Health question...

[TomK]

Hi folks...been here for a while and rarely have had the need to ask for asistance, not because i know it all, I hardly know anything, but i have been incredibly lucky i guess...but i have a 4 year okd 'Rock' at is lethagic and has a what seems to be swollen lower abdominal region...i have no idea what this might be..egg bound????....she walks around slowly so is in some discomfort i think...i dont want her to suffer but i am fully expecting to find her dead soon...any ideas?

[Killerbunny]

Possibly ascites it can occur in mature hens. I had one swell up like that once. Not much you can do. Does it smell? If so it might be egg peritonitis. If you suspect egg binding give her a warm Epsom salts bath and feel for an egg, this is usually when you find you are out of gloves. Good luck.

[windwalkingwolf]

Was she bought from a hatchery as a ready-to-lay pullet?

[TomK]

Was she bought from a hatchery as a ready-to-lay pullet?

No Jan...she was a hatchery bird but got as a day old...

[WLLady]

is she standing very vertically? walking like a penguin? if so she is egg bound and a nice warm soak should help relax the tendons and muscles to let it pass. if the swelling is more under the vent and around towards the front in the meat crosses it's very common to get ascites. the abdomen feels like an overfilled water balloon. and unfortunately there's nothing you can do for them. sometimes it can be drained using a needle and syringe, but it will come back.

[Killerbunny]

Internal laying is what I was thinking? Sometimes they pick up Infectious bronchitis as a chick at a very low level and it causes no problems for years, then this can happen due to ovary damage. I had this happen in a RTL hatchery bird when she was 2. I drained a couple of times and got clear straw coloured fluid but it always came back. I put her down in the end.

[windwalkingwolf]

Start with the easy stuff...a nice long warm soak in Epsom salt bath and a check for a stuck egg as already mentioned, then put her in a covered crate or another dim place so she's not producing eggs and so you can check her eating and drinking habits and her for clues. Does she have messy sticky diarrhea? What colour is her poo? Is her keel prominent even though she's heavy?
If it's a stuck egg or a bowel impaction, calcium and magnesium can help move things along.

[KimChick]

All this sounds familiar.
One of my BSL's was lethargic, her tail was down, and she had runny, yellow poo. She was eating and drinking, so I kept a watch on her. One day, I had to pick her up to put her back in the pen, and she felt like a heavy-weight, not at all like the skinny, prolific egg-layer that she used to be.
So, I cut back a bit on the amount of food I put out, and stopped including meal worms with the bit of midday scratch.
Her poo is now normal, and her tail is up.