Our daughter's favorite chicken (out of 44) is sick. Please help me save her!

[counterWULF]

I've looked through all our chicken books and none seem to address this. Basically her belly and back end feel like a water balloon. The books said to feel for a stuck egg and I only feel what a water balloon feels like. Nothing hard inside. She is seeping poop/pee. I'm thinking that "balloon" is just full of poo/pee. I am following the steps for a stuck egg just in case and have her soaking in warm water. What else can I do? She is not even trying to get out of the water. She is just sitting there enjoying (?in pain?) the warmth and not moving. Is there an easier fix? We've had sick chickens before who we thought had a stuck egg and we did this water soaking method. Those chickens never laid an egg that we saw, but they all recovered. BUT, none of those previous chickens had a belly/butt swollen like a water balloon either. Around her vent it's like a half-dollar size area of no feathers and soft pink skin. I've never seen the vent look like that before. It's massively swollen methinks. I'll post this now so it gets to you guys quicker. Everytime I need help, I come to you all because I know you will help me out as always.

 

[Silkie Princess]

Sounds like water belly. What breed is she?

@Wyorp Rock

 

[counterWULF]

Sounds like water belly. What breed is she?

@Wyorp Rock

Ameraucana/Easter Egger I believe. I just did a search and she looks like this. Oddly enough, this is a pic from this forum. Someone else's hen, but our Susan looks like this one below.

 

[Silkie Princess]

AmeraucanaI believe. I just did a search and she looks like this. Oddly enough, this is a pic from this forum. Someone else's hen, but our Susan looks like this one below.View attachment 3013491

Your hen is an Easter Egger. They are often sold as Americanas

 

[counterWULF]

Sounds like water belly. What breed is she?

@Wyorp Rock

So how do I fix water belly? Never heard of that before.

 

[Silkie Princess]

So how do I fix water belly? Never heard of that before.

Let's wait for the expert to come

 

[LaFleche]

Water belly is a symptom that shows when a hen is suffering from a severe condition like cancer, heart failiure, EYP etc.

 

[counterWULF]

Water belly is a symptom that shows when a hen is suffering from a severe condition like cancer, heart failiure, EYP etc.

I'm reading all the threads on this forum from others who dealt with water belly to see what the fix is, if any. I see people posting about draining it. This chicken is 3 and still lays eggs, though I don't know when the last time is she laid one. We're going to separate her from the flock and keep her inside so we can monitor her. She is eating, but has yet to drink since I saw her walking slowly this morning. I let all the chickens out of the coop to free range and they were running back and forth as always, but our Susan stayed on the roost. I picked her up and put her on the ground and she was walking in slow motion. That's when I realized something must be off. I brought her inside and found the water belly and she is soaking in warm water now.

 

[LaFleche]

Here is a video on how to drain water belly in a hen:

Please note that this is not curing her illness, but only bringing some short relief.

 

[counterWULF]

Let's wait for the expert to come

Which expert are we waiting for? I found the thread about getting the needle to drain it. My wife is picking that up at Tractor Supply here in a bit. I guess soaking in warm water is probably doing nothing for her, so I'm going to remove her and dry her off.