Laying hens with "water belly" or "ascites"?

[Shabana]

I used a new sterilised large needle that was as near in gauge to kathys instructions an punctured her with three holes on on either side of her vent but about an inch lower ( remembering she's only small) and one in the middle. She sat then in a kitchen bowl. Then I moved her onto soft towels in the bath which I changed out to keep her dry. She lost most of her liquid in the bowl but then continued to drop for a couple of hours.
She was very ill that day and the night following but was a lot better by the following afternoon, and started to take an interest in her surroundings and food.

I will find the link and post it shortly x

 

[Shabana]

Ok the instructions are on page 7 of this thread. Kathy's user name is Casportpony and she has posted several pictures and advice here.
I didn't squeeze her. Gravity I assume helps but the fluid comes out easily.
I poked the needle in far enough to be in the cavity where the fluid is - maybe a cm.

Boots was dying, she could no longer stand with with her feet together. She had stopped moving and feeding. She stood like a cowboy so I had to try. But birds can die from being drained so you need to bear that in mind too.
Ascites has an underlying condition like a heart or kidney problem or a tumour so you try to buy them time. Boots they think has a heart problem (understandable as she's an old lady) so we now use the frusol to keep her fluid free. I'm in the UK so it might be called something different where you are.

Best wishes x

 

[chicknmania]

When we drained Bitsy she lost HUGE amounts of fluid. And then she continued to drain for some time. She was not sick though afterwards, maybe a little quiet. with the Milkthistle, (after we drained her twice) she seems to be doing ok, still. I give her a third of a capsule once a day, but when she was in hospital penl I was giving her a third twice a day. She is behaving normally now, so far. I don't think she lays anymore, but she might not, anyway, as she's over two years old now. And Shabana, I am still struggling to get an un-blurry picture of her, lol. She rarely comes out of the barn (that's the one thing that lets me know she's not quite right, as she used to go out all the time) so as the light as not as good in there, and I have a crappy cell phone camera, usuallyl the pics are blurry. I do have one that's cute, I'll try to post later, lol.

 

[Shabana]

Am so glad Miss Bitsy is still doing well
My Bluebell laid her first egg last week at 25weeks almost. She is a quiet hen mostly in the background, but she has a soft spot for 'lightening' who is a cockerel and second in command to his father 'flash'. She is very pretty with her blue/ grey features.
I will try for an up to date photo for you too
Boots is good. She's an old lady but very matronly and she's happy. I'm glad I went down this road now, although hindsight is a wonderful thing, because this summer has been great and she's been back to her normal self. Long may it last for all these well loved poorly girls.
Ascites is a horrible heartbreaking condition, but the support here is amazing and it's not necessarily the end as I'm sure Bitsy and Boots would tell you

 

[chicknmania]

Quote:
Amen to that. Worse things can happen. And everything is a learning experience. Glad yours are doing well too and looking forward to more pics.

 

[nicollee]

thank you for the encouragement and support.

I found syringes and a local feed store, (Tempe feed and tack)
and my husband (bless him) had me hold her while he poked her

and withdrew a full cup, 250ml of clear liquid...


We did not empty her out, probably only took half of it, but I was
terrified to send her into shock, I'll check on her in the am, and if we need
to we will do this again in a couple of days... I'm hoping she will leak enough
more out that I won't have to. Is there a point at which her leaking starts to get dangerous?
It's still running pretty steady.

I've started milk thistle, but I'm not sure when to start
Dandelion. I didn't think it would be good till after we drained her.

Thank-you again,
hopefully Kohl will pull through this..
she did show an interest in eating shortly after.

 

[chicknmania]

That's what we did too is take out half at a time and the second time we didn't get it all out either. You don't need to use Milkthistle AND dandeliion; I think Milkthistle has dandelion in it. It's pretty diuretic so I wouldn't use both, anyway. You CAN look for Zyfend at the feed store, a little bottle is $12.00, it's supposed to be for post deworming to help counter the effecrts of the worms and deworming, but it has stuff in it that is used to treat liver disorders and I found it helped Bitsy a lot. You can't give it to them all the time, so I give her the Milkthistle when I can't give her the Zyfend. You only use a like twelve drops per gallon of water so a little goes a long way.

also, was the fluid clear? As it says earlier here, cloudy liquid can indicate internal laying.

 

[chicknmania]

and it wont hurt her to keep draining, that's what you want. Just make sure she stays in a reasonably clean environment. We put Bitsy on clean shavings, and that worked fine.

 

[nicollee]

The liquid was just the tinest bit cloudy, I tried to take a picture, but the lighting does not really show the color.
I left her on towels last night, and the towels are SOAKED.
She seems to have lost most of the liquid, and

looks about half the size she was yesterday...
She was perkier right after, now she's very quiet, and not really interested in food. Last night she ate. I'll just keep watch,
The thing I don't know is what caused it., and will it reoccur...
at least now, I'm a little better prepared, and know where to get the supplies I need.






Thank-you

 

[Shabana]

The fluid from boots was a little like corn, a bit like wee bit not first thing in the morning.... ( too much info sorry)
She leaked for hours and soaked two lots of towels.

I force fed her the day after, and from then on she took more interest and was feeding herself by the second day. I also brought her best bud and partner in crime home at that point to help stimulate and support her.
I gave scrambled egg, and fishy cat food.

I took her to the vet when the fluid started to return. This was within a fortnight. That's when she was prescribed frusol.
It cost £12.50 for a six month prescription and then less than £8 for the meds ( I forget exactly but not a lot)

Don't know how to say how brilliant you've done. I don't want to come off sounding condescending. I know how scary it is and I'm so glad your hubby helped - what a star !
I hope she goes from strength to strength.

Kohl might be half the bird she was, but she's a beauty