Abdominal Cyst??

[EdnaAndEdith]

Hello, we recently rescued fourteen hens from a commercial egg farm situation. All had scaly leg mites (treated now), almost all had diarrhea (dewormed multiple times now). All were severely underweight and five were acting sickly at first. That was a month ago. All are starting to put weight on, Two have seemed to recover, and one passed away. One has very subtle symptoms and other than being slightly slower and more lethargic than the rest, and having some residual diarrhea seems to be mending as well. Just a bit more slowly than everyone else. One of the five passed away on Saturday of what appeared to be pneumonia (or some other respiratory complication where she had thick yellowish discharge around her trachea). Which leads me to our remaining sick girl, who I’m calling Nona (because she has None-of-a tail)

Nona has been lethargic since she arrived home and has been fluffed up. She hasn’t eaten as excitedly as the rest but had been eating until a few days ago. Friday I found her looking far more down than usual and she was very wet (as if she had just sat down in the rain instead of trying to find shelter). She had a poopy butt and when she came inside in the evening she jumped immediately into nest box and started pushing. I thought maybe she just was having a hard time with laying an egg (all of these rescues lay the largest eggs I have ever seen). So I watched her for a bit and she settled into the nest box comfortably. I left her alone for the night and the next morning there was an egg where she’d been laying. I thought (now I know: wrongly thought) that her problem was resolved and she’d go back to her normal. She was standing with the others in the morning and I rushed off to work. That evening, I went to check in with all of them and Nona was really fluffed up and laying down awkwardly by herself. Her eyes were droopy and she looked very poor. When she saw I was watching her she stood up and “pretended” to be normal. She had stopped eating all together.

Upon exam, she had a firm, golf ball sized lump just under her vent. I felt gently inside her vent with a lubed, gloved finger and didn’t feel anything. Her skin in that area was really red and warm.

I gave her some Baytril thinking it could be an infection and soaked her in case it was still a stuck egg and applied a generous amount of lube around her vent just in case. I also started tube feeding Nona with an avian recovery diet.

We did two days of Baytril and she wasn’t improving and still wasn’t eating on her own.

I decided to try to aspirate the lump in case it was an ovarian cyst and what I got out was quite surprising and I’m not sure what to make of it. The solid material pictured here is very thick (think caseous pus), but has zero odor. The liquid is highly orange tinged. As I aspirated the “mass” shrunk and I wasn’t able to isolate it with my fingers to drain it all the way as it “sank” back into the abdomen and was no longer right against the skin. I didn’t want to risk hurting her so I left it at that. I only got about 4.5ml of material but the lump shrunk quite a bit.

Has anyone seen this before? Any ideas what it could be? I’m hoping at very least she gets some relief. A cure would be great, but I know these rescues were not the healthiest to begin with so my goal is just to give them the best possible quality of life they can have for as long as possible… after coming from a commercial farm, they deserve at least that.

Thank you in advance for any help you can offer.

 

[Wyorp Rock]

Upon exam, she had a firm, golf ball sized lump just under her vent.

I decided to try to aspirate the lump in case it was an ovarian cyst

Cystic Oviduct, generally the fluid will usually be clear.
The exudes you withdrew remind me of EYP, perhaps material from Salpingitis or internal laying.
Sadly, it doesn't look very promising. If she's perked up with the draining, then that may make her more comfortable for a period of time.

It's unfortunate, but reproductive disorders are common in laying hens.
If you lose her and wish to know more about what you were drawing out, sending the body to your state lab will give you the most answers. Opening up a hen and take a look for yourself can also shed light on what's happened, it's not the easiest thing to do sometimes, but it can be educational to actually see and then start putting symptoms with what is seen, helps you in the future when determining when it's time to let one go and what may or may not help as far as treatment/supportive care goes.


https://www.slideshare.net/VETIDEA/infectious-bronchitis-in-laying-hens-chickens

https://www.backyardchickens.com/threads/found-dead-hen-very-graphic-necropsy-photos.766834/

Cancers...
https://www.backyardchickens.com/th...omas-in-laying-hens-graphic-pictures.1064118/

https://www.backyardchickens.com/threads/fluid-in-belly-with-egg-floating.1202391/post-19083947

 

[EdnaAndEdith]

Thank you for the information! I certainly understand the likelihood that what we’re dealing with is terminal reproductive issues of some sort or another.

This was unlike any other episode of ascites, EYP, or other cancers that I have seen that’s why I wondered if it was some sort of cyst. I’ve never had one of the clear cysts of the oviduct before but this certainly didn’t match that description either.

She did perk up a little after the draining last night and this evening made me run around the pen several times to try to catch her prior to me getting smart enough to turn off the light on her. I did tube feed her but she had some food and water on her beak and in her crop indicating she had some appetite today which I take as a good sign.

I can still feel the lump and it hasn’t shrunk, grown, or moved at all. Her skin is still very red on her abdomen. If she continues to feel better I might be inclined to try to drain the rest of whatever that junk is out of it if possible…?

I want her comfortable most of all and she seemed less fluffed and more feisty today. Which I’m crossing my fingers is a good sign. If she does pass from this (either by nature or by humane euthanasia when suffering outweighs the good days) then I’ll consider doing a necropsy. I’ve never been able to do one on my own before but I’ve done it on others. But these girls have a complex history and poor overall care for their lives. It would be valuable to have the knowledge of what it is/was.

Again. Thanks for the help! Any other ideas or similar situations would be helpful for me to learn from, I’d love to hear them!

 

[Wyorp Rock]

I'm glad she's perked up a little!

Draining again may be beneficial, it's so hard to know. You can try to see if you can get more out, if nothing else, reducing the fluid may make her feel better for a time.

It really stinks that these hens have such problems. It's not just exclusive to Ex Batts or rescues, it seems to be pretty much across the board with most hens as they age.

 

[EdnaAndEdith]

Very true indeed. And so sad. At least she has been able to feel grass beneath her feet for a short while.

Praise the Lord for today because Nona had a full crop at bedtime and was energetically running away from me like I was playing “tag- you're it!” to avoid evening meds.

They all have learned to love their life of freedom. And watching them enjoy simple things like following the roosters around to get special worm treats and doing dust baths and racing to the door every morning to see who gets to be first outside… even one day of that compared to their previous life is worth all of the sad, hard, and expensive diseases and management of horrible reproductive problems. We’ll keep doing the best we can for her and the rest. Thank you for your support and help, Wyorp Rock!