[melholly]

Morning all,
Open to thoughts and wisdom here. I have a 2 year old Blue Haze. She's isolated at the mo. Constant white/green dirty vent, taildown, picking at bits of food, floppy comb sometimes very red, no clucking more 'squeaking.' She's also gone from being a super regular layer to nothing at all and 3 days ago passed this camel coloured 'thing.' She sits a lot and generally looks miserable.


Now the chicken world have a thousand and one things it might be however, egg yolk peritonitis is a possibility. (Although happy if anyone thinks differently) Around 3 weeks ago I thought she might be an egg eater as I found her up in the nesting box a lot but seemingly not laying - I presumed she was eating them, especially when I found a few yolk remains early morning. However, now I wonder if she was laying none shelled eggs?


As nothing's ever straight forward a few of you might remember my post a month or so ago about my sick Columbian Blacktail? Well, she survived, regrew feathers and seems to be coming into lay again. I wondered if she had something contagious? At the moment only my light Sussex is laying daily whereas I have always had an egg practically every say all year round until this last month or so. I put it down to the weather but I'm not sure now? They are all 2.


The other factor was for 2 weeks recently we had a rat problem in the chicken area. The chickens scratch on mud/dust so once they were eliminated I resited the ark, jeyes fluided etc. They spend at least a third of their day free ranging in the garden too.


Maybe I'm trying to link too much together? The point is DH wishes to dispatch of the Blue Haze thinking that even if it survives egg productions going to be iffy. We only have 4, but we have them for their eggs and have no room for none laying hens. Hope that doesn't come across in the wrong way?


Sorry, rambling on. Anyone who fancies sharing their thoughts would be most welcome.


Mx

[chrismahon]

Hi Melholly. Sounds like she has passed a 'lash' which is shed oviduct lining so she won't lay for a while. May be a reaction to her general condition. Either she has bad worms or sour crop I would guess. Swollen belly will give you a clue as swollen with red skin will be an internal infection and possibly peritonitis. The reddening crop says infection to me. It may well be a combination of things. If you keep birds only for eggs and work to a limited budget she needs to go. Perhaps she can be saved, but this is going to take a lot of effort and potentially cost more money than a replacement. Of course integrating replacements (must introduce a pair) is not without problems either. As said, even if she survives egg production may be a long term issue -she is getting on a bit for a hybrid.

[melholly]

Thanks Chris,


Pretty spot on with the passing of a lash now I've done some graphic image research! Seems like it could be a sign of her not laying again. She was wormed last month. Her condition is stable ie no shedding of feathers, no drastic weight loss though she's hardly eating. Her belly feels hard - though cant feel for egg etc. I bathed her in warm water around 5 days ago when she first started looking penguin like. The penguin stance recovered but she is still dirty vented and tail down and generally looking miserable.


I've got 4 as mentioned before, all same age (2) Columbian Blacktail recently recovered from illness waiting to see if she gets back to regular laying (hit and miss at mo), Rhode Island, Blue Haze (ill) and Light Sussex. Have to say, the Sussex has championed the others with laying, temperament, health and condition. I fear given the  other 3 starting to lay hit and miss that in a month or so I may need to replace more than one... I do have a friend with too much land for sense though who'll happily house healthy but none laying hens.


Thanks for your info- always appreciated


mx

[chrismahon]

Internal infection seems probable. Could be around the oviduct, hence the 'lash'. She won't eat if she is full of fluid as that would make it more uncomfortable. I think it's down to either vet treatment in the hope that she survives or cull now to put her out of her obvious misery. A decision we've had to make too many times in the past with hybrids, which is why we don't keep them anymore. But they are the best egg layers.

[Stereo]

We've had a few go this way and it never seems to end well. We adopted some for friends who were giving up and they paid for all the vet treatments which kept them alive for a while but they soon died.

A hybrid at 2 is probably past her best laying and the sums don't look so good unless she is a pet. I'm with Chris on this one. We have also decided not to keep hybrids any more. Our egg demand is highly seasonal so I would rather have a hen who lays for 3 or 4 years steadily in the lighter months and has a good rest over winter.

