Hen with Swollen Abdomen

[Happy Chooks]

It's great that you have someone willing to come and look for you. Good luck with your hen.

 

[OvertheHenHouse]

Sure wish I had a vet living next door

Good luck - I hope Magrat continues to do well for a long time!

 

[DraigAthar]

Well, the hen's abdomen is gradually getting larger. I felt it last night and it's definitely a hard mass in there somewhere. The neighbor offered to take her in to work this weekend and do an x-ray, to see if it tells us anything. Normally I wouldn't want to pay that much for veterinary intervention for a chicken, but the neighbor seems to be willing to do it for minimal reimbursement so I said sure. I think she has a medical curiosity to see if she can figure out just what the heck it is in there, even if it might not tell us any way to treat the hen. So cross your fingers.

Amy

 

[Happy Chooks]

Good luck!

 

[DraigAthar]

Today was Magrat's trip to the office for an x-ray, Meg bright me copies of the radiograph. I'd post them if I could figure out how to get a good scan of them. They didn't really reveal anything helpful, just that the mass is the density of soft tissue. So it could be a tumor, a cyst, a walled off infection, etc. But it's not fluid (at least, not ONLY fluid). It's also nowhere in or near her oviduct, so it's not blocking anything yet. In fact, it's pretty superficial, like it's not that far beneath the skin. Meg tried to aspirate it but nothing came out.

So no news really, I guess I just have to wait and see what happens. Until Magrat starts actually acting like she is sick, we'll just leave her with the rest of the flock and keep an eye on her.

Amy

 

[DraigAthar]

I finally took a photo of Magrat's lump. I figured I'd keep documenting this in case it helps anyone else in the future. She's still behaving normally, though the lump gradually gets bigger. It was a cold morning when I took this photo, so she's pretty puffy, but you can still see how the lump sticks out among the feathers.

Amy

 

[ninabeast]

Fascinating. Thanks for posting. And thanks southerndesert; I've made a doc of your post and placed it in my chicken file for future reference...

 

[DraigAthar]

It's been a month now since I first noticed this, so here's an update. Magrat is still behaving mostly normally as far as I can tell, though I don't spend as much time outside with the chickens since the weather is getting pretty cold. The lump seems about the same size as in the photo, or a maybe a little bit bigger. I believe she has stopped laying (she lays a medium-brown egg with little tiny speckles on the big end, and I haven't seen any eggs like that for a while, nor have I seen her in the nest box in a couple of weeks), but that could be winter as much as anything else. She might be starting a molt or something. Still, if she doesn't start laying again in the spring I'll know something is really wrong. But she is eating and running about like normal, and she is maintaining her place in the peck order.

Amy

 

[Happy Chooks]

Glad she's still doing okay.

 

[Michie]

2 days ago I noticed this in my 18month hen, shes still laying, acting normal etc.....Keep us posted. I actually suspect that mine has a tumor of some sort, but since there is no change in behavior I am going to let her enjoy life until I see signs of illness or pain. Good Luck to you!