4m x 3m Omlet pen, cube, new auto door still boxed and coop light

[soozin]

My pet hen has developed what looks like waterbelly also called duck's disease. She's a Lomond Brown and she's an elderly five and a half.

When I pick her up her belly feels squishy like a bag full of water and it is heavy so she waddles like a duck. Her comb has shrunk and looked blue tho' for one day only.

 

Apart from that she seems happy enough. rushes to see me as usual. I'm reluctant to dispatch her as she's been such a great hen and is a real pet. Her Black Rock companion is devoted to her, seeking out worms and pushing them over to her.

 

Apparently duck's disease is genetic and can be linked to high blood pressure. Nothing suggests how to cure it though.

 

Helpppppp! Anyone else seen this or able to help?

 

[Plum]

Never heard of duck's disease but if she is well and you want to give her a bit longer, I believe the vet can drain the fluid from the abdomen. Egluntine wrote about having this procedure carried out on one of her girls. I believe on that occasion the fluid was due to sterile peritonitis.

[soozin]

Thanks for that. It's certainly an option for consideration.

 

My first thoughts are to try something less intrusive if possible as intervention of that kind could cause her more stress and also may lead to increasing the risk of infection.

 

Ideally some kind of homeopathic diuretic would be worth a try, but I may be clutching at straws. She is getting on after all.

 

Thanks again,

 

Soozin

 

PS the Duck's Disease description was from a poultry book dating from the nineteen twenties - good name though as she waddles like a duck.

 

[Egluntyne]

If she has peritonitis, any treatment will be merely palliative I'm afraid. It recurs, with shortening periods between 'attacks' and eventually the hen will get respiratory problems as the swelling interferes with her breathing.

 

I have lost three hens to this condition this year......all brown hybrids who are bred to be egg laying machines and they seem to be prone to this condition.