Walking Like a Penguin but no egg stuck in vent

[Fox Beater]

Today my 12 month old Wyandotte came down unwell - swollen abdomen, moving and standing in an upright posture, like a penguin. Comb and eyes look fine. One bowel motion in five hours bit dry but no blood and not runny, and has only drunk sparingly. There is no egg inside the vent which I checked (with lubricated and gloved index finger). She has had a long warm soak. The local poultry vet is on holidays for a week so i would welcome any cunning treatment ideas.

 

[Eggcessive]

Welcome to BYC. It sounds a bit like a reproductive problem such as internal laying, egg yolk peritonitis, ascites, or salpingitis. Other than antibiotics and supportive care, there may not be a good treatment. I would still watch for possible egg binding, in case an egg is higher up that you cannot feel. Is her lower abdomen swollen and tight as is there is fluid inside? Or is it just fuller and spongy? Is she having laored breathing? Here is some reading, and I hope that your vet can help:
http://www.chickenvet.co.uk/health-and-common-diseases/egg-laying-issues/index.aspx
http://scoopfromthecoop.nutrenaworld.com/tag/laying-issues/
https://www.backyardchickens.com/t/526089/egg-yolk-peritonitis

 

[Fox Beater]

Thanks for replying. Her lower abdomen is soft and spongy and there is no labored breathing. I have her to the vet today.

 

[Fox Beater]

The vet confirmed not egg bound, she thinks bacterial infection in gut, possibly due to taking up a yolk - possibly another cause. She has been prescribed oral Baytril twice daily for 7 days which I see on your site is the brand name for enrofloxacin. The vet has also done a preventative broad spectrum worming of my Wyandotte and the whole flock (that's the other 6!). I see on BY chickens that the prognosis is very poor but it's been a huger learning curve. The long warm soak did wonders at moving her bowls though, she emptied out a lot of loose stools a few hours later and the swollen gut reduced by more than half. I'll let you know if she makes it / the antibiotics work.

 

[Rewster]

Sorry to hear about your chicken's problem. It's always hard to see them in discomfort. At least you are lucky enough to
have a veterinarian that sees chickens. I live in a large rural farming community and there are no vets available to help
in a situation such as that. I have BYC and the internet to try and self diagnose and treat.

Hope your girl gets well. Let us know.

 

[Fox Beater]

Thanks. After 48 hours of illness she laid a nicely formed egg - so not eggbound at all. After 36 hours on antibiotics only minimal improvement - fingers still crossed.

 

[Eggcessive]

Thank you for the update, and I'm glad that you are getting her good treatment and antibiotics. Hoping that she improves soon.

 

[Fox Beater]

Very unusual - almost 2 weeks and still only small improvements day by day. Still having trouble walking, still adopting penguin stance, still spending most days sitting in one spot foraging without using legs, still laying a well formed egg every two days without trouble. Finished antibiotics which never yielded a quick improvement which left me thinking not an infection; more likely a parasite or viral? Also finished broad spectrum worming - droppings fairly normal during worming but at end went 'runny white liquid' and now have gone 'huge, loose, green, foamy and stinking'. I am contemplating a second worming/parasite run with another product. Thoughts and advice welcomed.

 

[Fox Beater]

I have just had to cull my beautiful Golden Wyandotte hen this evening after a full month of attempting to heal her. Not antibiotics, not worming, not warm baths, not probiotics, not seaweed vitamin supplements helped. She became our pet, because she no longer scratched she was given full access to the garden. She would happily sit as close as she could to the other hens on the other side of the wire and chip away at the grass. It has been over a month now and after some intial thoughts she might be trending upwards we had to accept she was in a slow decline. Through this who period she has continued to lay eggs every two days and with a few exceptions has had normal stools. Today her vent/intestines prolapsed so that a small soft shell was ejected along with 10 cm of innards. She looked miserable and we finally despatched her. I noticed this morning she was twitching her left leg upwards, as though to scratch her face, but she could not get it more than a few cm off the ground. I see in other blogs they talked off puffy abdomens filled with fluid that they used needle/syringes to extract with positive outcomes. I see blogs about Mareks viral infection - but she doesn't seem to fit neatly in there. I wish I knew how to have successfully treated the issue!!!!!! Thanks everyone for advice throughout - it was much appreciated.

 

[fischnchix]

Sorry for your loss. I'm trying to figure out how to deal with a similar hen of mine. First time I've seen this type of thing before. Felt around her abdomen and it feels like fluid. Not sure what egg bound would feel like. I'll give her a warm soak in a dish pan and check her vent as you did.