Hi tessybear,
One of our girls was exactly the way you describe.
She was bloated and walking like john wayne yet still eating well. Later on though, she started to produce unusual poops and her comb and wattles started to go pale.
We believe she had sterile peritonitis, which basically means she's producing eggs (yolks) that are dropping into her abdomen. They do eventually get absorbed but she'll keep producing them.
There are a few things that can be done - the fluid can be removed by inserting a syringe into her abdomen or she can be spayed, but both these options have a risk of infection and/or complications with the anasthetic.
Or you could try keeping her in the dark for most of the day and limiting the amount of protein she eats, (no layers pellets!) this might help her stop laying.
We a lot of read other peoples experiences with this, some hens can go on for years like this with no problems. Unfortunately our girl didn't last very long
What are your hen's poops like? There's a good guide here -
http://chat.allotment.org.uk/index.php?topic=17568.0 to assess whether there are problems.
Hope your hen will be ok :)
"It's breaking the circle.
Going to work, to get money, to translate into things, which you use up, which means you go to work again, etc, etc.
The Norm.
What we should be doing is working at the job of life itself."
- Tom Good, The Good Life.
