Egg peritonitis? Poisoning? Two deaths.

[fowlgebra]

Almost exactly two months ago I lost one of my Olive Eggers to a mystery illness or ailment. At first I thought it was Merek's but it turned out not to be, thank goodness. A friend of a friend who is a veterinarian looked at videos and pictures of her and thought it was egg peritonitis.

Fast forward to now, I lost a second Olive Egger to the exact same thing last night. Both of these birds came from a hatchery along with another Olive Egger (who is my egg laying champion) but it seems odd to me that both girls would develop such a rare affliction within months of each other. I'm wondering if it could be bad genetics or perhaps a misdiagnosis. Does anyone have any experience with egg peritonitis? I should add that this particular Olive Egger, Hazel, was 11 months old and had never laid an egg so the genetics could potentially be funky though I'm not well-versed in this area.

These are the only two girls out of 40 chickens to have anything wrong. The rest are and have always been amazingly healthy and vibrant. No mites/lice, doubtful a parasite. The other possibility is poisoning. Right before Pickle died (the first one) a chicken had gotten into a part of my garden they weren't supposed to and ate all of my tulips and daffodils. I didn't learn until later that those are poisonous to chickens. Just this past week, a patch of buttercups started coming up which is near one of Hazel's favorite free-ranging spots and I just read but those too are poisonous to chickens. I've never had chickens eat things that could harm them. So, I'm perplexed all around.

The symptoms were quite quick. Low energy, disassociation as chickens do when they are unwell, lack of coordination and then death. Pickle took about three days to die while Hazel took less than 24 hours. Both were eating and drinking perfectly well until a few hours before they passed. Neither were egg bound.

I had an account on here for a really long time but lost access to it due to losing the email address so would have added this on my previous thread.

 

[Eggcessive]

Welcome back. What was your previous BYC user name? Sorry about your hens. It would only be a guess what they were suffering from with getting a necropsy by the state poultry vet after one dies. What symptoms were you seeing in the hens when each got sick? A hen who has never laid an egg at 11 months more than likely had a reproductive disorder. Here is a link where to contact your state vet if you should lose another bird:
https://www.metzerfarms.com/PoultryLabs.cfm

 

[fowlgebra]

Thank you, @Eggcessive. My previous username was aliciaFarmer. I had thought the first hen may have had may have Marek's but it turned out she didn't. A friend of mine who also used to be a vet tech wanted to check her for tumors or any signs because she had gotten several birds from me a couple months before and in the process found a piece of glass in her intestines but we didn't fully think that was it. There was no sign of visible parasite, no mites, nothing, though a malformed egg high up that she wasn't sure if she broke in the process or if it had broken on its own inside her. Her main priority was ruling out tumors and the possibility of Marek's. I should add that the first girl, pickle, didn't start laying eggs until about a month before that, around 9 months old. Every other chicken that I've owned other than these two Olive Eggers have started laying between 14 and 22 weeks so I wondered if it was some sort of genetic thing. The Third Olive Egger who is still living lays between 6 and 7 eggs a week and started around 20 weeks so polar opposite. She's more normal sized, around 6 lbs unlike the two that died (they were about 8.5 and 10 lbs).

With both of them, they became a bit withdrawn though the second girl had always been a bit of a loner chicken preferring the company of humans or dogs to chickens. From straight out of the brooder, she slept alone away from everyone on the Roost, only joining them up there in the last three days of her life in unison with starting to sit in the nesting boxes. Both girls ate and drank perfectly fine, didn't lose weight or have much visible abdominal swelling (it it was difficult for me to tell since both of them were so much larger than the rest of the girls), neither was egg bound in as far as I could reach. The first girl had a clear discharge similar inconsistency to egg white and the other that died yesterday looked like egg yolk, which is really the only difference between the two other than duration. The first girl started losing coordination and despite all intervention died a few days later. This gal last night, Hazel, was totally coordinated and fine until about an hour before she passed. It looked similar though not exactly the same. She just walked to play time her favorite hiding spot, flopped over once and didn't try walking again, her eyes rolling back in her head and then was gone less than an hour later. It hit her pretty immediately.

I always knew Hazel (second girl) had some sort of developmental problem because she grew freakishly fast and large and although I thought she would be the first layer, she literally never laid an egg. I just kept her because she was sweet the last three days before she passed she had been visiting the nesting boxes frequently for the first time in her life so I figured she was going to start laying. Yesterday morning when she seemed a little slow and under the weather I checked to make sure she wasn't egg bound and she wasn't. The rest of the day she separated herself from the flock in an enclosed pen and I closed the door to give her privacy and to keep a good eye on her. She was well enough to dust bathe, eat and drink but from about 6 p.m. to 8 p.m. she went downhill fast. She was able to walk and be fine and then just flopped over. Then died.

Eyes hatched and raised exactly 100 chickens and other than a couple incidences with babies, I've never lost anything over a couple days old. I have super happy healthy vibrant chickens so I figured that it was possible it was genetic but at the same time, if it could have been poisoning via plant, I will want to make sure I either remove those plants were fully block access to them okay. I know for fact somebody's been eating buttercups and didn't know they were poisonous to chickens but I can't say for sure that it was her other than the fact that it was near one of her favorite spots to hang out. I just want to make sure I address anything that could be unless it's genetic to ensure it doesn't happen again. I'm super OCD about checking them all for mites are other critters, cleaning the coop more regularly than is probably necessary and cleaning and disinfecting their feeders and waterers constantly.

Sorry that was so long-winded.

