What comes out of a chicken is not the same as what comes in, but, you can usually expect a chicken to only expel waste and eggs. A sudden change in your chicken usually means that the bird is declining in health.
If there is clear liquid leaking from your chicken you’d be right to worry. This article looks at why this happens.
Chickens seldom leak anything, if your chicken is leaking clear fluid then it may be suffering from ascites, have a respiratory infection or, it may have a crop full of water
Table of Contents
Chicken leaking clear liquid:
Water filled crop:
The crop is where chickens, and other birds, store food, and water before it moves to the rest of the bird’s digestive system.
If the bird drinks too much water, the crop will fill with water. If you pick the bird up, press on the crop, and then a clear liquid flows out of the bird’s mouth, then this clear liquid may just be the water from the crop being pushed out and coming out of the bird’s beak.
This is nothing to worry about and happens on occasion
What to do:
You don’t have to do anything in this case, the bird’s crop will empty as the water goes down the bird’s digestive system. Once this happens, no water will come out of the bird even if you accidentally push against the bird’s crop.
Ascites:
Ascites attacks animals of all types, not only chickens. This is not a disease per se, it is rather classified as a condition.
This condition develops when fluid accumulates in the bird’s body. The fluid builds up and has to come out somewhere, the mouth is one place where the fluid will flow out.
Heart failure can lead to ascites. When the heart becomes backed up, liquid pools in the liver and causes the liver to leak fluid. This liquid goes to the abdominal cavity and builds up until it comes out of the bird’s mouth.
Ovarian cancer can also lead to abdominal irritation which will eventually lead to a leakage of fluid in the area.
What to do:
If you can, take your bird to a vet. The best vet for your bird to see is a certified avian vet.
Your vet will do a quick exam on the bird and will confirm or deny whether your bird has ascites. The vet will drain the fluid as a treatment, they do this by inserting a needle into the bird and draining the fluid out of the bird’s abdominal cavity.
Birds can carry quite a bit of fluid depending on how far along the condition is.
You can drain the bird yourself but you need to make sure that you don’t drain too much fluid, draining too much fluid can cause the bird to go into shock.
When draining the bird yourself, you’d need to make sure that you puncture at the right spot, use sterilized equipment and make sure that the opening you make is sterile.
A respiratory infection:
There are a variety of respiratory infections that can affect chickens. Symptoms of respiratory infections include the bird leaking fluid from its mouth, not wanting to eat or drink, lethargy, a dropping tail, diarrhea, dehydration, and a bird that is not perky anymore.
What to do:
The best thing to do for your bird is to take it to a certified avian vet to be checked out. While waiting for your vet visit, keep your bird warm and give it electrolytes.
You can give the bird a commercial electrolyte solution made for chickens or, you can make a homemade solution.
Make a homemade solution by mixing a cup of water, ⅛ a teaspoon of salt, ⅛ teaspoons of baking soda, 2 teaspoons of granulated sugar, (or molasses) as well as ⅛ teaspoons of potassium chloride if available.
Give this to your ailing bird using a medicine dropper. Give this until the bird perks up and until you can get the bird to a vet.
You’d also need to keep the bird away from the rest of the flock as this clear fluid can infect the rest of your flock. Also make sure to sanitize the coop, the waterers as well as the feeders.
If you enjoyed this article then you may also be interested in other bird related articles. Here are some articles that you may be interested in: Yellow Stuff Coming Out Of Chicken, Chicken Vomiting White Liquid, Forgot To Turn Eggs In The Incubator