Swollen Abdomen???

[SuperChickRuth]

One of our chickens has a very swollen abdomen. She walks almost completely vertical, and looks like she's straining. She has had very watery...poops.... today, but that may be because we've been keeping her on yogurt and ACV for sour cop. When she lies down, she looks okay, but it's when she stands up that she looks like she's straining, and her bottom is very low. Please help, don't know what this is!!!

 

[huntingirl]

Is she tramatized or sick?


My RIR had this. She was traumatized from a dog attack. After a few days she laid an egg and was fine.

 

[SuperChickRuth]

Well, we are still dealing with sour crop- or we think it's sour crop. Just yesterday morning she was vomiting the brown liquid, and had most of the symptoms of sour crop. Then yesterday afternoon, she started looking better, and was alert. She's still alert now, but looks miserable. We gave her a bath, but it hasn't done too much to reduce any swelling or anything.

Also, we had an accident with a trapdoor dropping on her, but I don't know if that had anything to do with it. That was about a week and a half ago. Did you do anything for her? Thanks!

 

[huntingirl]

We brought her to the vet for antibiotics and gave her extra protein. I suggest taking her to the vet before it get too far.

 

[SuperChickRuth]

Do you have any idea what the swelling is? After the trapdoor accident, the doctor said she had soft tissue damage. Is this related?

 

[huntingirl]

Found this

http://www.hobbyfarms.com/livestock-and-pets/6-causes-of-chicken-swollen-abdomen.aspx

 

[huntingirl]

If it is squishy and watery feeling it could be an impacted crop. If this is what it is you can massage her crop and hie her olive oil

 

[huntingirl]

Has she laid any eggs? If not, feel around, but be careful not to break the egg. Put on a glove and lubricate it. Gently put your finger in her vent and feel for an egg, but be very careful!!! If you feel one put her above a humidifier and put some olive oil on/in her vent. She may have egg- yolk Peritonitis. If this is so, there is a way to extract liquids from the area. If you look this up and try to do it, don't extract too much liquid. I really hope she gets better soon!!!

 

[Wyorp Rock]

One of our chickens has a very swollen abdomen. She walks almost completely vertical, and looks like she's straining. She has had very watery...poops.... today, but that may be because we've been keeping her on yogurt and ACV for sour cop. When she lies down, she looks okay, but it's when she stands up that she looks like she's straining, and her bottom is very low. Please help, don't know what this is!!!

Do you have any photos of her?
What symptoms of sour crop does she have? How long has it been? Sour smells? Does/did she have grit available?
Treatments are in the below links.

Where (what part of her body) did the trap door fall on her? How bad was the injury, any blood, did it knock her out, etc?

Have you checked her for eggbound? Glove up and put a little kyjelly or something similar and insert your finger in her vent about and inch or so and feel to see if an egg is stuck.
A swollen abdomen can be caused by several internal issue from being eggbound, internal laying or other illness. Since she has been injured and the doc says "soft tissue damage" it could possibly be that, but if she is in distress that is not a good thing.

http://www.tillysnest.com/2012/01/crop-issues-html/
http://www.the-chicken-chick.com/2014/06/chicken-anatomy-crop-impacted-crop-sour.html

http://www.hobbyfarms.com/livestock-and-pets/6-causes-of-chicken-swollen-abdomen.aspx
http://www.the-chicken-chick.com/2012/07/chicken-egg-binding-causes-symptoms.html

 

[SuperChickRuth]

Here's a couple pictures of her.... We just gave her a bath, so she's still a little ...scraggily. You can see her abdomen is purplish/pink, and really swollen. Her sour crop seems to be clearing up- we've just been giving her olive oil soaked bread, yogurt, and AVC water. We're not sure where the trapdoor hit her, possible her neck. No blood, nothing out of place, we took her to the vet two fridays ago, and she had x-rays. She was stunned after the accident, but not knocked out completely.

We've been keeping her in a dog crate with pine shavings and towels in our garage. Her crop is empty, and she's alert. I felt her abdomen and it doesn't feel like she has an egg there. She diffidently "penguin walks," though. Her comb is dark red, and purplish at the tips. She doesn't seem too stressed right now. I did lubricate and check her vent, but it was so swollen it was hard to see if she had an egg stuck there. I'm wondering if it's internal egg laying. She's about three hearts old, and hasn't layer an egg in a while, and she used too be so good at it too! The poor girl- she's in my lap right now, swaddled in towels, as I'm typing this one handed. Please help our Cricket!