Swollen/Puffy Abdomens in Hens

Arya28

Songster
Apr 9, 2017
662
566
191
Pennsylvania
Hello!

I realized a couple of months back (in November, I think) that one of my silkie hens had a swollen abdomen. Like, very swollen. You touch it and it feels like it must be full of water or something; it definitely didn't seem "normal" at the time. I thought she either must have been egg-bound or injured herself somehow. Well, after days of being worried about her, she was still acting totally fine. Then, I noticed my other silkie hen and one of our svart hens had it too. Clearly all of these hens (thankfully!) are not egg bound. They act totally fine, they lay eggs like normal.

About two days ago we realized our cream legbar hen has it too. I've been reading about it and it seems like "water belly" is usually secondary to a heart disease or tumor. All of these hens are in about the same age range, a little under and over a year old. They all act totally fine, you can just see and feel that their bellies are swollen. If it were one hen I would question it more, but I don't think it's going to be the official definition of "water belly" or "ascites".

I was wondering if it could be internal laying, but, as I said, they are all fabulous layers. What else could it be? They act totally fine. They eat organic Dumor layer pellets, and the free range for a couple hours almost every night. They get apple cider vinegar and probiotics in their water occasionally, along with other supplemental things where needed. They are all organic and fed only organic ingredients.

It doesn't seem normal so we want to be sure that if there is a problem that we can treat it. I can't find any other useful information on it other than what I've mentioned here.

Any help/info would be greatly appreciated! Thanks!
 
When you have several all exhibiting ascites, especially when they are different breeds then I would be concerned that it may be related to diet and possibly Fatty Liver Haemorrhagic Syndrome that is causing it. That can be caused by too much carbohydrate vs protein in their diet or too much fat or I believe aphlatoxins from mould etc can cause it.
Do you feed any high carb treats like scratch/corn/bread/pasta/bird seed etc
What is the mill date on the feed?
Could someone else be feeding them during their free range time with extra treats, if you are not indulging them yourself?
What is the protein content of the feed? Just to confirm.... it is a pellet and not a whole grain mix? Have you ever given them a whole grain mix? Dietary imbalances usually take several months to cause an issue so it may have been a while ago that problems started occurring. Those feathers hide any issues like this very effectively.

If they were laying internally then you would not be getting eggs from them, so I would rule that out.
 

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