vbell259
In the Brooder
About a month ago, I found my first soft, shelled egg in one of the nesting boxes. I have a total of six chickens that are currently laying. Of the six, I could tell the soft shell egg had been laid by one of my three 1.5 year old Rhode Island reds. The problem was, I couldn’t figure out which one. I saw a couple more soft, shelled eggs over the next week or two, so after doing some research, I want ahead and gave all three Rhode Island reds some calcium supplementation in pill form (for the record, they have access to free choice oyster shell at all times). I thought it was weird that one of them would all of a sudden have a calcium deficiency, but wanted to go ahead and get on top of it if it was.
I haven’t seen any soft shell eggs in probably 10 days, so I thought the problem resolved. But last night, I discovered one of the hens had laid just a yolk in the nesting box and found two more spots in the coop where I think she may have done it previously while roosting, but it was hidden by pine shavings. At this point, I figured I was probably dealing with egg yolk peritonitis so I hung around the coop a ton today to figure out who it was.
I noticed my hen, Dumplin, was staying a lot more still then normal. Still got excited about treats but not walking around as much. She spent a large portion of the morning in the coop/nesting box (they’re free range. I live in middle TN and it’s colder than it has been but still sunny and in the 30-40’s) but never laid anything. I saw her poop once today and it contained a large amount of clear mucus mixed with a small bit of yellow that almost looked like tiny scrambled eggs.
At this point, I decided to take her into the vet. They did an X-ray and physical exam and told me she was perfectly healthy. Said the change in temperature/inadequate calcium was the culprit. I had to convince them to send me home with antibiotics as a precaution. Am I insane to think this is egg yolk peritonitis???
I haven’t seen any soft shell eggs in probably 10 days, so I thought the problem resolved. But last night, I discovered one of the hens had laid just a yolk in the nesting box and found two more spots in the coop where I think she may have done it previously while roosting, but it was hidden by pine shavings. At this point, I figured I was probably dealing with egg yolk peritonitis so I hung around the coop a ton today to figure out who it was.
I noticed my hen, Dumplin, was staying a lot more still then normal. Still got excited about treats but not walking around as much. She spent a large portion of the morning in the coop/nesting box (they’re free range. I live in middle TN and it’s colder than it has been but still sunny and in the 30-40’s) but never laid anything. I saw her poop once today and it contained a large amount of clear mucus mixed with a small bit of yellow that almost looked like tiny scrambled eggs.
At this point, I decided to take her into the vet. They did an X-ray and physical exam and told me she was perfectly healthy. Said the change in temperature/inadequate calcium was the culprit. I had to convince them to send me home with antibiotics as a precaution. Am I insane to think this is egg yolk peritonitis???