Swollen bottom, but not egg bound? *UPDATE-we had to put her down-EYP*

[lizage]

My year-old BSL has had runny (green/yellowish) poop and a floppy comb all week. I finally was able to grab hold of one of the other BSL's for comparison and the sick hen has a really large, swollen bottom (easily 3x bigger). She has not been near the nest and I couldn't feel anything that felt like an egg. Her bottom is mainly squishy, not hard. She walks slower, but doesn't squat. I'm pretty sure she's not laying. It doesn't seem like she's gotten any worse, but she's not any better either. Her vent looks fine and there's no redness or heat anywhere. When I 'massage' her bottom, she makes little grunting noises and relaxes, almost like it feels good to her.

Is it possible she ate something last weekend and it's making her sick like this? I have googled and searched this site for the past 4 days and her lack of any other symptoms is perplexing.

Any other ideas???

 

[lizage]

Just to update, we put our hen down last Sunday. her comb and wattles turned purple and her breathing was very labored. It was 5 days from the time I first noticed symptoms. I believe that she had egg yolk peritonitis. Thanks everyone for your help!

 

[speckledhen]

These threads may be helpful to you in the future. If you keep hatchery hens, especially, it will happen again.

https://www.backyardchickens.com/forum/viewtopic.php?id=362422

https://www.backyardchickens.com/forum/viewtopic.php?id=195347

https://www.backyardchickens.com/t/...ences-on-egg-reproduction-production-necropsy


The green is from concentrated bile. She wasn't eating much or at all, or her body wasn't processing what she was eating. It's common at end stage EYP/internal laying.

 

[lizage]

Speckledhen, I had actually read through all of your posts before.

Of course, when it's your first time going through it, it's so hard to figure out what's right and wrong (or if anything is wrong in the first place!). I really appreciate the fact that you've taken so much time to record all your experiences because it is so useful to so many here!!

 

[speckledhen]

Speckledhen, I had actually read through all of your posts before.

Of course, when it's your first time going through it, it's so hard to figure out what's right and wrong (or if anything is wrong in the first place!). I really appreciate the fact that you've taken so much time to record all your experiences because it is so useful to so many here!!

I know it's really hard the first time to understand what's wrong. The first death was sudden, no lead-in, and when we opened her up, her abdomen was full of loose egg yolk so EYP. After that, because we researched, the next one was less of a mystery and we found slightly different stuff inside, the solid cheesy gunk. We just didn't realize that they'd go that way one by one. It's knowledge and experience I really wish I didn't have, to tell the truth, but hopefully, since most of my hatchery hens are gone now, I won't see it nearly as often. Lord knows there are enough things that can go wrong with chickens without this stuff! So sorry for your loss.

 

[tinychicky]

Sounds like she has a belly full of worms to me. I doubt massaging her abdomen would feel good :/ Try wazine or piprozine 17.

I've also seen these symptoms with coccidiosis. Is she at all pale and are any other birds showing symptoms? A photo might help too. Corid is best for cocci. I hope this helps!

 

[lizage]

Here's some pictures. No, she doesn't look pale and all other 8 flock mates are fine.

Also, this came on overnight. One day she was fine, the next day this.

Full body pic


Poop picture

 

[TheNewMrsEvans]

Try deworming as mentioned, but worst case if she hasn't layed in a while she might be an internal layer.
If you are worried about her being egg bound give her a few tsp of vegi oil for the next few days and keep her warmer than usual with a lamp or heating pad on one end of her cage. Sometimes they will have runny poo while egg bound. You will know quickly if she will turn around or go south.
I had a BJG who's bum swelled up but stayed soft and she lived like that for years afterwards, just never layed anymore...who knows why she was so round!

 

[seminolewind]

I don't know if all her symptoms match, but have you thought about peritonitis or ascites?

 

[lizage]

I know she was laying as of last week (by the number of eggs I was getting/day). I have been down 1 egg each day this week. I'm stumped. If she had worms, wouldn't the other birds have them too? I think I will at least try and take a stool sample to the vet in the morning (assuming they can look at it). I have never wormed before and I don't want to worm her unless I can be more certain. I would hate to medicate her unnecessarily when she's already sick.