Purple and drooping comb, no appetite, poopy butt, etc.

[HenriettaPizzaNolan]

I’m so happy to hear that your hen did well and is still with you! Ours sadly passed on Wednesday . It’s been a very sad week for us. We lost a different hen on Sunday…. I’m really hoping we don’t lose another one!

Aw I am so sorry to hear! Maybe you should post some of the symptoms of these hens on BYC. I wonder if it's something contagious going around your flock.

 

[LaFleche]

Thanks for the advice. Is it okay to deworm if I'm not certain it's worms? Do I have to worm the whole flock? I have never done this before so sorry for newbie questions.

Deworming will not harm them.

I would definitely deworm the whole flock and try to scoop up as much of their droppings in the run and outside as possible during the deworming period.
Then change the complete bedding including nest boxes and burn it.

If possible, let them range on fresh grounds.

 

[Eggcessive]

She may have a reproductive problem called salpingitis (internal laying of egg material that solidifies known as lash egg material.) Or she could have ascites (water belly) which is common in hens with liver problems related to reproductive disorders or cancer. Keep her area below the vent clean if it gets droppings on it, since flies laying eggs (flystrike) can be deadly.
Water belly may cause labored breathing and a blue comb. If there is fluid inside the belly, sometimes removing some with an 18 gauge needle inserted under the skin of the lower belly can give some temporary relief. I have had several that had water belly when I did a necropsy, but I only have drained one, since she had those issues of labored breathing. As long as they are getting around well, I do not intervene.

 

[HenriettaPizzaNolan]

She may have a reproductive problem called salpingitis (internal laying of egg material that solidifies known as lash egg material.) Or she could have ascites (water belly) which is common in hens with liver problems related to reproductive disorders or cancer. Keep her area below the vent clean if it gets droppings on it, since flies laying eggs (flystrike) can be deadly.
Water belly may cause labored breathing and a blue comb. If there is fluid inside the belly, sometimes removing some with an 18 gauge needle inserted under the skin of the lower belly can give some temporary relief. I have had several that had water belly when I did a necropsy, but I only have drained one, since she had those issues of labored breathing. As long as they are getting around well, I do not intervene.

I get a feeling it could be salpingitis. 2 of my hens a while ago had it, and she is showing a lot of the same signs. I haven't seen a lash egg, but maybe it's coming. And actually, now that I think of it, my husband and I saw a weird-looking ball of fleshy-looking stuff in the yard today (not exactly oblong like an egg, but more circular). It was quite solid. I thought it was something from when we processed our meat birds today, but as I got a closer look it was no body part I could recognize. Reba was actually pecking at it (yuck). I wonder if she passed a lash egg there!

I have some antibiotics left from when I was attempting to treat my other hens with salpingitis. Is it worth it to give her those? It didn't seem to help anything with my other hen who passed a lash egg.

 

[Tarynj]

Bump!

I really need help with this hen if anyone has suggestions.

Curious to know how this turned out I have one with the exact same symptoms.

 

[HenriettaPizzaNolan]

Curious to know how this turned out I have one with the exact same symptoms.

She's still surviving. She's not in as horrible condition as when I made this post initially, but she's clearly not at 100%. Her comb has slight purple at the end and a slight droop, but nothing like before. Occasionally I see her with her tail down. She does eat and drink. We may cull her soon, just to be humane. I think her quality of life has diminished past the point of return and I don't want her to get to the point where she suffers immensely. I think I'd rather do it soon before it's too bad. I do think it's a reproductive cancer or salpingitis.

What you might want to try with yours is a soak to get some of the poop off her butt, and then get a syringe and force her to eat some raw egg yolk. She needs nutrition if she's not eating. Nutri-drench is also good to give.
Then I added some garlic and hot pepper to a separate water dish (had a fresh water out at all times too), and alternated days with that and apple cider vinegar water. Idk what that did, but I saw my hen drinking the special water a lot, and she perked up after that and the egg yolk. Now she isn't as bad as she was, but it's not some magical cure. She has underlying reproductive issues that I'm not sure I can solve.

 

[HenriettaPizzaNolan]

Unfortunately I now think Reba has water belly, and it's quite bad. She has all the same symptoms I listed in the title and first post of this thread, but I now also notice she is breathing more deeply, and then when I went to soak her and get the poop off her butt the past couple times, I could feel big pockets of fluid on her abdomen. They were much bigger tonight than the last time and she feels heavier overall.

I know it's possible to prolong her life by drawing out some of the fluid and supplementing her with vitamins, but is this the right thing to do? Am I just prolonging her suffering? We are considering culling her so she doesn't suffer, but we don't want to do it prematurely. Is there any hope of recovery with water belly at this stage? I'm just a bit torn. I know she is suffering but if there is a legitimate chance of recovery I'll try it. But if not, I want to be realistic and not wait until things get so bad before we cull like we did with other hens in the past.

Thoughts?