*Update - Unsuccessful Spay. Anyone have experience with Suprelorin implant and/or spay? Egg yolk pe

It was a bad week for chickens here. I noticed that my Australorp, Zelda had her tail down and when I picked her up to examine her, I felt that asites belly. The next day, my English Orpington, Big Fatty had a soft broken egg hanging out of her. Both girls are 2.5 years old. Zelda has never had egg laying issues before but hasn't laid an egg in at least a week. Big Fatty has always had egg laying issues - rubber eggs, dropped eggs, oversized eggs, thin shelled eggs, you name it.

I took both girls to the vet yesterday. Big Fatty looked good (and fat) but given her history we decided to give her the Suprelorin implant. She is my special girl and I don't care if she ever lays an egg again. She is a pet.

Zelda had an ultrasound and had at least three free floating eggs in her abdomen. The drained her and recommended spaying her. They sent me home with Baytril. I know there are options other than surgery to prolong her life. I know I could drain her abdomen and keep her on antibiotics to keep her around a little longer but I am hoping for a more permanent solution.

My husband was less than thrilled with the vet bill ($600) and even more unhappy with the quote for the spay ($700 - which I thought was pretty reasonable). He thinks I am crazy for even considering having a chicken spayed.

I have cried and cried about this. I know that Zelda could have the surgery and not survive. She could get killed by a hawk or come down with one of those mysterious chicken diseases and drop dead the day after surgery. She is so smart and beautiful and there would be a big whole in my life and the flock if she was gone. I am leaning towards the surgery so I would appreciate hearing from anyone who has gone through a similar experience, good or bad.

Has anyone had a chicken spayed recently and if so, how did it go and how much did it cost? Did it solve the egg peritonitis issue?

Also, and recent experiences with the Suprelorin implant? Were there any side effects? How long did it last? My chicken had the six month one.
It’s important to consider what could have caused her production issues from an external stand point. From my own observations chickens who become egg bound were often in there own filth, and exposed to high levels of ammonium (which comes from decomposition of bodily waste). The ammonium is so toxic that it affects their nervous system, which will then consequently affect other parts of their body, including the reproductive tract. It is considered healthy and natural for chickens to lay eggs, which is equivalent to menstruation for them. Yes it is more frequently than humans but chickens are not humans. They have been breed over hundreds of years to produce many eggs a year within reason. With proper nutrients and clean environment chickens can live for many years and not suffer from egg production issues. Unfortunately even though it is uncommon chickens can be genetically predisposition to have reproductive issues. Most of these can occur after there second year of egg production, and can’t be cured but treated. Implants in many instances will work to a certain extant but they have to be maintained, and the health of your chicken has to be monitored frequently or else the hormone change could end up killing your bird. Spaying is just so incredibly dangerous, and even as a last resort, I hardly believe it’s worth it. Any type of surgical procedures done on a bird is risky, but a serious operation like that can be more life threatening to a bird than being egg bound. I hate to put it this way but, if your going to spend $700 to save your bird even though the odds of it failing are significantly greater than it working, look at is as a gamble at a casino. A gamble that you have to decide weather or not it’s worth it. Most people I know would rather save their animal the suffering and just put there birds down if there suffering that much.
 

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