Impacted Gizzard or Heart Failure?

[Pyxiqueen]

Many thanks for all the links and information. I will update soon.

 

[Pyxiqueen]

yes! She begins to eat and keeps up with the rest of the flock afterwards!

 

[rebrascora]

Our posts overlapped. Good to hear that she gets relief from the draining and that you are confident and competent to do it. The problem is that that fluid will kill her if it continues to build up, so I don't see that you have much to lose.
I feel quite confident that internal laying is her issue and stopping her from ovulating will improve things if you can achieve it. To me, if she had a tumour or heart problems or an infection, that comb would not be red.

 

[Wyorp Rock]

the vet told me to be careful that I don't cause her to become hypovolemic from pulling too much fluid.. ???

This is why I suggest pulling a small amount, then poking holes to let her drip drain more "naturally" or slowly over the course of a day. Pulling to much at one time can send them into respiratory distress/heart failure. Most people when they do this, place them in a kennel on clean dry bedding or a puppy pad to catch the fluid as they continue to drain.
Wash her up the next day and let her go.

 

[Pyxiqueen]

Thanks for this information! I have puppy pads so next time I drain her I'll try this mothod. She seems lovely today!

 

[Pyxiqueen]

Nice red comb

Green runny diarrhea

Swollen lower abdomen
Her comb is bright red! Wouldn't egg bind kill her quickly? This has been happening for 2 months. She seems to be feeling great today. Still has a little more waddle than normal but overall she's spunky. I just palpated her and could feel something hard on her left side back by her leg. She's been having green diarrhea so that's my major concern. We had a chicken die of fly strike last month and I care to not repeat that scene. She hasn't lost her roosting spot yet... so I think she is well enough to maintain her position in the flock.

 

[Pyxiqueen]

Alaskan and WyorpRock thank for all you input. I inspected her a few minutes ago and replied with pictures of her current state this morning in another posted reply - she seems to be feeling good. I can feel a hard mass in her lower left abdomen about the size of a regular sized marble. If she was egg bound should it have killed her by now?

 

[Wyorp Rock]

Internal laying/reproductive disorders are not the same as being egg bound. Egg binding is where an egg is literally stuck or bound in the oviduct - it can kill within 48hrs if the egg is not removed.

Internal laying is when egg yolk, whites and/or whole eggs with shells drop into the abdominal cavity (see the necropsy photos in the links previously posted - those egg yolks are in the abdominal cavity). Basically what happens is when the egg is released from the ovary it either misses the "chute" or it can go most of the way through the oviduct and for some reason travels back up the oviduct and is deposited in the abdominal cavity. Necropsy has revealed whole shelled eggs in there...it's interesting to look at, but I'm certain terribly painful for the hen as these things fester, cause infection and just make her sick.

See the Infundibulum - it is does not fully enclose the ovaries, there is space between the "follicles" and the "chute" - the yolk has to drop precisely into that "chute" and travel the length of the reproductive tract where it gathers the white and gets a shell, etc., where it is finally laid. The yolk, whites and/or whole egg can go into the abdomen through that opening. Make sense?

 

[Pyxiqueen]

Internal laying/reproductive disorders are not the same as being egg bound.



See the Infundibulum - it is does not fully enclose the ovaries, there is space between the "follicles" and the "chute" - The yolk, whites and/or whole egg can go into the abdomen through that opening. Make sense?
View attachment 1089374

Fascinating. I'm an acupuncturist and Infundibulum is like the Fallopian tubes in women. sometimes they miss a fertilized egg too and it implants in the abdomen- but then calcifies as the body tries to protect itself. Sometimes it causes no issues, sometimes it is deadly. It sounds like it is always deadly in chickens? I'll go back and look at those links.

 

[TwoCrows]

I am so sorry about your girl! You have been given some wonderful advice here so I will just add my 2 cents here!

From past experience with birds and heart conditions, I doubt this is a heart issue. The reason being is that generally when the heart leaks fluid out into the heart chamber and into the body cavities, had it leaked this much fluid into the belly, the heart would have stopped by now. It would have over whelmed itself with fluid and stopped beating. It only takes a small bit of fluid in one of the heart chambers for the valves to clack loudly and with no room for the valves to function, the bird goes into cardiac arrest and dies of full blown heart failure. Draining the belly would thus drain the heart valves and the bird would then be able to breathe, however with heart failure, the belly continues to fill. Birds use the muscles in the abdomen to breathe. And the size and fluid amount in your birds belly would have strained the heart enough to stop it long ago.

A gizzard blockage wouldn't cause ascites although a distended liver could block the gizzard from emptying and liver disease can leak fluid into the belly. BUT...liver bile is green, and your fluid looks more clear, so I don't believe she is suffering from liver issues either.

Its hard for me to see the exact color of the fluid, however if its clear to pale yolk yellow, most likely she is internally laying. Hence, green liquid can mean liver, deeper yellow straw color is body fluid and can mean heart failure and clear to yolk color yellow can mean internal laying. (These colors are a guide line and not always written in stone).

Dark green poop can stem from a lot of issues and no doubt she has several going on right now from cocci infections, E.coli, yeast and possibly Enteritis. Cancer will also cause deep green poop.

My thoughts on her is that she is mainly suffering from either internal laying or has some sort of reproductive cancer with several other secondary infections going on at the same time.

There isnt any real hard core cures for either of these, sometimes a couple rounds of antibiotics will extend their lives but generally they don't survive these diseases. Definitely don't drain too much too fast, poking 5 or 6 holes, sucking out 2 mls at a time and letting her drip dry on doggie pee pads is the prefered method. It takes 24 or so hours to drip themselves dry. You can also try either PenG injections or Amoxicillin orally, either of these for 7 days and along with a draining, she will definitely be more comfortable.

Good luck with her!! I know how difficult this seems!!