Swollen abdomen yellow fluid leaking from vent.

[britsngrits]

Originally I thought my hen may be egg bound but she passed an egg and is still having problems. The main issue is her abdomen is very swollen and hard and she has yellowish fluid leaking from her vent.

I have now started her on the only antibiotic I have (durmycin 10) and have her inside the house.

The other day I soaked her in the tub and kept her inside and the next day she seemed better.... more allert and chipper but today it's obvious she is in distress again. She isn't panting for air at the moment but she is def. uncomfy. No poultry vents around here in the country so any advice would be greatly appreciated.

A little background history on this hen:
About 5 months ago she decided to eat my big dogs food. The dog too exception and penned her down with his body. At the time she only had a few missing feathers he didn't even break the skin but I'm guessing the weight of him "pushed out some of her insides" if that makes sense?? I gently poked it back in and she has been more or less fine since then. About a month after the initial incident I noticed she wasn't feeling well and kept her head tilted to the ground with her rump up in the air. I soaked her in warm water, she passed some yellow/green poo and felt better after a few days.


I'm wondering if somehow her intestines have become twisted and it's caused an infection ??? Seriously this is completely beyond me!!!

 

[shuizar209]

Wait im confused. Your saying she was eggbound long enough that the egg was developing? I think she would has died long ago if that was the egg she was indeed bound with. Thats very odd.

I would try giving her a nice warmth bath.

 

[TammyTX]

I'm so sorry. There is a lot of good info here about that problem.


Could that have been a baby bird fallen from a nest, and not a baby chicken?

Good luck.

 

[britsngrits]

I thought it was odd, it was just laying in the grass but NO shell anywhere. There is yellow stuff caked to her underbelly. Her abdomen is swollen so much she is struggling to breathe. She is clearly in distress. i soaked her and I can feel an egg about 3/4 inch inside of her. It dropped a bit after she soaked in warm water and I massaged her belly.

 

[britsngrits]

Well she made it through the night. She had an egg this morning but I'm guessing she passed it while standing up because it was broken at the bottom of the cage. She seems more chipper but her abdomen is still swollen. I'm just not sure what to do for her!

 

[elmo]

I'm sorry. I'm dealing with some similar "female trouble" with one of our favorite hens right now, too. I can certainly sympathise.


The yellow stuff you mention. Is it on or around her vent, or just on her feathers on her belly? That could make a big difference in terms of what is going on. Yellow stuff on or near her vent would be a sign of internal infection. Yellow stuff on her feathers might just be ...dried egg yolk from a broken egg?

 

[britsngrits]

Hmmm... I wish I knew how to post pics on here. The yellow stuff is actually dribbling out of her vent and runs down to her feathers. She did wind up layin an egg but her abdomen is still seriously swollen. I've started her on some Durmyacin 10 as I suspect she may have some sort of infection going on. Her abdomen is very swollen and hard so I know something is going on and now I'm guessing it is NOT her being egg bound. I just am at a loss now!

 

[stargazingmommy]

could an egg have broken inside her?

 

[britsngrits]

hopefully this works... this is a side view. Can you tell how swollen she is directly under her vent?

 

[speckledhen]

She most likely has egg yolk peritonitis. She does need to be on antibiotics, which hopefully, will kick out the infection, but in truth, it can lead to internal laying and eventually, death. It's a chronic condition of high production hatchery hens, sadly. I usually do high doses of injectible penicillin, usually twice the normal dosage for 3-4 days, but continue the Duramycin you're using for now, then give her plain yogurt or other probiotics to replenish the good gut flora the antibiotics will kill. If she isn't better, do the penicillin for 3-4 days. Good luck.

This thread may be helpful to you. https://www.backyardchickens.com/forum/viewtopic.php?id=362422