Middle-aged hen with distended abdomen

[verlaj]

I have a 7 year-old RIR hen that is one of 2 that remain from our first venture into the world of poultry keeping. I had been wondering if all was okay since she seemed to be less energetic and less social than previously, but she was eating and otherwise seemed fine. Last night, she did not go to roost as usual, but crowded in a nest box with my broody hen. This was odd, so I checked her. She has a distended abdomen (feels like fluid distention) and a bad smell about her. I haven't had a chance to check her over carefully, but can see a pale white/yellow material on her feathers below her vent. She did muscle in for her share of bits of meat from a cooked turkey carcass this morning. No respiratory or neurological signs and good feathering. I think she has been kind of thin for a while.

She is one of 11 standard hens - 2 are 7 yrs old, 9 are 5 yrs old. Kept in a dirt floor, open-air coop at night with lots of space. Fed layer pellets and water, with occasional snacks of leftovers from the house, plus foraging. Essentially free ranges during the day.

What are your thoughts on possibilities? I don't know whether she has been laying or not - have not seen her in a nesting box for a long time until last night.

 

[LynneP]

Possibly she has an infection, such as peritonitis.
I'd be cautious and separate her, keep in warm place and do a search here at the site on

peritonitis
eggbound


and see what you think after reading that.

 

[Glenda L Heywood]

she has a yellow cancerous growth in the vent area with a lot of fluid around it in the body
there is nothing you can do for her
she is of no danger to the other hens
just old age an a history of laying strongly

She will fill with fluid and then pass on
she will be thin in amount of meat on her bones and probably pass on soon

when hens get this old they are destin to go by the way side
this large yellow growth is solid and always has fluid bad smelling around it
you will decide if she should be put to sleep or live till she passes.
so sorry to tell you this

as I spent lots of hrs processing old hens for meat I had to discard a lot of them from this malady

 

[verlaj]

Thanks for those ideas. I will check her more thoroughly when I get home today.

Glenda - the tumor that you refer to would be visible from the outside or is it internal?

 

[Glenda L Heywood]

no it is inside
laying in the vent area and theback
they are just yellow tissue in a large lump
there is nothin one can do for them

nothing is visable just odor from manue and the rotten liquid inside of her