- Mar 7, 2012
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About 4 months ago, I adopted a bunch of leghorns who were previously living on a factory egg farm, in wire cages. Because of this, probably, I find a new health problem almost everyday. The latest is a hen who has a giant fluid build-up in her abdomen and is very lethargic, not eating.
I drained about 60 cc of fluid from her abdomen, and once the abdomen was not so tight with fluid, I could feel a fairly large, misshapen lump inside her. It is not round like an egg but lumpy and about 2/3 the size of an egg, and it doesn't appear to be attached to anything. (Like, I can pull it away from the rest of her abdomen.)
I am wondering if this is a misshapen egg that was never expelled or internal laying(?) I don't really know what internal laying is, or how that is different from being egg-bound. But recently, I had a hen die suddenly, and when I cut her distended abdomen open I found a bunch of masses inside her that looked like hard-boiled egg yolks, all in a deformed kind of mass.
If she has some egg stuff caught inside her, is there a way to get it to come out, or is she going to die? The lump does not seem to be very near her vent opening, so I don't feel like soaking her in warm water is really going to help her expel it, although I will try.
I've attached a photo of where the lump is, although you can't see it; you can only feel it inside her when you palpate the abdomen. Has anyone experienced anything like this?
I drained about 60 cc of fluid from her abdomen, and once the abdomen was not so tight with fluid, I could feel a fairly large, misshapen lump inside her. It is not round like an egg but lumpy and about 2/3 the size of an egg, and it doesn't appear to be attached to anything. (Like, I can pull it away from the rest of her abdomen.)
I am wondering if this is a misshapen egg that was never expelled or internal laying(?) I don't really know what internal laying is, or how that is different from being egg-bound. But recently, I had a hen die suddenly, and when I cut her distended abdomen open I found a bunch of masses inside her that looked like hard-boiled egg yolks, all in a deformed kind of mass.
If she has some egg stuff caught inside her, is there a way to get it to come out, or is she going to die? The lump does not seem to be very near her vent opening, so I don't feel like soaking her in warm water is really going to help her expel it, although I will try.
I've attached a photo of where the lump is, although you can't see it; you can only feel it inside her when you palpate the abdomen. Has anyone experienced anything like this?
