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

[kculbert]

There is nothing more unattractive than a molt. At least Ellie's skin blends in with her feathers. Phyllis has bright red skin. Very gruesome. Is Ellie still an indoor chicken? Maybe that's why her molt is off.

I have only introduced single chickens in the past. Everyone says that is harder but I found that the loners were so desperate to be part of the flock that it all worked itself out very quickly. My two new girls stick together and hide from the big girls. I did everything I was supposed to do. I quarantined and then put them in a cage inside the coop. I changed the whole coop around, hoping that the newness of everything would distract the big girls. Nope. I am thinking of separating the biggest bully for a few days to disrupt the pecking order but it bothers me to do that. Plus, I don't know which one to pick. I hope it goes well for your little ones, particularly Mimi. She's a tough little girl so I'm sure she'll be fine.

My newbies weren't really "adopted." He sold them to me for egg laying purposes only. Paul is on the board of the Ameraucanas Breeders Club and his show birds and breeding stock are incredible. He said my blue was too light and had some black in her feathers. I thought that was what made her pretty and stand out from the others. The little black, Vivien, was such a baby, so she had to come home with me. She will come to me and sit in my lap with no treats involved. Zelda was the only other chicken I've had that ever did that.

Vivien started sneezing a week ago and yesterday her nostrils started bubbling. I can't believe I actually did this, but I gave her an intramuscular injection of Tylan 50. It was much easier than I thought it would be, but I did get myself pretty worked up before I stuck the needle in her breast. Before I got chickens, I was pretty excited about learning to diagnose and medicate them. Then the reality hit the first time I saw an open wound. It was off to the vet. I am going to continue the injections for a few days but she is already better. I will take her to the vet if she doesn't continue to improve, but so far so good.

 

[Wol1]

Just checking back in. Glad to hear of continued good news. I also nearly fainted when I gave the first injection. It didn't help that one collapsed and essentially died immediately. I managed to get her back, but I have no idea what I did wrong. I will do anything now to avoid giving an injection. I have continued to put calcium in their water once a week. Last week, I went to fill their calcium feeder, and realized (I need bifocals but can't stand to wear them, so close up is fuzzy) that there was mostly powder with pieces. I dumped the whole thing out and refilled it with the larger pieces. Most of my girls are molting right now, but those that are laying are laying eggs with strong shells. I can't figure out why they aren't getting enough calcium. I hope dumping and filling the oyster shells helps.

My Ameracaunas and Black Australorps molt each year and I have had no problems with them egg-wise. The Golden Comets never really molted, and the Rhode Island Reds barely molt either. It's not healthy, in my opinion.

 

[Wol1]

The saga has continued. I posted the following on a recent thread which sums up what has happened and some important new things I have learned. For those who've been following along, the new information is below, in red.

This is going to be long, but I've been through the ringer with this and have learned a lot that I'd like to share.

I've had four with oviduct problems, 3 Golden Comets and 1 Rhode Island Red. I know the Golden Comets are production hens, and my conscience is somewhat helped by the fact that our neighbor asked us to adopt them at 4 months as they didn't want them anymore. Not sure of RIR. I took the first 2 GCs and the RIR to an avian vet, The GCs had egg peritonitis, meaning they had a blocked and inflamed oviduct and eggs had backed up, gotten infected, and were spilling into their abdomens causing inflammation. He put them an antibiotic that also reduces inflammation of the oviduct. The first died anyway of liver failure from the toxic environment in her body, on the 2nd GC, I opted for surgery. He removed the uterus and as much of the oviduct as he could and sewed the oviduct closed around the "mummified" eggs that were adhered that he couldn't remove. Removing the uterus stops the signal to the brain to ovulate. She survived the surgery and was doing excellent. I took her back for a one week check-up and the vet was amazed and happy at her recovery. They took her in the back to give her another shot, and she died mid-lift by the vet tech. I can only guess an embolism from the surgery? He was as shocked as I was. It was horrible. Had to drive an hour home.. on the interstate, sobbing. She was such a sweetie she was named Sweetpea.
The 3rd GC is still alive. She has been laying soft-shelled eggs. Fortunately she is actually laying them rather than having them get stuck. I kept giving her Calcium Gluconate 23% solution (I bought it on the internet as it wasn't available locally), and she gradually started laying hard shell eggs, but I had to constantly give it to her. Seems she just had a chronic calcium deficiency. About two weeks ago I had the brain wave to force oyster shell down her. Held, lifted neck up, head beak up, pried her mouth open and popped them one at a time toward the back of her mouth. Took a long time, but I'm not giving her the calcium gluconate anymore and she is laying hard shell eggs. They are misshapen, though. I think they are taking too long to move through the oviduct. Apparently they need calcium for the contractions to move the egg along and lay it. I've forced oyster shell into her three times now. I'm hoping her calcium levels will build back up. I'm thinking of forcing her to molt so she stops laying for awhile while I build her calcium reserves up. I think part of why these production birds have this problem is that the constant laying depletes their calcium reserves to the point they can't lay properly. So far, I haven't had this problem with my Ameracaunas or Black Australorps that molt every year. Some of them just hit 3 years old.

