Unsecure chicken perches

[Lavenders_Blue]

Apologies in advance for the long post.

 

I'm looking after my friend's 3 hens on an ongoing basis as she is having to care for a very sick family member and can't manage them at the moment.

 

One of these hens has always had what I can only describe as 'women's troubles' i.e. she only lays very occasionally, and when she does it is either a very large egg (130g ish) or a soft shelled egg.

 

In the last 4-6 weeks or so, the soft shelled eggs have been really odd, there is often no yolk, the membrane is dark red (blood stained?) and it sometimes looks like there are bits of lash attached or inside. All very strange.

 

Yesterday morning she seemed off colour and there was a small, yolkless soft shelled egg in the coop that she had passed overnight. She spent a lot of time in the nest box yesterday morning, when she came out she hadn't layed anything else but seemed okay. By the evening, she was standing in the corner of the run, tail down, looking very miserable. I guessed she had another softie on the way, so added some liquid calcium to the water and offered it to her.

 

By the time the others had gone to bed, she was laying down in the run looking really sorry for herself. She couldn't be tempted with anything to eat but had a lot to drink. I thought the liquid calcium would help her pass anything that might be on it's way through. I popped her into the nest box to sleep.

 

This morning, she looked no better and had passed nothing overnight. She had done a very watery poo which was slightly yellow in colour. Nothing solid in it at all (sorry if TMI).

 

Since yesterday her comb has gone quite floppy and is purplish tinged which obviously set alarm bells ringing, so I took her down to the vets this morning who did a very thorough examination, including a gloved finger (poor hen). The vet couldn't feel anything inside her vent, felt her crop and that was okay, listened to her chest and that was okay too.

 

She's had an antibiotic injection today, and has to go back for another on Monday. All I can do is keep an eye on her in the meantime and hope she picks up.

 

Is there any other suggestions that I can try? Obviously I don't want to overload her with this and that if she's had an antibiotic shot, but she looks so pathetic.

[Lavenders_Blue]

And sorry mods, I've also managed to post this in the wrong forum. Please pop it into Chicken Clinic. Thanks.

[Guest]

sounds like peritonitis to me. I've had a few girls had it and they've had antibitotics which has bought them a few more months but they've all succumbed to it a 2nd time and been PTS or gone of their own accord. It doesn't seem something they ever fully recover from and I suspect it's because hybrids lay all year round and it's such a strain on their bodies, especially ex battery hens which we've always had.

[Lavenders_Blue]

You might be right, Poet. The vet did say she wondered if it could be the start of peritonitis. If the antibiotic injection is going to do any good, she ought to start to pick up over the weekend, but if she's still looking very miserable on Monday I suppose I shall have to make the hard decision whether or not it might be kinder to let her go.

[The Dogmother]

How old is she?

 

Is her abdomen swollen? The vet should have noticed this if it was.

 

It sounds as if she just has 'womb fatigue' or as my vet calls it 'knackered hen syndrome'. It usually happens with older hens or those who over-produce and are really good layers; their egg tackle just wears out. You could try taking her off layers feed, starving her for 24 hours and just giving water with some poultry tonic in it, then re-introduce feed but put her on growers feed, this may help her to stop or at least slow down with the laying and give her tackle a break.

 

She will need an eye keeping on her as the comb colour sounds as if it may all be too much for her heart, I'm afraid that you may end up having to have her PTS if her comb gets much worse or she looks to be labouring. It's one of those things where there's not much you can do.

 

Do keep us posted.

[Guest]

does the foood they eat stimulate egg laying? I always thought you gave laying hens layers mash/pellets because it has added calcium and the bits and pieces needed to supplement a laying hens diet. I didn't think it had any actual effect on their laying. I mean, layers mash/pellets doesn't actually make them lay does it?

[The Dogmother]

Yes, it can do.... a prime example was the original recipe of the BHWT crumbs, which stimulated laying so quite a few hens ended up laying softies. I was told that they changed the formula slightly after that.

 

The fasting is key too - lack of food and darkness (restrict daylight) will also help them to stop laying.

[Lavenders_Blue]

Thanks for the advice Claret and Poet.

She doesn't have a swollen abdomen, and she is approx 2-2.5 years old (and a warren hybrid so at the 'egg laying problems' age I guess).

In the last hour she has laid a soft shelled egg, so my initial thought that she had a softie on the way was right. However, I'm very concerned that it's taken her over 24 hours to lay it, she has also not perked up afterwards as you would expect. In fact she is still sat in the nest box.

She seems to be sort of starving herself, in that I've not seen her eat anything all day although she has had some water. I'm going to try some pellet porridge, just to get something inside her.

I'll be keeping a really close eye on her this weekend; I have an appointment with the vet for Monday morning for her 2nd antibiotic injection, but if she's still not right by then I think I may have to make the difficult decision instead Thankfully if she does go downhill rapidly over the weekend, my vets are open on a Saturday morning so I don't have to panic about waiting until Monday.

Will keep you all posted.

[Guest]

in my experience of keeping mostly ex batts, they go thru a period of laying softies (or this womb fatigue claret talks about) and then they usually progress onto peritonitis. But, as i say, i've mainly had ex batts who have it tougher than normal hybrids, although I do think hybrids wear out in much the same way

[The Dogmother]

You're right Poet - hybrids are more prone to it - one unfortunate side effect of breeding birds who lay more eggs - it's relatively rare amongst pure breeds. Any bird which produces lots of (usually) large eggs will tend to wear out quickly - it's rather like a woman producing a baby every year.

 

Ex-batts are just an 'exaggeration' of this - the increased daylight hours in the sheds wear them out, their protein reserves are low and their tackle gets worn out.

 

My pure breed bantams all stop laying over winter (when I get eggs from a friend) but at least they get a rest. Some can die around 3 years old, but I have had hens last through to 6 years and still give me the odd egg. I guess that you takes yer choices.

[Guest]

i had a cple of pure breed banties and they were so noisy that in the end i had to give them to 'karen & co'.

I will keep rehoming ex batts until there are, hopefully, no more ex batts to rehome then I'll probably rehome ex barn hens.

I'm the same with any animal, hence our molly (rescue dog).

even some of our quail were from freecycle. If only there were no poor animals needing homes

[Lavenders_Blue]

Just a quick update - I'm pleased to say the hen has rallied and now seems to be a-ok. Friday evening I was so worried as she didn't come out of the nest box all afternoon. I made her some pellet porridge and she had supper and a dish of water in bed. I came down on Saturday morning, expecting the worst but she was up and about. Yesterday morning, she was still a little off colour with her tail down, although she was not standing around hunched. I had a rummage about in my chooky health box and found some lifeguard that I'd been sent as a freebie from Cotswold Chickens some time back so added some to the drinking water. By the afternoon she was a lot brighter and this morning seems to be back to normal.

I'm still wondering if there was something more than a soft shelled egg going on, as she seemed off colour for so long, but I guess I'll never know. She has an appointment at the vet tomorrow for a 2nd antibiotic injection, so if there was any infection this will hopefully be the end of it.

She's going back to her owners on Friday (finally!) so I'll suggest that they keep an eye on her and if it looks like she is going to continue to struggle with egg laying they may have to decide whether or not to let her go. Thanks for the advice and suggestions, it's been appreciated.