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.
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... 