The RIR is the first of the 12 RIRs to have problems. I think she is 2 yo. She started with an impacted crop. I took her to the vet who gave me a tube to put down her throat to fill her crop with water in the hopes that it would clear. I was told to massage the crop. Unfortunately only the liquid passed through. Finally had to have the vet empty the crop, as I just couldn't manage to do it. Then the crop started functioning again, but then she stopped eating. She almost starved to death, so I was carrying her with me around the farm in a pet carrier so she wouldn't die alone. I offered her the cabbage worms I was picking off the Brussel sprouts one day, and she gobbled them up and that was the turning point. I also put a GC in with her which encouraged her to eat. She continued to have very wet droppings, though. Then it was a matter of giving her a chance to eat her fill alone several times a day to build her strength up. I wormed her. However, last week I felt an egg in her tiny, skinny body. When she didn't lay it by the next day, I gave her calcium gluconate and oyster shell to no avail. Late last week her abdomen began to swell, to me, anyway. Took her to the avian vet. He didn't think it was inflammation and that things were limited to a few "mummified" eggs, what we are calling "lash" eggs. She isn't currently in laying mode (small dry vent, pale comb), but if she enters laying mode, she will get peritonitis as they will be forced up and out of her oviduct. I knew I had seen a medication listed in a formulary that stopped ovulation. There is also an implant called Superlorin (spelling?) that stops it for 6 months. I was considering those as options.

The maybe good news is that the vet let slip the antibiotic that he gives that also reduces swelling of the oviduct: doxycycline. I was reading about it and found that it was also the one that stops ovulation. Hallelujah! I ordered some last night from campingsurvival.com (competitive price and free shipping). I will now have it on hand to give at the first sign in the hope of reducing inflammation enough to move the egg material out before it becomes adhered to the oviduct. I also know now to get aggressive in giving calcium immediately and to put them in the dark to stop ovulation and force a molt. I will also stick to non-production breeds from now on. Got Red Sex Links last time to avoid any more roos, but I fear they may have this problem.

 

[missypebble]

Wol1 - I feel your pain and agonies as I read what you and your girls have been through. I have the same problem with my 5 years old RIR. I had the vet gave her the Suprelorin implant 3 times. The first two time, it lasted 3 months, exactly. The last time, I requested him to give her the double dose strength, and it only lasted her 1 month. Needless to say, a few told me that she might have cancer. Thus, the implant didn't do much to stop her from laying. She's been laying very thin shell eggs since and I truly don't know what to do because I really am hoping that by now, with her age, she should have stopped laying already. She was a commercial bred chicken, so I'm thinking her body wouldn't let her lay any more (?) I did try to give her Calcium Glubonate and that didn't do much. On top of this, she's a hard worker - she would lay almost every day of the week, and her body only allows her to rest only one day out of 7 days of laying. I can't come to term with "forcing" a molt on her as she likes to be active and it always breaks my heart to keep her in the cage and in the dark so that isn't an option for me at this point. I also tried to buy fake eggs and put them in her laying bed (dog bed), but that didn't do anything either. I've heard crushed Tums may help, so I'm going to try that. She has a history of laying no shell eggs and I'm afraid with the rate that her body forced her to lay, she will eventually lay another no-shell egg pretty soon.

The implant is too expensive if it only lasted 1 - 3 months, and seeing her loosing all her feathers repeatedly in such short period of time wasn't something I like either!

I hope your hens will pull through and you might give the implant a try. Many people I've known have had successful results with the implants. Besides the molting, I haven't heard any negative feedback about the implant. I'm hoping you can consider that for your girls.

 

[kculbert]

Thanks for the update Wol1 and missypebble. I have learned so much from this thread and appreciate everyone's willingness to share their experiences.

Big Fatty is doing amazing. She has not laid an egg since she received the Suprelorin implant back in May. She did go through a terrible molt right after receiving the implant and seemed sluggish and very moody for a few weeks as well. Other than that, she had no side effects. She is back to being her big beautiful self and doesn't show any signs of laying. I hope it stays that way but will do the implant again if needed.

