RIR with bare red belly

[Michael Propst]

About 2 weeks ago I noticed one of my RIR having some feather issues around her neck and belly at the time I assumed it was a weird spring molt. After a week her belly became completely bare and started turning red. I had already looked for mites and found nothing but still treated her for mites/lice. After that treatment I started spraying her belly daily with Vetericyn. After a week no improvement. I decided yesterday to isolate her in the house along with that she got a bath to clean her up good. She is eating, drinking and pooping fine. Not sure about egg laying yet as she has not laid since I moved her indoors. After her bath I wiped her stomach with some witch hazel and plan on putting some GreenGoo Animal First Aid ointment this evening. Has anyone got any ideas what could be causing this and any other treatment plan that might be better than what I am doing. Pictures attached. The first 2 pictures are from after her bath the second 2 later that evening after I cleaned her again with witch hazel. Thanks in advance for all of your help

 

[Wyorp Rock]

It looks like she has quite a full abdomen. What does that feel like?

 

[Michael Propst]

It looks like she has quite a full abdomen. What does that feel like?

Her abdomen was hard. I believe she has Ascetis (Water Belly). My son's fiancee is a vet tech so I called her and she brought over a 60ml syringe and 18 gauge needle yesterday evening and we were able to extract over 360ml of fluid from her stomach. I still have her isolated, she is still eating, drinking and pooping. I also have her on 125mg of amoxicillin twice a day. Any other suggestions for treatment? Thanks

 

[Wyorp Rock]

Her abdomen was hard. I believe she has Ascetis (Water Belly). My son's fiancee is a vet tech so I called her and she brought over a 60ml syringe and 18 gauge needle yesterday evening and we were able to extract over 360ml of fluid from her stomach. I still have her isolated, she is still eating, drinking and pooping. I also have her on 125mg of amoxicillin twice a day. Any other suggestions for treatment? Thanks
View attachment 1808941

Glad you were able to drain some fluid. That's what I was wondering with her having that large abdomen.
The draining will probably make her more comfortable for a while. It's hard to know what the underlying condition would be. Most of the time with laying hens it's reproductive problems (Egg Yolk Peritonitis, cancer, tumors, etc.) or something like Liver dysfunction.
The Amoxicilin will help with infection. Dosage for Amoxicillin in birds is 57mg per pound of weight given 2 times a day. You may want to weigh her to see if 125mg is enough.

 

[Michael Propst]

The Amoxicilin will help with infection. Dosage for Amoxicillin in birds is 57mg per pound of weight given 2 times a day. You may want to weigh her to see if 125mg is enough.

Thanks, there was still more fluid in there but I believe it was starting to irritate her as I started getting a little blood around the needle so we stopped. Plan on trying to drain some more tomorrow after she has had a chance to recover a bit from the first. I will weigh her when I get home from work and adjust as necessary. Is 7 days of amoxicillin the recommended length?

 

[Wyorp Rock]

Thanks, there was still more fluid in there but I believe it was starting to irritate her as I started getting a little blood around the needle so we stopped. Plan on trying to drain some more tomorrow after she has had a chance to recover a bit from the first. I will weigh her when I get home from work and adjust as necessary. Is 7 days of amoxicillin the recommended length?

You can use the Amoxicillin 7-14 days. Some go with something like 10 days as a "happy medium".

Draining too much to fast can cause them to go into shock or cardiac arrest so it would good that you were paying attention to that.

 

[Michael Propst]

Dosage for Amoxicillin in birds is 57mg per pound of weight given 2 times a day. You may want to weigh her to see if 125mg is enough.

Thanks for the dosage correction. She is just over 5 lbs and this makes it much easier because the amoxicillin pills I have are 250mg so I can just drop a whole pill down her throat, so much easier to administer that way. Thanks again.