Egg Yolk Peritonitis Prevention or Management

[featherz]

Ugh. My possible internal layer seems to be fine today after laying two eggs, but then I noticed another chicken wobbling a bit. Picked her up, ascites, naturally. Grr. And she's not a hatchery bird and is only 1 years old. Actually, I think she's only 11 months old. I've got her in the isolation cage also.
ETA:
RIP Jailbird. =( She perked up a bit this morning, but by this afternoon looked awful and passed shortly after. At least she went quick. I had let her roost with her flock last night and put her back in the cage this morning. I'm not doing a necropsy - her abdomen was swollen, red and hot so it's a pretty good guess what she had.

 

[BeckySue]

Last weekend, I had tried to treat my Red Star Blanche with penicillin shots. I was able to give her two good shots a day apart, but by the third try, she'd figured out what was going on and I couldn't keep her still enough to give her any more penicillin. I had been taking her temperature all along, and did not see it go down at all. She was a consistent 107 degrees fahrenheit despite the antibiotic on board. I decided that all I was doing was tormenting her and so put her back out with her sisters on Sunday night.

It is now Friday morning and I am devastated to report that Blanche died in the night.

EYP is a horrible condition. I pray that none of my other girls develop this. I have two more Red Stars, one of which has come from the same hatchery at the same time. Evelyn looks fine, but here's the thing about her: she's over two years old and I've never seen her go into molt. Her feathers are pretty ragged looking, especially on her tail, but she seems just fine.

We had been supplementing the light exposure of the flock, but we've cut that back. We're feeding them layer pellets with cracked corn, and consistently treating them to sunflower seeds and Cheerios. I had been giving them bowls of cottage cheese as a rare treat, but now I'm concerned that that might be giving them too much protein.

My heart goes out to any readers who suspect their girls might have EYP. All I can say is, it's a true heartache.

Rest in peace, my little Blanche Chicken. We'll bury you next to your sister, Stella.

 

[BeckySue]

Okay, I'm wondering if Red Stars are more susceptible to EYP because they have been bred to be heavy layers. This breed is also known by the following names: Golden Buff, Comet, Golden Comet, Golden Sex Link, Isa Brown or Red Sex Link.

Has anyone else had one of these breeds come down with EYP? I'm really worried for Evelyn and Mabel, my last two Red Stars.

 

[Jersey101]

Hi, I noticed people talking about helping this condition by keeping hens in a darker place for a while to help slow or stop laying - I have a hen that's laying eggs that keep splitting (theres a thread about it on here) anyways as well as giving minerals and such I'm putting her in the garage for a while - does anyone have a suggestion as to how long I should keep her in there to give her a rest from laying? How long do you think it will take for the darker conditions to effect her laying cycle?

Thanks in advance she's my favourite little hen!

 

[scratch'n'peck]

BeckySue, I'm so sorry about your poor little Blanche. Although heavy layers may be more prone to EYP it doesn't necessarily mean they will develop the problem. You can keep an eye out for the symptoms, but try not to worry too much.

 

[Mitfordsmom]

Hi there - I initially started this thread! I've come back to it as one of my older girls Nancy now has EYP. She clearly isn't going to make it so I was interested in you saying you had chloroform. I would like to end her suffering but don't want to stress her by taking her to the vet and wouldn't dream of ending her life unless there is no stress involved. Did you get it from the vet? I love this girl so much, she's been the boss right from the start but was never overly aggressive with the other hens - I'm really going to miss her and so are the other 5 hens. It will leave only one hen of the original four I got and my four "new" ex-bats that I got last october. I don't know who'll become boss - they are all a bit scatty and always seem a bit lost when Nancy isn't with them.

I can't believe I'm here again - I'm so sad but know that this is the price I pay for all the happiness they give me.

 

[Spinster_Sister]

Mitfordsmom, I am so sorry to learn of your Nancy's condition. My Parsley is swelling, but this time the swelling went from squishy to hard. She is laying like crazy, this week alone gave us 5 eggs! Today was a day off laying for her and the hardness has become squishy on the surface but I can still feel an extra firmness underneath. She is eating, dust bathing, running around like normal,...only I know she dealing with something now. I am going to start her on Baytril tomorrow (using her last vet's protocol). I hope all she will need is the antibiotic (like last time) then good probiotics and/or flagyl.

When is it too much to keep going? I am seriously thinking of taking her to another chicken vet that specializes in spaying birds, including chickens after she recovers from this episode. It is so darn difficult to keep from getting emotionally attached to our girls. Please keep us updated on your Nancy. Good Luck to you and your girls!

