My 2 yr. old Delaware White began doing a sort of squatty duck walk so I thought she was egg bound. Someone suggested KY jelly in the vent so I use d a syringe and inserted about 11 cc's. She tolerated it o.k. but then didn't look so good. So I put warm compresses on her bottom and massaged it with Vitamin E oil. she seemed o.k. for a few minutes but then "dropped dead". I wanted to know what happened so I took her to a friend who opened her up from the vent. About 1 qt. of clear yellow liquid shot out and we didn't see any eggs in the cavity. Did I do wrong, could she still have been egg bound, could it have been impacted crop? What was athe clear yellow fluid? and where did it come from?
doesn't sound like she was egg bound. was she walking like that all the time or only when you would get close to her? I don't know about putting the lube inside the vent, I would have just done the warm water and oil massage on the outside of the vent. I don't think the KY killed her but it's pretty weird that she just died. did she have any other symptoms?
Fluid filled abdomen is indicative of peritonitis or ascites. So either an infection or heart/liver failure. You found no evidence of of internal laying or any broken eggs in her body cavity? It almost sounds like she may have had EYP (egg yolk peritonitis). Was her liver fatty? If it looked normal then I would guess her heart could have been the problem. Heart problems are not unheard of in chickens, either. Either way- keep an eye on the rest of the flock to make sure she didn't have anything contagious (which I doubt). Sorry you lost her. Unexpected deaths are never easy. Good luck. And I wish it had been under better circumstances.
