Underweight hen recovering from ascites

[cajun41887]

Hi all!

I’m a vet tech by profession, but work on dogs and cats so chickens are new to me and drs I work for can’t offer much advice. I have a nearly 3 year old white rock hen who about 6 weeks ago developed terrible ascites. I pulled over 240 mls of yellow fluid off her abdomen and another 210 mls the next day and 3 days later 60 mls. She’s not had any further fluid. Thought for sure I was gonna lose her. Started her on baytril twice daily for 2 weeks and did a couple doses of meloxicam and also did rooster booster as well as B vitamins. She pulled through and is doing well but is still very thin. Keel bone sticks out and she is unable to jump into coop or onto roosts. She’s still sleeping in my house in a puppy play pen with a roost etc. she’s out with her flock during the day and she’s gaining weight as evidenced by her weekly weigh ins at work. What can I feed to help put weight back on? I already feed 18% chick starter as my normal rations for my flock with oyster shell on the side. She won’t eat bread anymore as I had put some meds in it when she was sick. She’s eating tons of bugs at night when I’m doing barn chores. She’s not gaining as fast as she was when she was in my house all day with her own food. The flock accepts her, but she’s not really allowed in the coop or the run, but she’s still the boss of the usual hens when they are outside of the coop. The rooster doesn’t try to run her off, but he’s not exactly accepting of her in the coop either. I have food for her in the tack room of my barn and she uses the cat door. Only a couple of my other hens have figured it out and my rooster is too big to use the door so she has food in a safe place as well as Water. I bought a bunch of meal worms today as I know those are high fat and protein, but is it possible to feed her too much? I also give her some scratch grain each day, but not a lot. Any advice is greatly appreciated. She’s up to 1827 grams from 1200 grams on March 26 or 4 pounds from 2.6 pounds.

 

[Wyorp Rock]

It took her a while to lose the weight, so I would think patience is key.
If seems like she is steadily gaining. Chick starter is fine or you could try upping the protein with a few mealworms like you plan. An alternative would be Flock Raiser which is 20% protein. This is what I feed so I don't have to buy separate feeds for chicks and adults - everybody eats the same thing, just offer oyster shell free choice.

Some people give about 1Tblsp of high quality canned dog food a day - she may like that or a little tuna/egg.

It also could be that she will never gain all her weight back completely- Ascites is symptom of an underlying illness or condition like Egg Yolk Peritonitis, cancer, tumors, Fatty Liver disease, etc. Any of these may be prohibiting weight gain.

You have done well getting her this far.

I was looking back at some of my notes - you may also be interested in POST#8 by @coach723 using herbal detox. I do not know much about alternative treatments, so will let you investigate that route if you choose. https://www.backyardchickens.com/threads/internal-laying-peritonitis-ascites.1196233/#post-18927497

 

[cajun41887]

Thank you so much. I suspect she probably has an underlying heart or liver condition as the fluid I drained off was not cloudy and when I looked at it under a microscope, there was no bacteria or white blood cells present, so likely not a peritonitis of any sort. She’s had a couple bouts of open mouth breathing when she didn’t have ascites present, so I’m leaning towards a heart issue maybe. I’m happy to hear the dog food is ok as I was feeding some canned cat food and dog food when she was really sick. She won’t touch that now. Pretty much anything I fed her when she was really bad she won’t touch. Even grapes! I did pick up some chick starter today that is 24% protein that I will start her on. My entire flock normally eats 18% chick starter since it’s easier like u said to feed just one feed with the roosters and chicks present and supplement free choice oyster shell on the side to my layers. Thank you again for your response.