Egg Yolk Peritonitis Prevention or Management

[Spinster_Sister]

Hi MittsfordsMom, Sorry for the delay in replying. My Parsley is holding her own right now. Her Baytril is 1.0 cm twice a day with Metacan 2cc once a day. I do not give her full dose metacam, just half every other day. She doesn't appear to be in pain because she is dustbathing and running and digging around the yard and pen. It has been one week since she last laid an egg.

I am giving her plenty of buttermilk, Greek yogurt mixed with her mash, BOSS, unseasoned roast beef, mealworms (dried and live) and some bits of wheat bread. She also gets poultry vitamins in her distilled water. She is not a chicken that likes to be held...so dosing her has not been easy. I used tablets at first, but at the second vet visit received Baytril liquid. I just learned how to dose oral meds to chickens on youtube and will have to practice how to hold and dose with another chicken instead. So far she takes her meds mixed with foods.

Now, I have read you can also crush up a tablet of baby aspririn and mix it very well into a gallon of water and offer it to her to drink. I would not mix the metacam and aspririn....let her have one or the other when she needs it.

Parsley has first treated with Ivermectin behind the neck...and that really helped bring her red face/comb back but it did take 2 days to be sure. It also did take 2 days for her activity to start to recover. It is now one week since she stumbled out of the run with a very very pale comb/face/waddles. She looks completely healthy but I am sure she is not out of the woods just yet.

How is your girl?

 

[Mitfordsmom]

Hello! She's still the same. She seems happy enough and has been enjoying the sunshine but I can't see a big improvement. I had a chat with the vet yesterday, he was pleased her stomach hadn't gotten bigger. He said he'd rather only attempt to drain her when we've nothing left to lose as there are probably lumps etc. which means she'd be hard to drain. I said she was getting 55 of Baytril - but it's .55ml and I've started giving her a tiny bit of metacam and I've stopped given the aspirin as Vet said you can't give both. I have the liquid Baytril and just soak it in a small piece of bread which she eats easily. Her appetite is not an issue at all! I wouldn't attempt the syringe method the vet showed me - Diana is like your Parsley and objects to being handled too much - she's a real lady! (My girls are named after the Mitford sisters, so as well as Diana I have Debo, Decca and Nancy!). I'm also giving her a herbal diuretic - I chop the tablet in four pieces and stick in pieces of grapes which again she eats readily. She also gets dried meal worms and a tonic in her water. A trick I've learned to make sure my girls are drinking when I'm worried they're not drinking enough is to float some meal worms in a shallow bowl of water - they love "fishing" them out and take water in at the same time!

That's interesting about the Ivermectin - I'd like to treat all my girls with that - can you still eat their eggs once they're treated?

I'll get some Yogurt today, I found this recipe for sick hens yesterday and tried it minus the Yogurt:

1/2 to 1 cooked egg yolk crumbled into the mixture
1 teaspoon of cod liver oil
1 very small drizzle of honey
2 tablespoons of Natural Yogurt - no sugar
2 to 4 tablespoons of rolled oats or baby rice
1 dessert spoon of (wet) beef cat food - not dog food
A few grains of multi vitamin powder
2 tablespoons of grated apple

You make it into a crumble - not runny -I gave it to all the girls for a treat and they loved it!

Thanks for keeping in touch - I really hope Parsley is out of the woods and on the road to a full recovery!

I'll keep you posted.

 

[Mitfordsmom]

Dear All,

I took Diana to the vet this morning to have some fluid drained. Once he removed some fluid he could feel the lumps more easily. He thinks that as well as the yolks there are some eggs far inside her so she is egg bound as well as having the EYP. Is there anything I can do for my poor girl or should I be thinking about calling it a day? To make matters worse we have a holiday booked for 10 days - we leave this Saturday, if I cancel we'll lose a lot of money and I'll be divorced! I just want to give my poor girl every chance I can, I'll have house sitters staying but I know they won't have the same amount of time or dedication to give to Diana. Does anyone have any words of advice?

 

[speckledhen]

If she is laying internally, there is nothing that will fix that, no antibiotic, nothing except a surgery that will likely kill her anyway. I've dealt with this numerous times, did many necropsies and have seen how it sets up inside them. It's genetic/hormone based and nothing you can prevent or fix permanently by any medication or feed.

 

[teach1rusl]

I cringe every time I read of internal laying

And with a vacation planned - as you said - nobody is going to baby a sick bird like you would. My girl would perk up and do better for weeks at a time. So maybe if your hen is on one of those upswings, let it go until you get back, and then decide. But if she's on a low, then perhaps you should consider putting her down now?? I know that sounds awful, but you're between a rock and a hard place.

 

[speckledhen]

There was a study that seemed to indicate that perhaps flax seed may have a minor effect in staving off internal laying, however, I dont have the link to the study, and I don't know what amount, when you'd have to start giving it to them, etc. My birds did have flax seed on occasion in their feed and the hatchery hens still came down with EYP and were laying internally. The breeder hens, the ones with better overall genetic makeup, seem not to suffer from this in the same way as the hatchery stock.

 

[Mitfordsmom]

Thanks Guys,

she was just lying in her basket and I thought the trip to the vets had finished her off but her sisters came into the kitchen and as soon as she heard them getting grapes she perked up and came out of the basket and ate some grapes, worms and tuna and had a drink of water. She's snoozing in the kitchen with me as I type. It's a windy day with showers and some sunshine so I don't want to risk leaving her outside. Who said keeping hens was easy?!!!

 

[speckledhen]

Grapes are like chicken cocaine, LOL! My own Ivy who was dying from internal laying perked up at the mention of the word grape in her last days. I knew the time was closing fast when she refused a grape.

 

[Mitfordsmom]

I think I'll take that as my sign too. I thought she'd prefer roosting with the other girls but when I peeped in, one of them was pecking at her wing feathers as poor Diana just sat hunched with her eyes closed, so I have her in a dog crate in the kitchen for tonight - at least I know she'll be warm and safe.

 

[klmclain1]

Doesn't sound very good and I'm soooo sorry. I just went through a bout of EYP with one of my girls - but I caught it VERY early. The advice I received here was Penicillin for three days. I went to the vet, he gave her the first injection plus the Metacam for pain (just once) and I gave her the next two injections over the following days. That was Weds/Thurs/Fri last week. By Weds afternoon, she was a new woman. So it started working very quickly. And, so far so good. She's been back to her old self since Thursday.

So, I guess where I'm going with this is it DOES sound like she's internally laying on top of the EYP and, although it would be very difficult, I think I would put her down to keep her from further pain. Of course, that's just my personal opinion. I know you'll find what's right for you and your girl.