Water Belly in Chickens: How Long Can a Chicken Live With Water Belly?
There are many things to look forward to regarding raising chickens, like farm-fresh eggs. However, with the good sometimes comes the bad. And when you’re raising chickens, one of the bad things that can happen is called water belly.
Water belly in chickens is an unfortunate health complication that forces excess fluid into the abdominal cavity of a chicken. The abdominal fluid, or water in the belly, is actually just one symptom of a much larger health issue that, unfortunately, cannot be cured.
In this article, I will address the following topics:
What is water belly? And is it contagious?
How does water belly manifest in chickens?
Treatment for water belly
How to prevent water belly in chickens
Keep reading if you think you’ve observed a case of water belly in your flock of backyard chickens and want to learn about the disease.
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Is Water Belly in Chickens Contagious?
Before you panic thinking the water belly condition you are observing in one chicken is contagious and is going to rapidly spread throughout the flock, I want to make it clear– water belly is not contagious.
Although water belly is not contagious from animal to animal, that does not mean that the conditions that cause water belly in one animal cannot cause more water belly in others, they very well might.
Fortunately, some of the environmental conditions that are known to cause waterborne diseases can be controlled to prevent them.
In other cases, water belly may be related to an unfortunate genetic disposition, in which case, once you observe the condition manifest, there’s not much you can do.
What is Water Belly in Chickens?
Water belly is the layman's term for ascites syndrome. Ascites syndrome is the accumulation of noninflammatory transudate in one or more of the peritoneal cavities of a chicken. In other words, ascites is an abnormal accumulation of fluid in the belly, hence the name “water belly.”
Ascites syndrome in chickens is most commonly associated with increased venous hydrostatic pressure. This typically results from right ventricular failure of the lung. This is also commonly referred to as pulmonary hypertension and typically leads to heart failure.
When the heart pumps blood into the lungs, it can cause a pressure overload. When the heart fails due to the increase in pumping, blood can no longer flow back into the heart. When this happens, the blood initially backs up in the liver. Once the liver is overloaded, fluid begins to leak into the peritoneal cavities of the abdomen.
Ascites syndrome is most commonly diagnosed at four to five weeks of age. Mortality due to ascites is higher in male parent lines compared to female parent lines because they grow faster and have a higher muscle disposition.
What Causes Water Belly in Chickens?
Water belly is most commonly related to a genetic predisposition related to pulmonary hypertension or lung disease. This condition then progresses to heart failure and then death.
However, unlucky genetics are not the only risk factors that can cause a water belly in chickens. Other causes of ascites (causes of water belly) include:
Cold stress in the first three weeks of life
Rearing in high altitudes (e.g., altitudes over 3,000 feet or 900 meters)
Rapid growth, especially amongst broilers (obesity is a leading cause of ascites in chickens)
Too much salt in chicken feed or water.
Sporadic cases of water belly in scenarios without environmental risk factors usually occur due to growing too fast. This is especially true for broiler or meat-type chickens (broiler chickens).
On the other hand, large-scale, whole-flock outbreaks tend to be linked to:
Increased oxygen demand resulting from too much cold
A decrease in oxygen-carrying capacity related to poor ventilation
An increased blood volume connected with too much sodium and improper nutrition
Interference with blood flow in the lung due to unfortunate genetic lung pathology.
What Does Water Belly Look Like in Chickens?
There are many different potential symptoms for water belly. Ultimately, each case is a little bit different. However, if you are concerned about water belly impacting your flock, here is a list of possible symptoms to look out for.
Water Belly in Chickens Symptoms
Some of the most common clinical signs you’ll see in a bad case of ascites are:
Poor bird development regarding chickens' physical appearance or characteristics
Noticeable fluid in the abdomen; the abdomen will look distended and feel squishy
Difficulty walking, overall lack of mobility
Lethargicness and change of normal behavioral disposition
Cyanosis, or discoloration of skin around the comb and wattles
Dyspnoea or panting and difficulty breathing, accompanied by gurgling sounds even without heat stress.
If you notice any of these symptoms, it may be time to consult your local veterinarian.
How Do You Treat Ascites in Birds: The Best Water Belly in Chickens Treatment Options
Unfortunately, once ascites syndrome has developed, there is no treatment that fixes or reverses the condition. However, there is a treatment option available that can alleviate the symptoms of ascites and make life more comfortable for your affected bird(s).
Paracentesis Treatment for Water Belly In Chickens
Paracentesis is a medical procedure used to treat ascites. Most commonly, it is a procedure performed on humans who have ascites syndrome. However, the same procedure can be performed on chickens to alleviate the symptoms of water belly.
Specifically, paracentesis is a procedure where a needle is inserted into the peritoneal cavity of the chicken to obtain ascitic fluid. By removing large quantities of ascitic fluid, you can greatly alleviate your chicken's symptoms caused by ascites.
Considerations to Make Before Performing Paracentesis At Home
Some homesteaders and farmers who raise chickens perform paracentesis procedures on the animals in their flock to alleviate the symptoms of a water belly. However, to be clear, it's not required that you drain your chicken’s water belly.
