I have been reading on here for the last week trying to figure out what might be wrong with my Molly. I thought maybe ascites, because of her swollen belly and her penguin stance.
I took her out of the coop because she was being picked on by one of the other hens since she was just standing around a lot and seemed not to be doing well. Her comb was a purplish/blue color at this time. Her poop is normal too and has a big appetite.
So I started her on some antibiotics and in 2 days her comb turned back to normal pinkish/red color. I also thought maybe she was internally laying......but I realized that my hens haven't had much sunlight to start laying again, it's been very overcast and raining/snowing up here and I do not supplement their lighting.
She has no interest in the nesting boxes, doesn't try to lay and none of my hens have laid since Oct. (so it's been over 6 months with no eggs).
I have felt her belly and it is very full but not too squishy, she seems to be having a little bit of a hard time walking because she is so bloated like.
I tried to drain her yesterday because maybe she was filled with fluid, well I only got 15ml of a yellowish fluid and it was a little hard to get that out so I tried an area about an inch away and got more of like a bloody/yellow fluid that was really hard to get out, so I stopped. My husband thinks that I would of gotten more out if I tried down lower since I had her on her side (thinking the fluid would of moved to the side she was laying on). So I will try again, she doesn't seem to mined.
Molly will be 3 in June, she is a large New Hampshire Red and has all her feathers still, none have fallen out with the enlarged belly. She eats a lot of food and seems fine other than the penguin stance, full belly.
But I have felt her breast bone sticking out quite a bit and can't feel too much breast meat on her, she does feel heavy still but most likely from the fluid instead. It is hard to tell since she has so much feathers.
I don't think she is internally laying, but I have no idea other than maybe some sort of mass inside her from maybe cancer, but I just don't know..............any help or suggestions would be greatly appreciated.
I took her out of the coop because she was being picked on by one of the other hens since she was just standing around a lot and seemed not to be doing well. Her comb was a purplish/blue color at this time. Her poop is normal too and has a big appetite.
So I started her on some antibiotics and in 2 days her comb turned back to normal pinkish/red color. I also thought maybe she was internally laying......but I realized that my hens haven't had much sunlight to start laying again, it's been very overcast and raining/snowing up here and I do not supplement their lighting.
She has no interest in the nesting boxes, doesn't try to lay and none of my hens have laid since Oct. (so it's been over 6 months with no eggs).
I have felt her belly and it is very full but not too squishy, she seems to be having a little bit of a hard time walking because she is so bloated like.
I tried to drain her yesterday because maybe she was filled with fluid, well I only got 15ml of a yellowish fluid and it was a little hard to get that out so I tried an area about an inch away and got more of like a bloody/yellow fluid that was really hard to get out, so I stopped. My husband thinks that I would of gotten more out if I tried down lower since I had her on her side (thinking the fluid would of moved to the side she was laying on). So I will try again, she doesn't seem to mined.
Molly will be 3 in June, she is a large New Hampshire Red and has all her feathers still, none have fallen out with the enlarged belly. She eats a lot of food and seems fine other than the penguin stance, full belly.
But I have felt her breast bone sticking out quite a bit and can't feel too much breast meat on her, she does feel heavy still but most likely from the fluid instead. It is hard to tell since she has so much feathers.
I don't think she is internally laying, but I have no idea other than maybe some sort of mass inside her from maybe cancer, but I just don't know..............any help or suggestions would be greatly appreciated.