WendyTestaburger
Songster
I'm looking for advice on how to proceed. We have a 1.5 year old Barred Rock hen named Jazz. I took her in to the vet today for what I assumed was water belly. When the vet tried to drain fluid they kept getting blood so they stopped and did an ultrasound. The vet showed me a picture of what looks like a soft shelled egg in her abdomen which is causing the swelling.
Jazz is underweight but not so much that the vet was concerned. She is behaving normally and eating just as much as the others. The only way I noticed her swelling abdomen was because our other barred rock was just diagnosed with water belly and the vet said I could compare her to the other birds, which is when I discovered Jazz had a similar feeling belly.
They did do a fecal test and found no parasites, they said she had more good bacteria than bad. We were sent home with an antibiotic, anti-inflammatory, and a probiotic. I was told they can do a hormonal implant to stop her from laying anymore internal eggs.
The puzzling thing is I believe Jazz is still laying normal eggs as recently as yesterday. No wrinkles or soft shells. I have her in the garage hospital to see if she does indeed lay an egg in the next few days because the vet said if she's internally laying she shouldn't be laying normal eggs.
I'm trying to decide if the internal egg is a one time thing or if we should go ahead and do the implant even if she is laying normal eggs. Or perhaps get a second opinion to see if it's a tumor or a cyst. The vet said that it's not near any internal organs so she doesn't believe it could be a cyst.
Any advice would be helpful, we keep the chickens as pets so it wouldn't be a problem if we need to do the implant, just expensive. TIA
Jazz is underweight but not so much that the vet was concerned. She is behaving normally and eating just as much as the others. The only way I noticed her swelling abdomen was because our other barred rock was just diagnosed with water belly and the vet said I could compare her to the other birds, which is when I discovered Jazz had a similar feeling belly.
They did do a fecal test and found no parasites, they said she had more good bacteria than bad. We were sent home with an antibiotic, anti-inflammatory, and a probiotic. I was told they can do a hormonal implant to stop her from laying anymore internal eggs.
The puzzling thing is I believe Jazz is still laying normal eggs as recently as yesterday. No wrinkles or soft shells. I have her in the garage hospital to see if she does indeed lay an egg in the next few days because the vet said if she's internally laying she shouldn't be laying normal eggs.
I'm trying to decide if the internal egg is a one time thing or if we should go ahead and do the implant even if she is laying normal eggs. Or perhaps get a second opinion to see if it's a tumor or a cyst. The vet said that it's not near any internal organs so she doesn't believe it could be a cyst.
Any advice would be helpful, we keep the chickens as pets so it wouldn't be a problem if we need to do the implant, just expensive. TIA