If you are uncomfortable with the procedure or think you may cause more harm than help, do not move forward with paracentesis.
On the other hand, if you can carry out the procedure ethically and hygienically and are certain that you can alleviate some of your chicken's discomfort, here are some things to consider.
Before performing paracentesis on your chickens, always consult your veterinarian.
Always thoroughly sanitize the extraction tool.
Wear gloves to ensure your hands are clean and sanitized.
Typically, a 30mm or 60mm syringe is recommended. In terms of needle, a 20 gage ½ inch needle is recommended.
Avoid performing the procedure alone, it’s much easier if you can have a friend or family member hold the affected chicken.
To the best of your ability, always clean the area of the chicken where you plan to extract fluid.
If you notice signs of distress, immediately stop the treatment.
Besides Paracentesis, Prevention May Be Your Best Option
In addition, and most importantly, you can take steps to prevent ascites syndrome from developing in more birds in your flock.
One of the best ways to do that is to submit your affected birds to your local veterinarian. You can also submit your sick, deceased birds to a diagnostic laboratory. Post-mortem investigation of affected birds can highlight clues and underlying risk factors that may have caused the water belly.
With that information, you can work to prevent water belly from continuing to develop in other birds in your flock.
How to Prevent Water Belly in Chickens
In terms of preventing water belly in chickens related to genetic predisposition, feed restriction may be the only option. By restricting feed, you can slow down the growth of the birds. In doing so, the cardiopulmonary organs (i.e., the heart and lungs) can keep up with the oxygen demands of the slower-growing animals.
However, this is obviously going to decrease the overall growth performance and negatively impact the animals' value, especially in larger broiler operations. Therefore, restricting feed typically only makes sense when the occurrence of water belly is extremely severe.
In terms of identifying other risk factors that may be causing the syndrome to develop in your flock and preventing them from causing more ascites in the future, it will be important to analyze current and historical growing conditions.
For example, you should consider things like
Recent temperature swings
Medical treatment administration
Changes in feed or water consumption
Typical growth rate
Mitigate Environmental Risk Factors
Temperature and humidity should all be controlled to prevent excessive heat loss in cold climates, especially for chicks in the neonatal period. Keeping your chickens cool in hot temperatures is also important. In addition, air movement and effective ventilation are critical.
At high altitudes, specific attention needs to be paid to preventing chilling. That’s because, in general, high-altitude environments, roughly 3,000 feet (900 meters) or higher, are unsatisfactory for most meat-type chickens.
In summary, improving environmental conditions like ventilation and temperature, as well as eliminating dust, mold, and endotoxins, can greatly reduce the incidence of water belly in chickens.
Focus on Nutrition
Lastly, nutrition is critical. Your chickens will develop and produce to the best of their abilities when they are properly fed. A healthy diet will also help prevent the dietary risk factors for water belly as well as less serious health issues like coccidiosis or diarrhea in chickens.
The simplest way to ensure your chickens are getting the nutrition they require is to purchase complete diet feed. Complete feeding diets require no additional supplementation. Always make sure that you are purchasing high-quality, fresh feed and store it so it's not exposed to mold, mildew, or dust.
However, from there, you may need to make special feeding arrangements for specific types of chicken, like egg-laying or meat-type chickens. For example, meat-type chicken requires a high-protein diet. On the other hand, chickens raised for breeding require specific vitamins and minerals to produce eggs with healthy chicks.
How Long Can a Chicken Live With Water Belly?
In some cases, a chicken with a water belly can live for several months up to a year. This is especially true if a routine paracentesis procedure is performed to mitigate the symptoms of the condition. However, eventually the time will come when the chicken can no longer survive. Birds that die from ascites syndrome typically die on their backs.
However, in particularly severe cases, death can also occur suddenly.
Not all chickens that die from ascites syndrome actually have ascites. That’s because death may occur rapidly before clinical signs of ascites can be observed. However, if the right ventricle in the chicken is enlarged or thickened, the bird most certainly dies from ascites syndrome. This is probably the case even if there is no fluid in the body.
Final Thoughts About Water Belly
Ascites syndrome, also known as water belly, is an unfortunate and untreatable condition that develops in chickens. It’s characterized by excess fluid in the peritoneal cavities of the chicken, manifesting as water in the belly, which is actually the result of irreversible and terminal pulmonary hypertension that can lead to heart failure.
It can be caused by a variety of environmental factors, such as inadequate temperature control, poor ventilation, and improper hygiene. It can also simply be the unfortunate outcome of genetics.
Unfortunately, there is no treatment for water belly. All you can do is try to alleviate the symptoms via paracentesis. Most importantly, you can take steps to prevent the syndrome from further developing in your flock. By paying attention to overall chicken health in your flock and doing everything you can to keep them at their best, you can improve their quality of life (and boost production).
Good luck!
Want to learn more about raising chickens? Be sure to check out these articles!
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