Ella went through a terrible molt and stopped laying. She had been laying thin shelled and misshapen eggs for a while so hoping that her body gets a rest until spring. She's definitely another one that has caused some worry and that I ill have to monitor.

Everyone else is doing well. Phyllis finally grew her feathers back after the world's longest molt and I found one of her eggs in a chair today. It was perfect! The silkie has been the only one laying for a couple of months but as of today, she is officially broody (again) and is sitting in an empty nesting box.

The two Ameraucanas are still growing. The blue (Olivia) was showing signs that she was ready to lay but I have a feeling it won't be until spring : (

I am back to buying eggs, which my husband thinks is ridiculous since we have six chickens, but that's okay with me.

 

[Wol1]

missypebble, I'm sorry to hear about your RIR. It really takes a toll on you when they're ill. I think it's a good thing that the eggs are passing through even though they are soft. Should mean they aren't backing up and spilling over. Does she eat the oyster shells? Mine wouldn't. Have you tried forcing oyster shell into her? Oyster shell breaks down slowly and releases a more consistent supply of calcium. Regarding the TUMS, I've dissolved them in a little calcium gluconate (like 1 ml) and given them to her with an oral syringe. I've also chopped them into small pieces (oyster shell size) and popped them in her mouth. She hasn't laid an egg in about 5 days, though, unless she's hiding them in the barn somewhere (she and the RIR get to run loose in the barn during the day.) I've felt her belly several times, and I don't feel anything, anywhere. She's pretty skinny. All of the Golden Comets have been very skinny from the beginning.

The RIR: I've been giving her 50 mg doxycycline for the last 5 days. (I forgot to mention the dosage in my last post. I did lots of research and found some manufacturers in Holland and the European Union that say 20 mg per kg of weight. A kg is about 2.2 lbs. The RIR probably weighs around 5 lbs, so I think 50 mg is about right. The two sources above also listed withdrawal times. One said 7 days for meat, but not to be used in egg layers. The Holland company said 7 days for meat, and 14 days for eggs.) The RIRs droppings are getting more solid... Most are still runnier than normal, but I'm not seeing the mucous I was seeing before. Some are almost normal. She definitely feels better. She used to stay beside me, hunched up like her tummy hurt. Now she's foraging around on her own. Getting noisy and demanding again Seems like there was definitely an infection of some kind. Unfortunately, the lash eggs aren't moving. I think they must be adhered in the oviduct. I may discuss the Superlorin implant with the vet. Ovulating will be a death sentence for her. Can anyone tell me how much they cost? I realize it will be different from vet to vet, but an idea of the approximate cost would help me with my decision. I didn't realize they caused a molt. That could be a bit of a problem with winter coming.

kculbert, I'm so glad to hear that Big Fatty is doing so well. I do hope Emma can get a rest from egg laying. I also don't care about the number of eggs. Their long term health is important to me. My husband wanted to put the light on a timer so they would lay more eggs that we could sell, but I convinced him to let them have a rest. I told him that we may bring in less money now, but in the long run, we would save a lot on health care costs.

Good luck everyone!

 

[mg15]

Again Ladies Thank you so much for this thread. I wish I had this informat

 

[kculbert]

Thought I would post an update. I decided not to give Big Fatty another suprelorin implant after the first wore off. She did start to lay again and there were a few odd shaped eggs that caused me some concern at first but most of her eggs have been normal. Her egg laying is tapering off as she ages and so I really don't worry too much about her any more. She looks great and has had no health problems at all in over a year. I would still recommend the implant to anyone with a chicken who is prone to egg binding or repeated laying issues. Every one is doing good (knock on wood) but I do have a vision-impaired Ameraucana who demands a lot of attention, but lays the most beautiful eggs and love to be carried around like a baby.

I hope all of you and your girls are doing well.

 

[SusanMarieYork]

Can you tell me how much your paying to get your girls implants and are they the 6 month or 1 year? Also what does a spay cost for a chicken and do you worry about scar tissue or is that not something to be concerned with, when they are spayed? Thanks, Susan

 

[momdeb]

I’m sorry about the passing your sweet, Zelda.
How old was she?
My hen had a hysterectomy(removed oviduct). Now, she’s releasing yolk from ovary that was left and is on antibiotics. She doing well.
I’m going to ask vet about the hormone.
How is your hen with hormone doing?
I know what it’s like to have love for your special hen..our hen us truly a family member too.