Very Sick Hen with Abdominal Mass

[Sparkypatriot15]

oh ok fewwwwww. shes my favorite hen too i dont want anything to happen to her. and me too i want to know if OPs hen is ok

 

[Enchanted Sunrise Farms]

i'm so sorry! i didn't mean to scare you. Cancer is not a super common thing, especially in young birds. i'm sure your bird is fine, Sparkypatriot15.

 

[casportpony]

Thank you all for your comments, suggestions and support, but she died. Even though she died, I thought I should reply to the posts listed below. I will aslo perform a necropsy and post the results along with pictures. Maybe doing so will be helpful to someone, someday.

My thoughts would be either internal laying or a cancerous tumor. i'm sorry about your hen. It doesn't sound good.

Sort of what I thought.

I've seen this too many times. So sorry, but this rarely ends well.

Many of my hens are over 4 years old now... I hope this is not a trend.

Did you check for an egg that's stuck?

Yes. If an egg is stuck, it's behind the mass and I couldn't feel anything but the mass.

Assuming it's not an impacted crop, it sounds like peritonitis, or internal laying. You can try putting her on antibiotics, but I'm sorry to say it may have progressed too far to save her. Is she running a fever?

She was not running a fever.

Sounds like an impacted crop. How did you determine that the crop is empty? Or are you just assuming that's the case, since she is not eating now?

I picked her up, did an exam, and the crop was empty except for a few seeds and a little fluid.

Oh my I'm so sorry about your hen! How does a chicken get internal laying or crop disorders or cancerous tumors? Is there any way to successfully treat them? Maybe your hen still has a chance.... Be positive and hope for the best!

My vet said that this is very common in laying hens.

i think an impacted crop can be caused if a bird eats something like hay or straw or other fibrous material and it gets stuck in the crop. But internal laying and cancer are a few of the things that can happen to a chicken for no apparent reason. Not really any way to prevent them. i have had several hens die of cancer. The most marked sign is that they become very emaciated. i currently have a chicken who was just diagnosed with cancer. My vet took x-rays and saw the tumors. All you can do is keep them comfortable and make their last days as good as possible. i have my hen on pain meds - metacam. She probably doesn't have much longer.

Anyhow, to the OP, sub-q fluids and pain medication may help her be a little more comfortable. Please let us know how things go.

An impacted crop can also be caused by something further down the digestive tract that causes everything to stop moving, like tumor(s), fluid build-up, impacted gizzard, etc...

Sorry to hear about your hen and I hope her last days aren't too painful for either of you. For future reference, how much metacam do you give your hen?

Thanks again,
Kathy

 

[Enchanted Sunrise Farms]

i'm sorry about your hen, Kathy. Very kind of you to come back and answer questions. It's good to learn from other people's experiences, even if they are difficult ones.

My vet prescribed .15 mls of metacam for my sick silkie, but she is just barely over a pound in weight now. In general, for my normal size silkies who are 3-5 pounds, it's prescribed at around .4. So it sounds like .1 ml per pound of body weight. We use that for our ducks also, as my vet said that ducks are very sensitive to pain. It helped a lot when my Cayuga broke her leg. Then every so often when her old injury acts up and she starts limping again, i isolate her and give her metacam every day for a week and she's back to normal. It's pretty amazing stuff as it also helps with the inflammation. i have used the people version - meloxicam, for my arthritis.