My 5 year old red star hen is all puffed up with diarrhea!

[cafarmgirl]

If she was wormed that recently with Valbazen then I would not suspect a big enough worm load to be causing her this kind of trouble. If her lower abdomen is swollen I'd suspect she may be laying internally. Or she may be developing ascites in relation to some other problem.

I had a hen last spring who developed ascites and never did recover, vet did a necropsy and found a heart defect. I have another hen right now who has stopped laying and is becoming swollen just in the lower abdomen area, suspect internal laying with that one, we'll see tomorrow when she goes to the vet.

 

[cute chicks here]

My 2 year old hen has the same symptoms, I tryed soaking her butt in warm water in case an egg was stuck and also tried cleaning her off. I had a chicken die at Easter but this one has been fine till yesterday.I am worried she will die too. Let me know if you find anything out.

 

[rswojo]

Yuck. A five year old chicken is well past its laying prime and should be culled. I would not eat that chicken either.