 

[Eggcessive]

Chickens seem to know what plants are good for them to eat, and what are not. Some things, such as rhubarb are toxic to chickens if they eat a lot of it. So hard to know if they ate something bad for them. The symptoms do seem to fit with either a reproductive disorder, such as internal layer, or possibly fatty liver disease. Those hens may be overweight and upon necropsy may have excessive body fat and signs of a hemorrhage. I have a hen now who hasn’t laid in years who probably suffers from internal laying. She had been unbalanced and lost coordination to walk for about 5 weeks in late winter, but has recovered well enough to walk all around the yard daily. We usually don’t know what is going on for sure without a necropsy by a professional. In some states it is not very easy, but we can learn from doing them ourselves. Many take pictures of the organs and post them here for opinions.

 

[fowlgebra]

So true about chickens not generally eating things they shouldn't, @Eggcessive. Though I do not know my tulips were eaten and the buttercup patch has been munched on, I can't say for sure that it was from a chicken.

I will try to get a necropsy if this happens again for sure. We live pretty rurally and my husband takes our only car to work so getting to post office would take some creativity for sure. If I can't do that, I will definitely try doing one myself (and I'd surely need to take pictures to seek additional knowledge). I'm hoping it's just the two girls. I'm obsessively watching everyone else today and they are all perfect.

 

[Kiki]

Thank you, @Eggcessive. My previous username was aliciaFarmer. I had thought the first hen may have had may have Marek's but it turned out she didn't. A friend of mine who also used to be a vet tech wanted to check her for tumors or any signs because she had gotten several birds from me a couple months before and in the process found a piece of glass in her intestines but we didn't fully think that was it. There was no sign of visible parasite, no mites, nothing, though a malformed egg high up that she wasn't sure if she broke in the process or if it had broken on its own inside her. Her main priority was ruling out tumors and the possibility of Marek's. I should add that the first girl, pickle, didn't start laying eggs until about a month before that, around 9 months old. Every other chicken that I've owned other than these two Olive Eggers have started laying between 14 and 22 weeks so I wondered if it was some sort of genetic thing. The Third Olive Egger who is still living lays between 6 and 7 eggs a week and started around 20 weeks so polar opposite. She's more normal sized, around 6 lbs unlike the two that died (they were about 8.5 and 10 lbs).

With both of them, they became a bit withdrawn though the second girl had always been a bit of a loner chicken preferring the company of humans or dogs to chickens. From straight out of the brooder, she slept alone away from everyone on the Roost, only joining them up there in the last three days of her life in unison with starting to sit in the nesting boxes. Both girls ate and drank perfectly fine, didn't lose weight or have much visible abdominal swelling (it it was difficult for me to tell since both of them were so much larger than the rest of the girls), neither was egg bound in as far as I could reach. The first girl had a clear discharge similar inconsistency to egg white and the other that died yesterday looked like egg yolk, which is really the only difference between the two other than duration. The first girl started losing coordination and despite all intervention died a few days later. This gal last night, Hazel, was totally coordinated and fine until about an hour before she passed. It looked similar though not exactly the same. She just walked to play time her favorite hiding spot, flopped over once and didn't try walking again, her eyes rolling back in her head and then was gone less than an hour later. It hit her pretty immediately.

I always knew Hazel (second girl) had some sort of developmental problem because she grew freakishly fast and large and although I thought she would be the first layer, she literally never laid an egg. I just kept her because she was sweet the last three days before she passed she had been visiting the nesting boxes frequently for the first time in her life so I figured she was going to start laying. Yesterday morning when she seemed a little slow and under the weather I checked to make sure she wasn't egg bound and she wasn't. The rest of the day she separated herself from the flock in an enclosed pen and I closed the door to give her privacy and to keep a good eye on her. She was well enough to dust bathe, eat and drink but from about 6 p.m. to 8 p.m. she went downhill fast. She was able to walk and be fine and then just flopped over. Then died.

Eyes hatched and raised exactly 100 chickens and other than a couple incidences with babies, I've never lost anything over a couple days old. I have super happy healthy vibrant chickens so I figured that it was possible it was genetic but at the same time, if it could have been poisoning via plant, I will want to make sure I either remove those plants were fully block access to them okay. I know for fact somebody's been eating buttercups and didn't know they were poisonous to chickens but I can't say for sure that it was her other than the fact that it was near one of her favorite spots to hang out. I just want to make sure I address anything that could be unless it's genetic to ensure it doesn't happen again. I'm super OCD about checking them all for mites are other critters, cleaning the coop more regularly than is probably necessary and cleaning and disinfecting their feeders and waterers constantly.

Sorry that was so long-winded.

I'm sorry for your loss.

Here you mention egg yolk like stuff.

That sounds like EYP to me.
Did you open her belly area up after she passed?

 

[fowlgebra]

@Texas Kiki I don't know what EYP is and no, I didn't.

 

[fowlgebra]

@Texas Kiki I'm totally cracking up at myself right now. I call it EP and wasn't thinking. But no, I didn't investigate. I haven't gotten that far yet being a long time chicken keeper but never a keeper of a sick chicken until these 2.

 

[Eggcessive]

Internal laying, salpingitis, egg yolk peritonitis, and ascites all may be inter-related reproductive problems. When opening the abdomen, you may see yellow fluid leaking from the abdomen as it is opened if there is ascites. There could be masses of egg material or fleshy-looking lash eggs from salpingitis or egg yolk peritonitis. Any evidence of a large hemorrhage or blood clot could be from fatty liver disease. Here is a link about doing a necropsy:
https://vet.uga.edu/oldvpp/programs/afvet/attachments/how_to_necropsy_a_bird.pdf