Water Belly, I think....?

[TJAnonymous]

I have yet ANOTHER hen with suspected water belly. This one is a 2 yr old Rhode Island White. I noticed she has been very lethargic and not wanting to eat. Sitting by herself most of the time and not really wanting to walk either....although when she does walk, it appears normal, if slow. I finally managed to capture her today.

Her belly from the legs to vent feels like a squishy water balloon. Her skin is very red. She had a lot of poop stuck to her behind. It looked normal, if sticky. I gave her a warm bath and then used a syringe to pull 5 cc/ml of yellow fluid from her belly. I tried to pull more but could get nothing.

I know water belly is fatal. Does this sound like water belly or possibly something else? Other than NutriDrench, I haven't given her any antibiotics yet. Just looking for some insight....

Side note to Mods: Would be awesome if we had a Wiki/Dictionary for recurring topics like this. Our resident wise elders could put their knowledge out there, along with pictures. I've culled through dozens of topics from the search engine but it's still like looking for a needle in a haystack.

@azygous
@Eggcessive

I know you both have posted about this frequently. If it is egg peritonitis (given that she's so young), would the water belly caused by that be curable with antibiotics?

 

[TJAnonymous]

Here's her poop.... Very yellow

 

[Eggcessive]

I am no expert on water belly but, I have had some with it. Is the liquid on the pad more fluid that drained after you took out the needle, or is that part of the poop? It looks like bile either way, and the yellow urates is typical of liver disease and water belly. Water belly is found in fatty liver disease, egg yolk peritonitis/coelomitis, cancer, and heart failure, especially in meat birds. Giving an antibiotic such as amoxicillin or enrofloxacin could possibly help if it is early. You can get enrofloxacin 10 mg tablets from jedds.com. Dosage is 10 mg per kilogram (every 2.2 pounds) orally twice a day for 5 days. It is not approved for chickens, and has a long egg withdrawal time. Amoxicillin full strength is hard to get without a vet nowadays.

 

[TJAnonymous]

I believe I have Amoxicillan for people... Will that work?

The pad is fully soaked now with yellow liquid. I really think it's from her poop. I couldn't leave the needle in to drain because the type I have doesn't screw on. It's attached to the syringe. So unless it just leaked out of the 2 punctures I made to try to drain her earlier, it's not the source. But given there's solid stool on the pad too, I really think it's from the poop instead of drainage.

I try really hard not to overfeed and my birds free range almost every day so I can't imagine it's fatty liver disease. Egg peritonitis seems the most likely to me, given her age... I have so many hens that there's no way for me to know when she stopped laying.

I know water belly is usually fatal. Just wondering if it is curable with antibiotics if the cause is from a secondary infection?

I will try to drain her belly more in the morning. She does appear to be eating and drinking. Normal breathing too...

 

[TJAnonymous]

So I've changed my opinion. She may have drained from the puncture wounds caused by the syringe. Her belly is far less swollen today. Plus her feathers were soaked with yellow fluid from her legs, all along her belly, and back. Granted, she could have gotten wet from laying on the soaked puppy pad but seemed to be wet even beyond where she would have been touching the ground. I did give her an Epsom salt bath to try to keep her clean.

I did not attempt any punctures today. But I did give her 500 mg of Amoxicillan.

There is a clear change in the color of her skin along the belly. It starts between her legs and changes to neon pink by the time it gets to her vent. I tried my best to get pictures.

 

[TJAnonymous]

I also ordered some milk thistle to help repair any liver damage

 

[TJAnonymous]

No one has any thoughts, suggestions, or experience with this?

 

[Strawberry74]

Good morning, I'm sorry this is happening with your hen. I'll tell you my experience with water belly on a Barred Rock Hen several years ago. When she first developed it I did my research and I decided I was going to give her a shot and give her some relief. I did as you did and drained the belly. I did read that you should not drain more than 120 cc's in one sitting, depending how full she is. It can cause shock to the body. Anyway, she did great after I drained it and went on about normal chicken activities aside from never laying again. Every few months I would notice her swelling up again and we repeated the process. She lived over 2 years on that regimen. And yes, you are correct they do continue to drain where you inserted the needle for a while afterwards. I used a large luer lock syringe that could hold 20cc and a larger guage needle. I would insert the needle into the abdomen and slowly draw out the fluid. Then leaving the needle in I would unlock the syringe and dump it and lock it back in and get more fluid so I didn't have to continually poke her each time.

 

[Strawberry74]

I have no experience having used antibiotics with her so I can't speak to that. My girl's belly skin was also very reddish pink in color and I assume was from being so full and stretched from the full belly.

 

[TJAnonymous]

Thank you @Strawberry74 ! I appreciate your feedback... It is very helpful.

The first day I drained her (5 cc), she completely soaked the puppy pad afterwards. Yesterday I did not try to puncture or drain her because her belly seemed back to normal.

This morning I checked on her and she has some soaking of the puppy pad directly beneath her but nothing like before...

I am giving her 5 full days of Amoxicillan to treat any internal infection. Currently on Day 2. I'm going to monitor her belly in the quarantine cage during that time before deciding whether to release her back in the coop. I want to ensure her punctures remain clean and close up before putting her back outside again.