2 YO Barred Rock not laying and strange poop

[Emilytm]

Hi all,

I have a small backyard flock of 8 birds. A few weeks ago my 2 year old Barred Rock started laying rubber eggs and shell-less eggs then she quit laying altogether. Since then, she’s been having strange, brightly colored, crumbly poop. I will attach a pic if I can. Behaviorally, she’s acting normally. Comb color and appetite seem fine. Anyone have any ideas what we could be dealing with? Rest of the flock is laying normally. Thank you!

 

[Eggcessive]

Welcome to BYC. Your hen obviously has some type of reproductive disorder, such as salpingitis, impacted oviduct, or other. There is not much that can be done for those except for stopping her from laying with a hormone implant or spaying, both of which are expensive and available through an avian vet who does that. Not practical for most of us though. Antibiotics might have been helpful if used right away when this first started, but they also may not have helped at all. These are common problems with some laying hens, and can eventually be a cause of death, hopefully way down the road. I lose a hen or two every year from reproductive disorders, and most are older.

Her droppings look a bit like she has recently eaten some red cabbage or blueberries.

I would feed her a good chicken feed, and since she doesn’t lay anymore, she could eat a flock raiser type feed now that has less calcium. Some day if she acts very ill and seems to be suffering, you might want to put her down. I have hens like this who lived a year or two with a fairly good quality of life. You can learn a lot from doing a necropsy, either yourself or by having your state vet do one, to see what was going on. We learn a lot from looking at the abdominal organs, and taking pictures which can be posted here for opinions. Some of the other repro problems can be cancer, internal laying, and egg yolk peritonitis. Here are some articles ro read:
http://www.poultrydvm.com/condition/internal-layer

http://www.poultrydvm.com/condition/egg-peritonitis

 

[Emilytm]

Thank you for your thorough and detailed reply. I figured that it was something along those lines. We considered antibiotics when the laying issues first started but I read mixed info about results and that some salpingitis can be viral, so I tried a naturalistic treatment but obviously it didn’t resolve the issue. I considered taking her to a vet but it’s so expensive and she was acting fine otherwise so we decided to give it some time to see if her situation improved on its own.

Apart from not laying and the strange droppings, she seems perfectly fine. I have looked at various poop charts and couldn’t find anything like hers, especially since she hasn’t eaten any of the foods associated with bright green poop and urates. They all eat a high quality organic layer feed, organic grain scratch as a treat, home grown greens and mealworms or black soldier fly larvae that I breed for them and my reptiles. She is not keen on the greens but loves sprouted wheat berries and goes nuts for the bugs. She’s not as fast as she used to be and seems a bit stiff but is otherwise a happy bird.

As long as she isn’t suffering it seems as though we’ve got ourselves a freeloader on our hands. Luckily she’s my husband’s favorite

Thanks again for the input!