Water belly draining - need tips on inserting needle

[socalchickens76]

Hello,

I believe my 6 year old Easter Egger has water belly and so I bought an 18 gauge needle and 30 ml syringe to attempt a belly drain. I've never poked my chickens with a needle so I was pretty hesitant. Needless to say, I was not successful. I think I was going too slowly and she flinched pretty bad. I ended up just nicking the skin and a little bit of blood came out. I was going slowly so that I wouldn't insert the needle too deep.

I know that I should probably insert it much more quickly to minimize the pain. Any tips you can share with a newbie? I was thinking of maybe getting a numbing cream (without lidocaine). Or what about a smaller needle? The 18 gauge seems like such a thick needle.

Thanks!

 

[DonyaQuick]

Abdominal swelling can also be caused by other things (ovarian cyst, tumor, etc.), in which case nothing will come out with the needle. If it really is watr belly and you inserted in the correct place (about 1-2 inches down from the vent and over to the chicken's right side) then liquid will start coming out as soon as the needle is barely in there. I had to do this recently on a hen and was honestly surprised at how little the needle had to go in for fluid to start draining, and there was zero blood. I found watching videos of people performing the procedure on youtube to be most useful in prep for that. I did not use a syringe; I found those big ones too stiff to move the plunger and therefore too hard to control, so I just used the needle and let it drain on its own.

 

[socalchickens76]

Thanks. Today was my first attempt and I barely nicked the skin. I never really punctured through. I was too scared to press any harder. I watched lots of videos and they make it look so easy haha I ordered a smaller needle (20g) to see if I have an easier time inserting it.

 

[DonyaQuick]

I would stick to 18ga if you have that now! It's important that the diameter be big enough to deal with the viscosity of the fluid, otherwise it can fail to drain properly.