- Mar 30, 2011
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My Red Sex Link hen, "Henny-Honey," went to see her vet today. He couldn't feel any more fluid build-up in her abdomen, amazinly! Last May she had had significant fluid build-up from internal egg laying, with respiratory distress from the fluid pressing on her lungs and heart, but now her Ascites seems to be gone! Back in May he said she had about 2 weeks to live without the hormone injection implant therapy. I think it is because I detected her problem early enough, before it had time to get too bad, that she has done so well. It has been 4 months since her first lupron-type hormone injection. which stopped her egg laying and respiratory distress and cleaned out the fluid build-up. He could see no sign of mites. I asked him whether minced garlic in her water and scrambled eggs can repel mites, and he said he did not know, but whatever I am doing, to keep it up, because Henny-Honey is the picture of health and happiness. I asked how long he thinks she will live, and he said, "Probably 80 or 90 years." He added that no one knows how long she will live, but that we can operate and proceed on the idea that she is going to live that long. He thought she should get a second hormone injection today, and that I won't need to bring her back in until early next summer, if she needs one then. He taught me how to feel for abdominal fluid by showing me where her keel is (a distinctively bony projection) and how to follow it to her vent. If it's squishy or meaty in that area, there is a problem. He said I should start checking this area on her in March - June of next year. Do you suppose Henny-Honey didn't really need this second injection? But at least I don't have to worry about catching her every so often and stressing her, to check her abdomen, and if she did have fluid build up in the cold winter months ahead, she might have gotten sicker more quickly than in the summer (with our nasty air inversions here and higher coop humidity due to snow)? Or do you think she would not have needed the hormone injection, since I don't use any artificial light in my coop in the winter and my hens stop laying as the days get shorter? A few times, though, a hen HAS laid in early December and usually most of the younger hens start laying in mid to late January, so this second shot should be good through those months, to prevent her from laying and having problems while I'm away on Christmas vacation. I'm sure no one here would take her to the vet then for me, so at least the shot buys me some peace of mind? Initially I was told she might need the hormone injections every month, as they wear off. But then they said every 3 months. But I brought her in today (Tuesday will make 4 months since she had her first hormone injection), and they saw no sign of fluid build-up. I have read that each injection lasts about 4-6 months, before it wears off, dependent upon the chicken and how bad she was at the time you brought her in, and how her body adapts to the hormone. The treatment costs $199.00 each time, plus the $50.00 office visit. I have read some people get the injections on an ongoing permanent basis so as to prevent the possibility of one's hen getting an oviduct infection from trying to lay an egg that goes bad inside her. I'm trying to justify the expense of this second treatment. She's a beloved pet. All other thoughts and feedback will be appreciated. Do you think I wasted my money? Can you think of reasons the doc would have wanted the 2d injection (maybe to give her body more time to rest before going into egg production in the spring)? He said at one point she might start to lay normally again in the future. If we should have Indian Summer temperatures here in November, say, maybe he was afraid she'd start laying again, and I might not know it, and she might fill up with fluid and I might wait too long to bring her in, and it might be harder to treat in the winter months, after the hormone had totally worn off from the first shot? Perhaps it is best to keep her hormone level up and not let it go all the way down before giving a second injection? If the first injection hasn't fully worn off yet, I sure hope this second injection on top of it can't hurt her? She seems just fine tonight. What does everyone think? How long have these hormone injections lasted for your hens, months-wise? How many separate injection implants have you given an individual hen, and were they all back-to-back, spaced so many months apart? Has anyone gotten by on just one hormone injection implant, and if so, what time of year was it administered to your hen? Has anyone seen a hen have just one or two hormone injection implants and then return to laying with no more problems?
