"Water Belly" in Chickens

On Monday I brought my hen, Marlee, into the house because she was looking poorly.  Her comb was flopped over and her crop was full and squishy.  Checking her over a little more, I realized she had a big, soft belly.  I gently checked around, seeing if I could feel an egg that might be stuck.  There was nothing - just a squishy belly - I was more concerned about the belly, I've dealt with crop issues before but never belly issues.

By Tuesday morning she was still the same.  So I gave her an epsom salt soak, hoping that would make her feel better; and if there was a stuck egg, I'd heard that the soak would help.  Nothing.

Today I decided she must have "water belly", ascites.  I read everything I could about it (still reading).  I read about and watched videos of people who had drained the fluid from the water belly.  The fluid build up presses on the internal organs, making eating and breathing difficult.  I could drain the fluid - I could definitely do it - there was no time to get a vet appointment.  Besides, farm people doctor their animals all the time.  This was something I could do.

I still had many 18 gauge needles left over from when I was having to give my cat subcutaneous fluids (I move from giving fluids to a pet, to taking fluid out of a pet).  I had my husband stop at the TSC and bring home a 60cc syringe and some tubing for drainage.

I got Marlee as comfortable as she could be, cleaned the first area, then inserted the needle.  I slowly drew back on the plunger of the syringe and the fluid began flowing out.  With the syringe full, I pulled the needle out and emptied the fluid.  I inserted a clean needle and repeated the steps.  The third prick brought blood - oops!  That's enough.  I don't know what happened there but I quickly stopped the bleeding and put everything away.

For the next few hours, my poor little hen leaked fluid.  I don't know how much there was but she soaked three puppy pads.  At bedtime she was still leaking but not as much.  But her comb was definitely brighter and she was very alert.  I expect she'll be eating well tomorrow.  We'll see.  I hope I did right.

Her belly went from the size of a grapefruit to the size of a golf ball!!!

There's nothing to cure this, and she'll have to be drained periodically.  There are several reasons for water belly but, from everything I've read, I'd have to say her's is from a failing liver.  I'm now reading about how this could happen and on what I can give her to help the liver function better.  One such thing is Milk Thistle.  I'm going to read more about this in the morning.

Marlee is a four year old Blue Copper Marans.   Hoping and praying she's better in the morning.  Love my birdies!

R.I.P. SOFIA

Of all the years keeping chickens, my luck ran out today with a hawk.  Generally I just have little Sharp Shinned Hawks that prey on songbirds.  The one in the trees yesterday was bigger - I thought it was a Red-tail.  Today, when I got home, I saw it closer and took photos.  It's a Cooper's Hawk.  

The chickens were silent when I came home.  Golly was outside the back porch (where he and the girls usually hang out) but EVERYONE was silent.  They usually start fussing when I come home because it's dinner time.  Eerily quiet.  I fed the three chickens that are locked up.  Then I went back to Golly's coop - he followed me.  There were just two girls down there, the others were up under the back porch - no one was coming down for dinner.  I checked their water bowl and there was a good handful of fresh feathers in it.  Something was definitely wrong.  I knew, at that moment, my luck had run out with hawks.  

I started to count chickens, there were the two I saw by the coop and Golly. I looked in the coop and no one was there.  Then I looked under the coop.  Someone was laying dead in the back corner.  It was Sofia, one of my Salmon Faverolles.  Sofia was almost four years old.  A very, very gentle and sweet breed.  The other 10 girls wouldn't come out from under the back porch so I brought their dinner up to them and put it under the porch, no one spoke a word.  

At bed time, I took the lattice off the bottom of the porch and tried to coax them out.  It took about 20 minutes but they finally followed me - literally THREE at a time.  I'd get three down to the coop, then go halfway back and another three would follow, then one more time, then finally the last one.  Tomorrow I'm not letting them out of their coops - maybe for a couple days.  I hate to do that and to put food and water inside, but I want them to take a break and feel safe.  I'm also hoping after a couple days that the hawk will have found better hunting grounds.  

I know that crows keep hawks away and, darn it, WHERE are my crows, they're always out there.  I've been told you can play the sound of crows outside to encourage them to the area.  I might have to look in to that.  

R.I.P my Sofia, mama loves you, and I'm sorry. 

Here is the Hawk - he is beautiful but he is no longer welcome.