Eglu Go With 2m Run For Sale

[Geri]

Hi, I am seeking consensus of opinion/advice please.

Freeda has been poorly for about a week now so took her to the vet yesterday. She has laid some softies & now her eggs aren't seemingly forming properly for a couple of days. She is hunched & quiet, although this has not been continuos it's getting that way now. Up until today she has been eating & drinking, perhaps not as much as usual but still coming for treats. We kept her in last weekend as she didn't go up to roost one night, just stayed under the Eglu - but she got restless so put her back with the others.

Took her to the vet yesterday, it was 5 pm & her crop was empty, she was hot & broken unformed egg spilling out, she looked like she wanted to lay but..... She was very quiet & hunched most of the day so time for help.

Vet gave antibiotic injection & prescribed Baytril, she said it was fine to leave her with other chickens , not isolate her. She also said no reason why we shouldn't eat her eggs when she starts laying again.

Thismorning she seems worse, let her out & she didn't go for food or water, very unusual. Still hunched & runny (maybe unformed egg) bottom.

Should she be with the others? All advice I have seen is to isolate her

Are the eggs ok to eat (if she does lay, if we get 4 eggs we won't know who laid which)

Poor Freeda, does seem to be suffering. Baytril given with syringe thismorning with no bother at all, but she had no interest in cat food or mealy worms - usually the firm favorite.

Any advice please? Freeda is a 1 year old gingernut.

[jackian]

I really can't give a lot of advice except that we thuoght we were going to lose one of our girls earlier this year but she bounced back.

Her eggs were either soft or the shells were so frail that they broke just by touching them. She would be hunched under a hedge not eating much or drinking as they are difficult to pass.This started happening just after we had to have her friend PTS for a different reason ...So we think it was stress that started it.

We solved this by giving her Limestone flour with her treats , cod liver oil and baked ground eggs shells.,all have calcium which she was lacking ..It took a few weeks to get back to normal but we got there.You would never know that she had had a problem.

You can also scramble the broken eggs even soft ones and let them eat them .The other thing also is don't let the other girls get a taste for broken eggs as it could become a habit .

I do hope Freeda will be doing chickeny things soon .

[Geri]

Thank you, she seems a little brighter so hope the antbiotics are starting to take effect

[mimi5]

My girls have had baytril twice now for bouts of myco and the advice was NOT to eat the eggs for 2 weeks (although my vet said I could give them to my dog she certainly enjoyed them )

 

Maybe ring your vet and ask?

[sjp]

it reads like she's laying soft shelled eggs which does take it out of them as there's no hard surface for the muscles to push against and makes them miserable. as said limestone flour (only use it for a short time through as to much calcium is bad for them) in the feed helps also dried meal worms as they contain an amino acid that helps the body convert calcium into a form that the body can use life guard tonic is very good for birds that are just starting to lay or older girls that start to lay soft eggs also you need to put out a pot of mixed grit also called oyster shell grit

[Geri]

Thanks folks, oyster shell always out there & vet said ok to eat eggs at initial consultation - hence ,my confusion as this goes against what I have read. They get meal worms too & have a daily mash I make with baked crushed shells ( their own) as well as the layers pellets so calcium levels should be fine. Problem of course is that Freeda is perhaps not eating enough at the moment with whatever it is that's making her poorly. I'll get some limestone flour & give it a go

[sjp]

Thanks folks, oyster shell always out there & vet said ok to eat eggs at initial consultation - hence ,my confusion as this goes against what I have read. They get meal worms too & have a daily mash I make with baked crushed shells ( their own) as well as the layers pellets so calcium levels should be fine. Problem of course is that Freeda is perhaps not eating enough at the moment with whatever it is that's making her poorly. I'll get some limestone flour & give it a go

I'd get a bottle of life guard it'll help give her a boost I had a black tail hybrid that laid softies it wasn't that she did get enough calcium it was converting it that was the problem

the only time I used Baytril the vet said it's 21 days egg withdraw

[Geri]

Really pleased to tell you all that one week later Freeda is back to normal laid her 1st proper egg yesterday, a little smaller than usual but perfectly formed. Just looking forward to eating them again in a couple of weeks. Vet called me and suggested a supplement to help, http://www.mah-shop.co.uk/healx-releaves-655-p.asp, haven't gone for it yet, has anyone else used releaves? She also said she had been researching Baytril and not to eat eggs for 2 weeks after she has finished the antibiotics, a bit of a worry when she admitted she was not a chicken expert, but she is a vet and keeps chickens so that will have to be good enough as ther don't seem to be any chicken vets around locally.

[Geri]

http://www.animalhealth.bayer.com/5212.0.html

The link will take you to the Bayer website where you can download a PDF with lots of info on Baytril.