 

[BeckySue]

Mitsfordsmom: I'm sorry I didn't see your post until now. I'm a professor and researcher. I have chloroform in my research laboratory from which I snitched a little for the farm. I came back to the thread to say I've lost another girl, this time a Rhode Island Red. My husband finally let me do a post-mortem (he couldn't bear to think of me cutting on our little girls until Alice died yesterday). I would say you might be able to get some chloroform from your pharmacist, if they compound. Otherwise, the pharmacist might not have any at all.

Her peritoneal sac had tiny bits of yellow "cheesy" material in it. It was pale yellow, and I assume that is what's left of dropped yolks.

Alice was (I wrote "is" just now, it's so hard to lose these precious girls!) a flighty bird and difficult to handle. A few days after Blanche died, I thought she looked a little swollen and bandy-legged, but she never exhibited any other symptoms and seemed fine; eating and free ranging with the other girls. She was never seen to slow down and rest when she was out in the yard. With Stella and Blanche, I was able to pick them up and take their temperature. Both Red Stars were running fevers. With Alice, it didn't seem that she was that sick, but my husband found her dead in the coop on Sunday afternoon. He's devastated and hates the idea of digging another grave. I'm very sad about this too, and worried that I'll lose more girls to this nasty disease.

We've thought about changing their food away from layer pellets, thinking that we may be stimulating them too much with high protein.

All three girls, Stella and Blanche (Red Stars) and Alice (RIR) were just over two years old. I'd always read that the heavy layers have a high mortality. Is this why?

 

[speckledhen]

Night before last, I lost another to it, a 3 year old beautiful blue barred Easter Egger. We knew Riley wasn't right. When we found her with a bloated abdomen and she hadn't laid in awhile, we dosed her with double penicillin and slowly, the. fluid dissipated, but she never regained her energy and bubbly personality. She is only the second non-direct hatchery hen I've lost to this, but her grandsire was a McMurray BR. I think my count is up to about 12 lost to internal laying/EYP.



My last remaining original hen, Sunny, also died the same night as Riley, but she was 6 1/2, a good age for a hatchery hen, probably had cancer.

 

[zackandjen2004]

I wonder if there's some kind of pathogen that's contributing to a pandemic of what I believe is peritonitis. Symptoms are only affecting my older birds. Young black sex links have just started laying and are just dandy, but a group of older birds are exhibiting symptoms of unease.

Summer 2012 I saw a chicken with an outrageously poopy butt dreadlock which I cleaned up for her. A week later she was displaying clear signs of distress including this: hen not "squatting" in the "egg pops out" laying stance, but instead holding her body at low horizontal with the vent gently and rhythmically pulling down as if she is going to poop. No poop. I isolated that bird and examined her, checking for egg bound. The whole fluff felt tight, firm, swollen like there was fluid in there or something. Her droppings were "stress" droppings, watery with bits of normal fecal matter. Within a week of confinement I found her on her back, dead, with a puddle of stress droppings accumulated in her upturned vent. Her posture and symptoms were not related to a truly egg-bound hen that I culled last year--post mortem exam confirmed her plight.

This has been the only actual death in the flock, but 6 other hens of her age group (2.5 years) have been displaying similar postures at various times. They forage, but are very probably not laying based on vent shape and moisture. I observed one hen in this group actually laying a "rubber egg." Another hen in this group (who I isolated for observation last summer as well--laid 2 eggs while in confinement) actually "pooped" an egg yesterday in the yard; I saw this happen. Absolutely bizzare--there was no shell at all, not even a rubber one--and disgusting, too, as other hens recognized the goodies and started cleaning it up.

The main symptom, aggravating my mother's intuition to no end, is that they seem depressed emotionally, spending a good deal of time quiet and still, heads pulled in, sometimes a little chilled. There are no signs of respiratory illness that I can see--no discharge, no labored breathing. The affected birds are in various stages of molt, but this has been going on so long that I don't think it's molting-related. Whatever this is, it's sub-lethal and persistent--with the exception of the first, dead, bird.

The affected birds are all hatchery birds, although 3 of my home-bred mutt birds (likely the offspring of some of the affected birds) are 1 year younger and displaying similar symptoms. I plan on culling them all when we get our equipment in order and we get a warm day. I just want to find out how to head this off in the future.

Anyone have a similar tale of woe?