I wanted to share my story since there didn't seem to be many answers, just a lot of questions. Here is the data I can add to the thread.
My black sex link was two months shy of three years old. Before she got sick, she felt like she was a normal weight. After she got sick, she felt very solid and hefty for her size. She had not laid for at least a year and a half prior to her death. Also noteworthy, she had coccsidious when she about 16 weeks which was treated successfully with antibiotics but left her with usually loose stools. She had the poop streak down her booty but we would frequently clean her up and she didn't seem to mind.
Friday: Completely normal. No suspicion that anything was wrong.
Saturday: She was waddling and slightly pigeon toed but wandering about, pecking and foraging. I didn't see her drink water but I am presuming that she did since she was not acting out of the ordinary. I picked her up around noon and felt her bottom. It felt spongy but it wasn't red or swollen. I could feel her rib cage and the spongy feeling started seamlessly from where the rib cage ended to her vent. Her vent looked moist and she had the wet poop that she has had. I don't remember thinking there was anything abnormal about her poop (no yellow or unusual smell). I cleaned the wet poop off and I pet her for a bit and then let her run about. My daughter locked her up in the coop around 5 PM (when it getting dark) and she didn't notice anything amiss. Around midnight, I went to check on the girls and saw her laying in the sawdust on the ground which was very unusual for her. I picked her up and she had lots of liquid coming from her vent. I was using a flashlight but it looked like mostly white and clear liquid with light creamy yellow goo and brown poo crumbles mixed in. No sign of blood like when she had coccsidious. Most of it was absorbed into the shavings so it was hard to get an exact ratio. I cleaned her bum up and placed her in her preferred nesting box for the night. She felt very heavy and her bum was very spongy and swollen. The swelling fit neatly into my hand when I cupped it (so maybe baseball sized?). I didn't really want to smoosh her bum too much and it felt hot. Her skin did not look red by flash light. I placed her in head first which was the same position she was in when I came to check on her Sunday morning (unusual because she liked to poke her head out to check on the happenings in the world). I pet her a bit and stumbled across this post. None of the local vets who treat chickens were still open and none would be open on Sunday.
Sunday: Around 1000, I woke up and went to check on her. She was panting and breathing hard. She was sitting a sumo pose (like she was trying to pass an egg). She had more clear, light yellow, and white liquid coming out of her and no poop. I picked her up and she barely opened her eyes. She was too tired to hold her head up and just rested her head on my elbow. I brought her into the house and tried to do the warm water booty soak. Nothing really came out. I tried rubbing her from rib cage to the vent to try to stimulate pooping or clearing things out. Her vent was pulsating but nothing came out. All of a sudden, there was a bunch of yellow and clear fluid that came out of her vent, it smelled pretty awful and had a sulfur smell. When that happened she started to shake her head and tried to flap her wings. She passed away at 1132 while we were cleaning her bottom.
None of my other girls have swollen spongy bottoms and are behaving normally. Based on the research, I think she may have been laying internally? What makes me question this is that she has not laid for a long time and she has never laid a soft shelled egg. But the liquid that she passed immediately prior to passing away definitely smelled like sulfur and was yellow. Could she have been laying internally for 1.5 years and lived?
I'm just adding questions to this post, not answers. I was really hoping that she would make it to the vet on Monday. Around these parts, though, I think the vet would not operate just offer to put her down. Unfortunately, I don't have any answers and I off to go bury my girl.
My black sex link was two months shy of three years old. Before she got sick, she felt like she was a normal weight. After she got sick, she felt very solid and hefty for her size. She had not laid for at least a year and a half prior to her death. Also noteworthy, she had coccsidious when she about 16 weeks which was treated successfully with antibiotics but left her with usually loose stools. She had the poop streak down her booty but we would frequently clean her up and she didn't seem to mind.
Friday: Completely normal. No suspicion that anything was wrong.
Saturday: She was waddling and slightly pigeon toed but wandering about, pecking and foraging. I didn't see her drink water but I am presuming that she did since she was not acting out of the ordinary. I picked her up around noon and felt her bottom. It felt spongy but it wasn't red or swollen. I could feel her rib cage and the spongy feeling started seamlessly from where the rib cage ended to her vent. Her vent looked moist and she had the wet poop that she has had. I don't remember thinking there was anything abnormal about her poop (no yellow or unusual smell). I cleaned the wet poop off and I pet her for a bit and then let her run about. My daughter locked her up in the coop around 5 PM (when it getting dark) and she didn't notice anything amiss. Around midnight, I went to check on the girls and saw her laying in the sawdust on the ground which was very unusual for her. I picked her up and she had lots of liquid coming from her vent. I was using a flashlight but it looked like mostly white and clear liquid with light creamy yellow goo and brown poo crumbles mixed in. No sign of blood like when she had coccsidious. Most of it was absorbed into the shavings so it was hard to get an exact ratio. I cleaned her bum up and placed her in her preferred nesting box for the night. She felt very heavy and her bum was very spongy and swollen. The swelling fit neatly into my hand when I cupped it (so maybe baseball sized?). I didn't really want to smoosh her bum too much and it felt hot. Her skin did not look red by flash light. I placed her in head first which was the same position she was in when I came to check on her Sunday morning (unusual because she liked to poke her head out to check on the happenings in the world). I pet her a bit and stumbled across this post. None of the local vets who treat chickens were still open and none would be open on Sunday.
Sunday: Around 1000, I woke up and went to check on her. She was panting and breathing hard. She was sitting a sumo pose (like she was trying to pass an egg). She had more clear, light yellow, and white liquid coming out of her and no poop. I picked her up and she barely opened her eyes. She was too tired to hold her head up and just rested her head on my elbow. I brought her into the house and tried to do the warm water booty soak. Nothing really came out. I tried rubbing her from rib cage to the vent to try to stimulate pooping or clearing things out. Her vent was pulsating but nothing came out. All of a sudden, there was a bunch of yellow and clear fluid that came out of her vent, it smelled pretty awful and had a sulfur smell. When that happened she started to shake her head and tried to flap her wings. She passed away at 1132 while we were cleaning her bottom.
None of my other girls have swollen spongy bottoms and are behaving normally. Based on the research, I think she may have been laying internally? What makes me question this is that she has not laid for a long time and she has never laid a soft shelled egg. But the liquid that she passed immediately prior to passing away definitely smelled like sulfur and was yellow. Could she have been laying internally for 1.5 years and lived?
I'm just adding questions to this post, not answers. I was really hoping that she would make it to the vet on Monday. Around these parts, though, I think the vet would not operate just offer to put her down. Unfortunately, I don't have any answers and I off to go bury my girl.
