Swollen behind, no other symptoms?

[Tailwise]

Hey all,

So my house chicken - part silkie, part Wyandotte and some other stuff - has had a somewhat swollen behind for about a week and a half now. It starts right at the end of her breastbone. It doesn't quite feel like water, but it doesn't feel hard, either.

Otherwise, she's completely fine. She eats (though she now refuses the shrimp treats I used to give her). She drinks. She poops. She's chatty. She isn't laying eggs, which worried me at first, but she went into a moult today which explains that. Our vet is stumped and thinks it could be just about anything, but he suspects it's her ovaries and has advised me to wait and see for a few more days, since the swelling's shrunk a little (it no longer surrounds her cloaca), so it's entirely possible it's just a bad egg that she's either about to absorb or to push out. But he still says he could be *anything*, including cancer.

Might anyone else have any guesses or similar experiences? I'm no longer in 'OMG SHE'S GOING TO DIE' mode, but I'm still concerned.

 

[Tailwise]

Thanks for the advice!

I'm definitely sure she's molting - there's feathers everywhere right now.

I'm probably taking her to the specialized avian vet after easter, this one's my baby and I'm worried sick (even if she doesn't seem to be, outside of the swelling). Could be a fat problem too - I checked the nutritional information on the shrimps I've been giving her as treats for the past few months, which she now refuses to eat, and that kind of shocked me. (The vet said he could tell she was well-fed from her breast, and that her great constitution ruled out a number of things.)

 

[Tailwise]

Update: My vet had sent me home telling me to wait a few days and see if the swelling went away on its own, and apparently he was on to something - it's now much smaller, to the point of being nearly unnoticable. Maybe something got absorbed, or it's her 'molt diet' at work - I don't know.

I'm still taking her to the avian hospital sometime this week, when I can get an appointment. I've spent the past few days obsessing about every detail (particularly memorable is the day and night I spent on oh-no-she-isn't-pooping-watch, which ended when she took multiple poops... starting with in my chair. Brat.) with regards to her health and I need some certainty, sigh.

 

[azygous]

You're fortunate to have avian health support where you are. With resources like that, you should get some answers. Hopefully, it will resolve your sense of uncertainty, and your Silkie will be all right.

 

[Tailwise]

We actually found out a few days ago that an avian vet (who specializes in EYP-related hysterectomies, among other things. I may have stared) is opening a clinic just a town over today - much closer and cheaper than the avian hospital - so I feel very lucky in that department this week.

 

[Tailwise]

Oh, poor Bintje. After all that: nights of sleeping in stretches of two hours at a time as I kept trying new treats to get her to eat or attempted to get her to poop, after having the local vet throw her on her back and jab her over and over in the stomach, after forcing me to call in sick to work because of all the sleep lost worrying over her, after being poked and prodded all over AGAIN by a bunch of overeager veterinary residents, having an avian expert jab her in the cloaca, having weird gunk slathered all over her nethers... after all that...

... she receives the final indignity of having an avian vet tell her that her ass is fat.

Apparently the fat is threaded through her butt/abdomen, to the point where there's a bit of it between her ovaries and her intestines - which is why the vet and the specialist both thought it was an ovarian problem at first. But nope. Just fat.

The specialist told me that her lack of appetite right now is a blessing in disguise and I should probably stop giving her treats to make up for it. Let her lose a little weight. He also thinks she stopped laying because she got this overweight and it's the combination of the fat and the molting that's making her grumpy lately. As long as she doesn't get lethargic (in which case he'd want to have bloodwork done) she's free and clear.

If, erm, about to go on a diet.

(I am deeply grateful to the folks at our avian hospital, who refused to give me the kind of scary maybe-diagnoses my vet did, but instead immediately leaped into action and got an ultrasound scheduled just an hour after they found the mass during check-up.)

(And apologies if I get a little too wordy, but I like to use this forum myself to use other people's experiences to diagnose my own chickens, so I figured I'd be as clear as possible in case it's any use to anyone.)

 

[Nambroth]

Oh goodness! After all that! I'm so glad it was not peritonitis / cancer, or something like that!! Poor girl, but I'm happy for her that of all the problems chickens are prone to, this one is not so bad.

 

[azygous]

Your vet is right. It could be anything from liver disease to an oviduct infection or cancer.

I've used calcium citrate to treat a multitude of egg related issues. Sometimes a calcium deficiency can trigger these issues and supplying calcium can sometimes help resolve them.

I use 400mg each day, but a Silkie would need just half that.

If you are sure she's molting, I would hold off on calcium, though, unless she starts to show signs of straining to pass an egg mass.

 

[Nambroth]

Sounds you are going to exactly the right place for her! I was going to suggest some "home diagnosis" ideas but your avian specialist will be a far superior experience. Let us know how it goes!

 

[Tailwise]

Ha! I'd be happy to receive the home diagnosis ideas too, I've been on edge about this one all week. Really hoping my current worries - her not eating that much and retreating a little when left to her own devices - are just molt-related.

But tomorrow it's the avian hospital for me. I'll keep this thread updated, just in case it's any help to anyone else later.