My hen has ascites in her belly. Everything I’m reading says she will need to be euthanized, that there is no treatment. Has anyone had success?

[Candkfoster]

My hen has ascites in her belly. Everything I’m reading says she will need to be euthanized, that there is no treatment. Has anyone had success treating their hen with this? She’s less than 2 years old and I want to help her if I can.

 

[Sussex19]

I'm very sorry to hear about your hen, I lost one myself from it and did a fair bit of research.
It seems that it can't be cured but can be relieved by inserting a needle in to the abdomen to remove the excess liquid which is caused by the ascites. However I didn't actually try this as she clearly wasn't feeling well and I didn't really have the time to give her lots of extra care.
If you search for water belly on this forum you'll find quite a few threads about it.
Sorry I'm not more help.
Also It's great to have you here!

 

[Lilchiknmama87]

I actually recently had to help out a friend's hen that had this. I use to work at a vet clinic so I'm pretty comfortable with needles but we never dealt with poultry at the clinic so this was completely new to me. I found a video on YouTube of a vet performing it on a hen (draining it) and after watching it a few times I copied what she had done with complete success. It took some time to drain and eventually I had to unscrew needle from syringe and let it continue to drain that way into a Mason jar but we ended up getting almost 3 cups of fluid out of this poor girl. She is doing so much better now and is completely healed.

 

[Aunt Angus]

Ascites is a symptom of a larger problem. You can treat the ad sites through drsjnibv the fluid, but the underlying cause needs treatment, too. It is often something pretty awful that causes ascites: cancer, peritonitis, fatty liver disease... sometimes, you might be able to cure the underlying issue depending on what it is. Unfortunately, most folks only find out what's going on after a chicken passes and a necropsy is performed.

Has she laid recently?

 

[sspare]

I had a 2 year old leghorn with ascites that I treated myself (after researching both this site and the web). I took into consideration that the ascites was just a symptom of a more sinister problem (of which I would probably never know) and the age of the hen. I treated her with draining the belly (about 180 cc.. not quite a cup) oral antibiotics, a wormer, and separation for her (and my) comfort. Offered her chicken crumble mixed with water, yogurt, watermelon, and any other thing she would eat. After almost 3 weeks, she has rejoined the rest of the group and yesterday laid an egg. I'm still not hopeful for her complete recovery (as I don't know the true cause) but she is happy, eating, and joining her friends. The information and support I got from this site was invaluable.

 

[TXchickmum]

I lost a hen to this at about 4 years. I agree with another poster that it is the result of an underlying condition that may be past treatment/untreatable. We humanely euthanized rather than permitting suffering.

 

[Aunt Angus]

Ascites is a symptom of a larger problem. You can treat the ad sites through drsjnibv the fluid, but the underlying cause needs treatment, too. It is often something pretty awful that causes ascites: cancer, peritonitis, fatty liver disease... sometimes, you might be able to cure the underlying issue depending on what it is. Unfortunately, most folks only find out what's going on after a chicken passes and a necropsy is performed.

Has she laid recently?

Just saw the insane typos in this post. Sorry! I am almost always using my phone. Small screen + clumsy fingers + haste = indecipherable word salad.