Too good to be true: now Egg Peritonitis

[ChickAdee317]

I found on Craigslist 15 hens $90 (even if they were at the end of their days I dont mind b/c my pullets are young and I lost 6 girls like a month before laying age leaving me over run by horney males! AcK!) I instantly liked them. Barred Rock (the stippy black and white ones) a speckled Sussex, a RIR, a ......something else..... anywho.....the last one I was going to put in my pin was missing feathers and had a swollen butt. I kept her separate.

I did research. ... I knew what it was. We culled her and disected her. (One of my sons wants to be a scientist so we look at the inside of bodies like we last did a freshly dead snake) it was so bad it engulfed a lung. It was partially cooked egg yolk.

now im worried about the others. How likely is there more? Can I save them early?

Tomorrow I plan on doing rectal on all and an ennima ....should I treat as though they all have it? Maybe deworm I read about the meds....penicillin or bentyl (how ever it is spelled) and calcium.....

I have read once they lay internally they may not lay again.....I just spent $90 on these birds... some of them seem ok....and I have a couple of eggs but I expect more from 10 (some of them end up in the woods or front yard and 1 never made it to the coop....the most come back by evening though) hens then 2 eggs.

I would assume a farmer ...dairy farmer or not would know something wrong with the chicken.

 

[enola]

Peritonitis is not contagious.

When I get new chickens I quarantine them far enough from my hens thst they do not share the same air for at least 3 weeks. During that 3 weeks I dust them with poultry dust, worm them with Safeguard and treat them for scaley leg mites.

 

[speckledhen]

I found on Craigslist 15 hens $90 (even if they were at the end of their days I dont mind b/c my pullets are young and I lost 6 girls like a month before laying age leaving me over run by horney males! AcK!) I instantly liked them. Barred Rock (the stippy black and white ones) a speckled Sussex, a RIR, a ......something else..... anywho.....the last one I was going to put in my pin was missing feathers and had a swollen butt. I kept her separate.

I did research. ... I knew what it was. We culled her and disected her. (One of my sons wants to be a scientist so we look at the inside of bodies like we last did a freshly dead snake) it was so bad it engulfed a lung. It was partially cooked egg yolk.

now im worried about the others. How likely is there more? Can I save them early?

Tomorrow I plan on doing rectal on all and an ennima ....should I treat as though they all have it? Maybe deworm I read about the meds....penicillin or bentyl (how ever it is spelled) and calcium.....

I have read once they lay internally they may not lay again.....I just spent $90 on these birds... some of them seem ok....and I have a couple of eggs but I expect more from 10 (some of them end up in the woods or front yard and 1 never made it to the coop....the most come back by evening though) hens then 2 eggs.

I would assume a farmer ...dairy farmer or not would know something wrong with the chicken.

An enema will do nothing. It doesn't go into the oviduct, generally, and if they have cooked yolk/infection in there, it is there until they die. If they are laying internally, they will never lay again, period. It is incurable except by major surgery and removing the masses as well as the reproductive equipment because it is a chronic ailment, genetic/hormone based. Very common in hatchery stock. I've lost 15 or so hens to egg yolk peritonitis and/or internal laying, done many necropsies myself. Since I started raising better stock (good breeder stock, not from some propagator of hatchery stock), I almost never see that anymore.

If you know there is an EYP infection, and that is almost impossible before it's too late, a large dose of strong antibiotic may kick it back, but if there are cheesy masses already, it will do nothing. Deworming won't fix it.

Any idea how old these birds are? I think if they are older hatchery hens, they were a little expensive, especially if some are ailing. I only charge $10 for a young point-of-lay pullet and $5 for a slightly older hen who is still laying, though I rarely sell my birds after they begin laying. I've never sold a hen who was past her laying years. They live here until they die for their service to the family.
Since you asked if a farmer would know if something was wrong with the hens, of course, could be this person had no idea which hens were laying and which were not and just wanted them gone, suspecting they were winding down. It's not always obvious that a hen is dying from internal laying-feathers cover an emaciated body or even a bloated one. Then there are just those dishonest folks who want to make a buck at the expense of others.

Read up on quarantine procedures here: https://www.backyardchickens.com/t/12751/urgent-reminder-please-quarantine-newly-acquired-birds

And for more information on internal laying and egg yolk peritonitis and why it doesn't really help to treat it:
https://www.backyardchickens.com/t/195347/my-ivy-latest-relapse-shes-gone
https://www.backyardchickens.com/t/362422/drained-a-hens-abdomen-rest-in-peace-olivia-11-5-10

Those two malfunctions are related/similar and from the outside symptoms, you cannot tell which (or if it's both) you are dealing with. They are not contagious, however, they are very common in the most common hatchery breeds folks get as laying hens.

 

[ChickAdee317]

I dusted them....

 

[ChickAdee317]

Lol wish I would have read this sooner. I love my chickens....and I love my misfits. But....if I dont have use for them they must go. If treated with antibiotics and if you wait can they be eaten? Im alittle miffed if I spent money on something and ive wasted it. I guess I could breed ....the good ones.....

how can I be sure if they have it or dont? Do I treat all as if they do?

 

[speckledhen]

Lol wish I would have read this sooner. I love my chickens....and I love my misfits. But....if I dont have use for them they must go. If treated with antibiotics and if you wait can they be eaten? Im alittle miffed if I spent money on something and ive wasted it. I guess I could breed ....the good ones.....

how can I be sure if they have it or dont? Do I treat all as if they do?

If I were you, I'd follow a plan. I'd dust them all for mites and lice and worm them with a good wormer, something like Safeguard or Valbazen. I'd examine every one for meat on the keel bone and bloating in the abdomen. I'd note which ones seem in good weight, not emaciated or bloated up, either one, and observe them to see which ones are actually laying eggs and which may go on the nest and get off without ever leaving an egg. After you've done that, you'll have a better idea which hens will be worth keeping and which are probably on their last legs. Give them good, high protein feed and supplement with vitamins and maybe some good greens like chopped kale. And observe some more. That's all you can really do short of having each one xrayed by a vet, and that would run into some $$$$.

Could be only a few have some reproductive malfunction. Maybe some are just done laying, like my almost 8 year old Brahma hen. She has no issues other than a sluggish crop but she is past her laying years.