[Womble]

Hi Melholly,
 
We lost a hen a couple of years ago under similar circumstances. Here's a pic I took of her at the time, and really once they get to this stage there's not usually any way back (or not back into lay at least)
 

 
I suspect she had some sort of internal infection too.
 
I was gutted at the time, since she was one of our first two pet hens who started us off on our big smallholding adventure (come to think of it, that hen cost me about £100,000 all told!  ).  However, with tears in my eyes I did put her out of her misery - it was just the right thing to do.
 
Stereo's right - if she's a laying hen, her time's probably up.  If she's a pet, different rules apply of course, and only you can make that call  .

[in the hills]

We've had hybrids make 10 years old but think you often start losing them once they get to around 2/3 years of age.

Of course there are exceptions but we've found that generally chickens don't 'come back' once they get to a certain stage. My daughter loves her hens and we have tried to 'save' them but in general the outlook isn't good if they've been hunched up for more than a few days. Have been to the vet on a number of occasions but never found ours to be very good with chickens.

Took one with bumble foot and had to explain to them what I thought needed doing and what the condition was. My little girl was with me ... she now wants to be a vet specialising in poultry. 

If egg production is important to you and your hen is not just a pet then it maybe best to despatch. Otherwise try the vet ... you never know it could be something simple that antibiotics will clear.

[melholly]

Thank you so much everyone.


Always glad to hear from people who've been through it. Sometimes it seems like there's 1001 things to go wrong!


I actually had no idea that 2 was a 'standard' age for hybrids.


Mx

[lord flynn]

I actually had no idea that 2 was a 'standard' age for hybrids.

I only have one left-bought her at PoL two years ago in March along with four others and she's had a bout of not being great this year so far-ended with her laying a huge, horrid looking egg. All the others died last summer or were put out of their misery. I had one hyline (or similar) who lived til 8 despite really not being cared for before I got her at 6.
I wont get any more hybrids-I breed for pleasure and have more eggs than I can deal with anyway but would rather have fewer eggs per year and have the hens last longer.

[Stereo]

Thing is, all breeds of hen have pretty much the same amount of eggs in them when they hatch. They are already there and get used up over their lifetime. So, take a notional amount of 500 eggs in a hen, a hybrid sussex/rhode will lay all of those in about 700 days once she starts, give or take for the odd moult and missed day. So, once she's 2 and a half, pretty much all her eggs have gone and firing them all out has taken a huge toll on her body. Any eggs coming now are likely to be over-sized and thin shelled. Contrast to maybe a Marans who will spread these eggs over more years and switch off for a good rest in the winter to give her systems a well earned rest, as nature would intend.

The figures are guessed at of course but that's the principle. Which is why commercial egg producers love the brown hen. First you can tell all the boys at hatch and whack them before they eat a grain of food as they are yellow, where the hens are brown. The hens then start to lay at 16-18 weeks and don't stop until their first moult and which point they are usually 'depleted' as it's not worth feeding them through a moult and then getting a lower output afterwards when you can just get a new POL hen instead. Alternatively they are forced into an early moult, usually by causing extreme stress such as water starvation so that you get a full cycle of bigger eggs.

I'm not against hybrids as a principle. They are more productive no doubt and you get year round eggs. I think what I dislike is the way it's all taken to an extreme to save every half penny and put those mega cheap eggs on the shelves.

I was in Morrisons the other day and the guy in front had a box of caged eggs and a pack of the cheapest bacon, probably from sow stall pigs. He may be skint but I would rather eat rice all day than tuck into that filth.

[robbiegrant]

dont have any experience of chucks but am currently treating a Indian runner for egg peritonitis. so far it has stayed sterile. she is a month into it. antibiotics and anti inflammatories, calcium and vits d and c and an extra cleaning schedule in the yard and the shed help to keep her on an even keel. vet said if condition turns septic she could have hours to go.

10 days in to it she started laying again, swelling slowly going down now. she doesnt look so pregnant. she has stopped laying now ( as have the other girls as they are going into molt )

She is still young for a duck so lets hope she comes through this molt and goes back to 100%

I believe its often a death sentence for many birds, but some do recover, though some never to lay again.

good luck with your chook

Robbie