Weird large bump on my hens belly

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Chicken Whisperers

Chicken Whisperers

Songster
6 Years
Jun 29, 2018
313
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Meridian Idaho
So I saw something on BYC about a swollen abdomen and realized that one of my chickens has one. At the time I noticed her swollen belly, I did not know and figured it might just be an egg. Turns out it's waterbelly, and I saw a video about draining the ascites. We do not have any supplies or experience to do this. Since I first noticed the bump about a month ago, I am worried that she doesn't have long to live. She is loosing lots of feathers right now, and her breath is really stinky. Just wondering if this has anything to do with it. She is a Buff Brahma and is seven years old. I don't know what I can do to help her. Any advice is welcome.

Thank you!!
 
Chicken Whisperers said:
So I saw something on BYC about a swollen abdomen and realized that one of my chickens has one. At the time I noticed her swollen belly, I did not know and figured it might just be an egg. Turns out it's waterbelly, and I saw a video about draining the ascites. We do not have any supplies or experience to do this. Since I first noticed the bump about a month ago, I am worried that she doesn't have long to live. She is loosing lots of feathers right now, and her breath is really stinky. Just wondering if this has anything to do with it. She is a Buff Brahma and is seven years old. I don't know what I can do to help her. Any advice is welcome.

Thank you!!
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It would be in your best interest to cull her unless you want to drain fluid from her belly often. I wish you the best.
 
The chances are that whatever is causing the ascites or maybe even the build up of fluid itself is putting pressure on her gut and slowing or stopping the passage of waste..... what does her poop look like. Sometimes it becomes just white watery urates from the kidneys if her gut is completely blocked. The crop then becomes slow and sour because of the gut being backed up and death is usually not far away at that point. If she is no longer interested in food then that would be the point at which to end her suffering. If you or a vet are able to drain her then she may rally for a while but you are at best only buying her time and the cost of a veterinary visit may not be justifiable (if you can find one to treat a chicken) for the slight benefit you may or may not gain in terms of a few more weeks or months. She could die from the shock of being drained as it can cause a significant pressure drop in the body so probably not worth the money for professional treatment but may be worth having a go at home. The key is a very short thick needle (16 or ideally 14 gauge) inserted into the lowest part of the abdomen and make sure to clean the site first to prevent the introduction of infection into the abdominal cavity.
 
As @rebrascora and @dawg53 have pointed out, your hen likely has liver disease, either fatty liver or tumors. The liver isn't functioning as it should, so fluid is building up in her abdominal area. Yes, it can be drained, but you risk starting an infection if you don't know what you're doing. (I'm guilty of that.)

She also likely is suffering from sour crop, another side effect of a declining immune system. You can treat the sour crop, but there's a chance she hasn't got the reserves to prevent it from coming right back.

I hate to be such a downer, but her age and the symptoms tell me this hen likely is more a candidate for compassionate euthanasia than a long, involved effort of treatment that would only buy her a little bit more time. There's no cure for liver disease.
 
I did notice she has lost an appetite. I was out there the other day giving the chickens my leftover bagel, and I held a piece out to her and she pecked it, then dropped it and walked away. I haven't noticed anything weird with her crop, but what about the feather loss? Hens don't usually molt in early summer, do they? I thought it was in fall. I will go watch her and find out what her droppings look like.
 
Where is the feather loss? Can you post a photo of her? If it is her belly she has either plucked them due to irritation or they have worn off by rubbing on the roost at night. The stinky breath is most likely sour crop from her digestive tract slowing down. You need to check her crop at night and then remove access to food and check again first thing in the morning. If her crop is not empty, then her digestive system is most likely blocked or flow is restricted and together with the bloated abdomen I would say it is time to end it for her.
Is her butt soiled?
 
Ok what the heck she just tried to get on another hens back. She's acting sooo weird. It looked like she was trying to mate but we are positive she's a hen. She never crowed, has no sickle feathers, used to lay eggs, I am so confused
 

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