Swollen abdomen

[Nestled Chickens]

I work at a camp, but I'm not on site every day. One of my hens is walking very slow and has a swollen abdomen that feels warm (warmer than a normal chicken temp). She has poo in her feathers too. She looks puffy eyed and keeps shaking her head. What do you think this could be? We are in Washington and the smoke has been terrible for the last few days, but it has cleared up a bit as of today. She also has free range of the area. She lives with goats, sheep, and a llama. None of the other chickens are acting strange.

 

[Lady of McCamley]

The swollen abdomen usually means either egg binding or ascites (build up of fluid).

Either one is not good news for a hen as it means internal infection or heart or liver failure.

How messy is her vent? Could it be vent gleet? (Yeast overgrowth). That can cause enough irritation in the egg tract to cause egg binding or internal laying.

The puffiness around the eyes could mean another kind of illness, all connected, or not, or something caused by the smoke. It is possible heart failure could have been brought on by smoke inhalation.

It's hard to tell from your description if it is internal egg binding/inflammation or other illness such as viral or bacterial.

Can you post pics?

LofMc

 

[Nestled Chickens]

We had to put her out of her misery. She could barely breathe when I got back to the camp and her abdomen was so swollen that her skin was bright red

 

[Lady of McCamley]

I'm sorry. Fortunately she is at rest now.