squatting hen

[TWOMANYCHICKENS]

I have a sussex hen that is squatting down and waddles everywhere. she doesn't seem to be in distress however her bottom is bear and there seems to be fluid build up under her vent. no odor or discharge noticed. would love to hear if anyone has experienced this.

 

[realsis]

have you checked to see if she is egg bound, if no egg or shell is felt could be a internal lay, without shell . if this is the case you will want to put her on antibotic while she dispells the reminents of the egg to prevent infection. she could be trying to resorb the egg thus the fluid build up. see if the antibotics relieves her symptoms and the fluid deminishes. best of luck to you. hope she gets better soon!

 

[speckledhen]

Several possibilities, but fluid in the abdomen can mean she is laying internally or has egg yolk peritonitis and hence, infection and fluid is building up. Had an older hen with cancer recently who squat walked-no abdominal fluid, but upon her death, found she had fatty growth in oviduct and little cancerous growths all in her abdomen, reproductive cancer. Some of it was pressing on a nerve, causing her to squat walk. If you look up a thread about my Reba with me as author (I am in RV post house fire and on strange laptop or I'd find it for you). There is a video of her walking to compare. Some folks will mention ascites to you, which is fluid in the abdomen, but that is never the main thing, only a symptom of an underlying system failure.

There is no cure for internal laying. You can do a round of heavy penicillin injections to stave off infection, but that is not a cure and will not fix the underlying issue, just maybe make the fluid dissipate for a time. Look up threads about my Olivia to see how we drained her fluid over and over but in the end, it did not cure her (as we knew it would not). Ivy was another one I had who has her own thread about this same issue.

 

[TWOMANYCHICKENS]

thanks for all the helpful responses. it seems as though that would be painful? so sorry to hear about your house fire, speckled egg, I've been through one also. Antibiotics will help but it will continue to recurr if this is truely the issue?

 

[speckledhen]

Yes, if she has fluid buildup and infection from internal laying, it is chronic. It's hard to diagnose for certain, but most reproductive malfunctions are chronic. If it was an egg binding situation, she'd be standing upright like a penguin and straining, most likely. That is usually something you can fix, IF the egg hasn't dropped into the abdomen, as happened with one hen I lost.

 

[bucky52]

My Husband had to put down my two year old hen yesterday.when she stopped laying weeks ago.i just assumed she was starting to molt.than on Monday she was squatting as though she had to poop.than she started to swelled up so much she could barely walk and was breathing hard.we did the warm baths and started her on penicillin.after three days of trying to nurse her and watching her suffer.we decided to put her down.I miss her so much.from what i was told their is no cure for eternal laying.most often they will not survive.

 

[speckledhen]

That is true. There is no cure for internal laying, other than an expensive hysterectomy that they often do not survive anyway.

Hatchery stock is bad for this, especially the most common breeds you see at the feed stores in spring. My breeder quality types rarely get this stuff. Have had really only one quality breeder bird with it and she keeps bloating up, then the swelling goes down, then back up again, without any intervention on my part. She will never lay again and will eventually pass on, but she has her better periods and manages to get around on her own so I leave her alone and let her stay with her "sisters". I was told by someone with a PhD in poultry science that after all I went through with hatchery hens dying from it, it would just be best to by stock with better genetics. And he was right.

 

[bucky52]

My Husband had to put down my two year old hen yesterday.when she stopped laying weeks ago.i just assumed she was starting to molt.than on Monday she was squatting as though she had to poop.than she started to swelled up so much she could barely walk and was breathing hard.we did the warm baths and started her on penicillin.after three days of trying to nurse her and watching her suffer.we decided to put her down.I miss her so much.from what i was told their is no cure for eternal laying.most often they will not survive.

A bell just went off in my head.two weeks ago this same hen,she would put her head down as though she was going to eat and clear stringy fluid would run out of her mouth.i ask on this site if anyone had a idea as why this was happening.and than on monday she started filling up with fluid.

 

[speckledhen]

When their bodies fill with fluid, the heart begins to fail, then the lungs also fill with fluid and the crop stops working properly. It's a cascading effect you see with multiple system failure.

 

[Fred's Hens]

I just wanted to say that Speckledhen knows what she talks about on these threads. The simple fact is that modern selectively bred layers, ie, most hatchery stock, is indeed overly susceptible to this. The hatchery bird that lays so dog gone early, and lays so very heavily is just going to face ovarian issues. The heritage bird of years ago, upon which these modern birds are based, seldom laid more than 240 eggs per year.

The typical hatchery stock can now lay almost 300 eggs per year. They've been pushed and pushed, genetically. The hatcheries inadvertently ARE selectively breeding, by using the eggs of top layers. Do this over 40 years? Ta Da!!! We've birds laying crazy numbers of eggs. But at what cost to the reproductive system?

Losing hens to this is wearisome and gets to you after awhile. I've personally begun the slow process to birds with better genetics.