Ascites aka Water Belly

[dinosaw]

Found one of the ex batts dead in the run yesterday, it wasn't a huge surprise though I had thought she had a fighting chance of pulling through as she had seemed to perk up a little on how she had been feeling. Anyway it wasn't until I took her out of the run that I realised that she has suffered exactly the same fate as another ex-batt which I helped on its way last week, namely failure of the internal organs most normally the heart which puts pressure on the liver which then leaks and leads to a huge accumulation of water in the stomach cavity. As I carried her down the garden clear fluid with a watery consistency was literally streaming out of her beak and on autopsy she was exactly the same as the previous hen, her stomach absolutely full of fluid with the liver, heart and oviduct in pretty bad shape.

This is a new one on me but apparently is quite common in both broilers and also commercial layers at the end of their lives, the symptoms are a bluish comb, a distended puffy stomach, panting on being picked up as the fluid presses into the air sacs and a posture and walk that is similar to that of a bird with peritonitis which is what I mistakenly took it for. Apparently you can syringe the fluid off the stomach and there are posts where people are saying they have syringed 300ml of fluid out of a bird, my view is that this isn't going to make the birds organs improve and so euthanising is the preferable option. That's now four of the ex-batts gone in three weeks, the other two were showing definite signs of peritonitis but I have to admit that even with their advanced age four in such quick succession has made me wonder a bit, the younger birds in with them seem in fine fettle though so I think it is just an age thing as they are coming up to 3 years.

 

[GitaBooks]

I'm sorry to hear that.

Yes, hens that are bred to lay a lot stress their bodies to the point of organ failure, which leads to "water belly". There is little that can be done besides letting them enjoy their life until they are suffering, then let their end be peaceful. Sudden death in 1-3 year-old laying hens caused by egg-laying stress is very common, sadly, and a reason I don't prefer getting high-laying breeds for my layer flock, but instead duel-purpose breeds. I also let them have a nice long molting period and only have heat lights out during the winter instead of white lights to mimic day-light (increasing laying). Hens that go broody also get a rest.

I hope this helps. Best of luck!

 

[chrismahon]

We had a case years ago Dinosaw. Lucy was a one year old Cream Legbar and she developed a distended bottom, a penguin stance and stopped laying. We hadn't a clue what to do but as she seemed happy we left her. One morning I cleaned out two dustpans full of soaking wet bedding from underneath her perch and the next morning another one. Her swollen belly had gone and two weeks later she started laying again. She lived to 5 years old, surviving the trip to France and a dog attack that left her blind for two weeks. So the point I am making is that it isn't necessarily due to internal organ failures- sometimes it just happens. Perhaps an internal infection that is subsequently fought off?

The dog attack required antibiotics and after treatment she began laying daily rather than weekly, so perhaps she always had some underlying infection? She died in the nest box, presumably a heart attack?

 

[dinosaw]

I agree completely Gita and had come round to that point of view myself. True you can never be 100% sure of cause of death in these circumstances Chris but my best guess was organ failure above infection in this case.