awful to loose everything for sure. Not to mention loosing ME LOL that would not be good either I think.
thanks again. I will try to open her up ... UGGG .... I hate that part but have to know what is going on. Do you think it would be a good idea to doc with pics? Don't know if folks want to see pics of that tho...

It never hurts to post these graphic pics here in the Emergency section. Make sure to put in the subject heading of the thread that it contains graphic pictures.

I don't know a lot about the internal organs of poultry, but some people here are quite knowledgeable that might be able to help you determine the cause of death. These two ladies know a lot about necropsies...

@casportpony @Eggcessive

 

[Ranchwoman]

Hi ladies,
The Big Red hen is still alive, not doing great but alive. She will not eat but she is drinking lots of water. The temp. here is around 100deg. She is out with the other birds and sitting in shade. I don't think she has long to live just trying to keep her cool n happy till the time comes. So sad. I have saved her in spring when something hurt her leg, she was not able to walk. We babied her along and she got back to normal again. Now this. She is such a sweet old gal.
Does anyone have thoughts on draining the belly? If you had to make the decision over would you do it or no????? I am not sure of my answer but would like to hear yours please.

 

[TwoCrows]

Hi ladies,
The Big Red hen is still alive, not doing great but alive. She will not eat but she is drinking lots of water. The temp. here is around 100deg. She is out with the other birds and sitting in shade. I don't think she has long to live just trying to keep her cool n happy till the time comes. So sad. I have saved her in spring when something hurt her leg, she was not able to walk. We babied her along and she got back to normal again. Now this. She is such a sweet old gal.
Does anyone have thoughts on draining the belly? If you had to make the decision over would you do it or no????? I am not sure of my answer but would like to hear yours please.

I am so sorry about your hen.

I know how hard it is to watch them go down hill after watching them run, play, beg for goodies, follow us around, etc...it is very heart breaking. So you are not alone.

I recently had a bird with heart failure and of course her belly filled constantly. (every 5 to 7 days early on, every few days later on) And in the early stages of her issues, a once a week draining was all she needed to feel good, get back to eating and interacting with the flock. But as time went on, even the TINIEST bit of fluid on her belly would stop her from eating and feeling well at all. And I knew that every time I did a draining on her, I was risking kicking her over the edge. (drainings are stressful and really raise the heart rate and BP) I KNEW she wasn't going to make it much longer, BUT I kept draining her knowing I could kill her each time with a massive stroke or BP blow out. If I could just make her feel just one bit better with a draining, I did. And she did appreciate these drainings over time. Of course I believe the last one did kill her, she passed on about an hour after her last draining. I don't blame myself as she wasn't going to survive unless she had a heart transplant, LOL, BUT all previous drainings DID make her feel better, even if just for 4 days.

So it is entirely up to you. What you might do however if you do chose to drain her, is to not take it too far to over stress her. Just make 6 holes or something...only draw out a couple of ml's from about 6 places and let her drip off. This is what I did for my girl as a heavy to-do draining was very hard on her heart and she would go into cardiac arrest if I pushed it. So I took to making enough holes, drawing out only small amounts to get them started dripping, and she dripped herself dry in 24 hours.

This is your decision. I know EXACTLY how hard this decision is to make. It is NEVER easy. But don't blame yourself either way, no matter if you do or you don't.

 

[Ranchwoman]

Hi everyone in BYC,

The Big Red hen is doing great So far so good, seems to be getting better each day. She is walking around more and eating *(Cat food out of my hand, but eating none the less) LOL Her comb is even not as limp as before. She kinda looks perky...

I do have something to add to the draining of the belly... Please only stick ONE TIME and let it drain from the shunt thingy on the needle... I let it drain from that instead of resticking and getting like the 5 cc or what ever vial is attached to the needle. The needle will come off if you turn it ... and the fluid will flow from that alone. It is less stress on the old girls and you will be able to get as much as possible out of her without re-sticking over and over which hurts, Big Red hoped and made me stick myself so I know it hurt her. Please have some one that you trust to hold the hen with her back side toward you. Stick and set her down on ground, the fluid will drain out, just kinda hold her in place. (don't let her walk around with needle shunt in her!!!) after it mostly stops draining out, take the needle out and put her in a warm safe place to rest. Afterwards give her a cool drink of water and let her rest. The next day I offered cat food, she only ate a small amount but in the following days she started eating more and drinking more. Feeling much better and kinda spunky
I hope I have helped with the instructions we love our ole' girls and try our best to do the right thing