I know she had been laying recently, but not sure up to what point. She is a buff orp so fairly common breed. Anything that I can do? Anyway to tell exactly if she laid internally?
Well, if you don't know for sure how recently, could certainly be ascites (basically fluid retention) caused by infection (egg yolk peritonitis). I'm dealing with a Buff Orp right now who was laying
very recently, but went into her first molt, which is when some egg issues can happen, and now, she is having trouble-she is going to the nest daily several times, but no egg, bloaty abdomen.
All you can do is give a massive round of penicillin (other drugs are prescription or too weak to do any good for this), meaning twice the normal dose for 3-4 days, and then wait and see. You can't really tell if she is laying internally for sure until and unless she dies and you open her up and find cheesy masses of cooked egg and solidified infection in there, but the outward symptoms of EYP and internal laying and ovarian cancer (seen usually in much older hens) are similar, unfortunately.
A normal dosage for a standard size hen would be 1/2 cc/ml daily. For suspected EYP, we give 1 cc/ml daily for 3-4 days, injected into the breast muscle.
Hot weather and not drinking enough can exacerbate any health issues she's having, certainly.
