My hen is sick

[Shelly0723]

I recently noticed that my gentle giant, Blanca, my massive white hen, was becoming aggressive towards the other hens during feeding time. This has been happening for a week now. Today I noticed that she vomited a clear liquid onto her food and then proceeded to eat it along with the food. I looked it up and it says it is water belly and that there is no cure. My concern is how safe is it to eat her eggs that she has been laying this past week? I told my mom I will have to cull her to ease her suffering once she gets too sick to be able to breathe comfortably and she asked if we could eat her so I am asking that here, is it safe to eat her? She is 14 months old, what could have caused this? They have been eating all my Pakistan mulberries and loquats that fall off the tree lately and go into my composting pile and I am concerned that maybe over eating those caused her to get sick.

 

[Wyorp Rock]

Today I noticed that she vomited a clear liquid onto her food and then proceeded to eat it along with the food. I looked it up and it says it is water belly and that there is no cure.

Please provide a link the info you read that vomiting clear liquid is water belly.

Sometimes when a hen has been eating/drinking a lot, when they bend over, some liquid can come back up.

I'd check her crop first thing in the morning before she's had anything to eat or drink to see if it's emptied. If it hasn't, then begin addressing that symptom.

I would not cull a hen that is eating/drinking and laying eggs.



https://www.backyardchickens.com/ar...w-to-know-which-one-youre-dealing-with.73607/

 

[Shelly0723]

Please provide a link the info you read that vomiting clear liquid is water belly.

Sometimes when a hen has been eating/drinking a lot, when they bend over, some liquid can come back up.

I'd check her crop first thing in the morning before she's had anything to eat or drink to see if it's emptied. If it hasn't, then begin addressing that symptom.

I would not cull a hen that is eating/drinking and laying eggs.



https://www.backyardchickens.com/ar...w-to-know-which-one-youre-dealing-with.73607/

Thank you, I will feel her crop in the morning in case it is sour or impacted crop. This is where I got some of my info, after which I looked up what Ascites is and then it said it was water belly. https://hencam.com/henblog/2014/10/ascites-in-hens/

 

[Crazy Maizie]

Did you pick her up before she vomited water? It's happened to me before. I picked a hen up and must have touched just the right spot and she spit out water.
With ascites, she would have a very squishy belly - so squishy it's like a water balloon that's about to burst. She would also not be acting right at all. Standing off in a corner and just hanging back so others don't notice that she's not feeling well.
Also, never trust the info in a blog without a lot of research. Even then be cautious.

 

[Wyorp Rock]

Thank you, I will feel her crop in the morning in case it is sour or impacted crop. This is where I got some of my info, after which I looked up what Ascites is and then it said it was water belly. https://hencam.com/henblog/2014/10/ascites-in-hens/

I see, yes, she's very good, but you can't automatically jump to the conclusion that YOUR hen has Ascites just because she spit up a little bit of water.

You need to evaluate your hen and determine why she spit up water.

Check the crop to make sure it's emptying.

Was she just eating/drinking a LOT and bent over? Sometimes water comes back up when they do that.

Was she picked up and her crop pressed - chickens can spit up sometimes when picked up and they have a full crop?

What's her overall behavior - is she eating/drinking/active/laying eggs/bright and seemingly happy within herself?

ALL of these things need to be looked at. Get Mom involved in helping you evaluate these hens and learn together.

 

[Shelly0723]

I see, yes, she's very good, but you can't automatically jump to the conclusion that YOUR hen has Ascites just because she spit up a little bit of water.

You need to evaluate your hen and determine why she spit up water.

Check the crop to make sure it's emptying.

Was she just eating/drinking a LOT and bent over? Sometimes water comes back up when they do that.

Was she picked up and her crop pressed - chickens can spit up sometimes when picked up and they have a full crop?

What's her overall behavior - is she eating/drinking/active/laying eggs/bright and seemingly happy within herself?

ALL of these things need to be looked at. Get Mom involved in helping you evaluate these hens and learn together.

After I posted this, I have been keeping an eye on her and after those 2 separate days of spitting up water, we have not seen it happen again, so they were isolated episodes we attributed to gorging on water and then bending down to eat food. She eats, drinks, poops and lays like normal. For a few days she was trying to get broody, but snapped out of it after another hen took over the nest that might be going broody. She is my emo hen that never makes noise or draws attention to herself. She has started to honk more than her usual 2x a month honk.

 

[Shelly0723]

Did you pick her up before she vomited water? It's happened to me before. I picked a hen up and must have touched just the right spot and she spit out water.
With ascites, she would have a very squishy belly - so squishy it's like a water balloon that's about to burst. She would also not be acting right at all. Standing off in a corner and just hanging back so others don't notice that she's not feeling well.
Also, never trust the info in a blog without a lot of research. Even then be cautious.

We rarely pick her up, only when she is on the wrong side of the fence to throw her over. After these 2 episodes happened, she decided to go broody for 2 days and is now back to minding her own business and doing her own chicken thing. Although she is more noisy than before, but I will attribute that to there being a skunk with her kit in the backyard. So all the hens have been super vocal lately.