Water Belly/Ascites/Heart Failure--is this the end?

[MotherClukr]

Hello fellow chicken tenders.

Our 2 year old Easter Egger has water belly/ascites. Looking back, I now realized that she had symptoms a couple months ago (stopped laying, feathers around her bum falling out, starting to walk funny), but I didn't realize something was wrong until a few days ago when I noticed her having trouble standing/walking. Sure enough, she has a massive water belly. While I know of it and its underlying issues (liver issue, heart failure, etc), this is the first time we've had it in our flock.

I've drained probably about 60-70mil from her over the past few days but she still feels a little squishy and bloated. I tried to see if I could get anymore out today, but I got very little and she even started bleeding a little, so I stopped. Despite removing so much, she seems even more lethargic. She's not standing, walking, roosting, eating,.or drinking. She is presently laying in the grass in the shade, not moving. I have the feeling that this is the end for her.

I suppose my question after all of that rambling: has anyone else had a hen give in and pass on so soon after draining hee water belly? I know her condition has provided her with a death warrant, but I was hoping to extend her life a little by making her comfortable. I feel guilty thinking that if I had been paying better attention early on, I could have helped her sooner and given her a little more time to live.

This is especially hard because we lost another hen a week ago to cancer. I was probably so focused on her that I missed our current situation

Thanks for reading!

 

[Wyorp Rock]

Hello fellow chicken tenders.

Our 2 year old Easter Egger has water belly/ascites. Looking back, I now realized that she had symptoms a couple months ago (stopped laying, feathers around her bum falling out, starting to walk funny), but I didn't realize something was wrong until a few days ago when I noticed her having trouble standing/walking. Sure enough, she has a massive water belly. While I know of it and it's underlying issues (liver issue, heart failure, etc), this is the first time we've had it in our flock.

I've drained probably about 60-70mil from her over the past few days but she still feels a little squishy and bloated. I tried to see if I could get anymore out today, but I got very little and she even started bleeding a little, so I stopped. Despite removing so much, she seems even more lethargic. She's not standing, waking, roosting, eating,.or drinking. She is presently laying in the grass in the shade, not moving. I have the feeling that this is the end for her.

I suppose my question after all of that rambling: has anyone else had a hen give in and pass on despite having her water belly drained? I know her condition has provided her with a death warrant, but I was hoping to extend her life a little by making her comfortable. I feel guilty thinking that if I had been paying better early on, I could have helped her sooner and given her a little more time to live.

This is especially hard because we lost another hen a week ago to cancer. I was probably so focused on her that I missed our current situation

Thanks for reading!

I'm sorry to hear about your hen.

Sometimes even with draining excess fluid, a hen may not be able to overcome whatever underlying condition that is causing the fluid.

It sounds like she's very ill and I'm sorry.