Egg yolk peritonitis

[Kiki]

Thank you, Eggcessive. Both of these hens were very good layers before the illness hit them. I wish I had been more proactive when the laying suddenly stopped.

This is another good read:
https://www.merckvetmanual.com/poul...eproductive-system/egg-peritonitis-in-poultry

 

[azygous]

As @Eggcessive mentioned, the only way you might be able to prevent the death of a hen from a reproductive infection is to intervene very early on when a hen has her first reproductive crisis. One of the most common ways a reproductive infection gets started is when a hen gets an egg stuck and it ruptures inside her.

Before that occurs, though, if you can recognize a hen is in laying distress, you can often help her get the egg out by treating her with calcium and moist heat. If this fails, and an egg ruptures, continued calcium can help her expel the egg remains. Then many of us start the hen immediately on an antibiotic to head off infection from bacteria taking advantage of the inflammation the broken egg caused. If caught in time, a hen can survive the broken egg event and even go on to lay for several more good years.

Most of us have lost many good layers in the process of learning to recognize the signs and then knowing when to begin treatment. As @Texas Kiki has suggested, reading up on these laying disorders can help you educate yourself and shorten your learning curve considerably.

 

[Ebony Rose]

I feel your pain, I just put my favorite girl down... She'd never laid an egg, so I thought perhaps she was just a slow starter... by the time I became concerned, it was probably too late. I did a necropsy on her, most definitely was peritonitis. (EYP). My first girl to have a reproductive disorder. I'll be more aware in the future. So sorry for your loss.

 

[Wyorp Rock]

I keep a small flock- 5 birds. Last November I lost one of my barred rocks. I believe the culprit was peritonitis since her symptoms were exactly in line with the symptoms I’ve read about. Now my second barred rock is suffering from the same issue and appears to be on her way out. I’m wondering if there is something I’m doing wrong or if this is just par for the coarse. My chickens have a fairly large run (400 sq. ft.) and I keep their coop clean. I feed them Purina Layena and a layer mash. Their waterer is cleaned every 3 or 4 days.
Is there anything else I can do to prevent this problem? I don’t want to keep replacing my hens if there is something I’m doing wrong to cause the problem.

lowered tail, lacking energy, standing upright like a penguin, and eventually a waddling walk. Both girls were prolific layers prior to the illness.

I have checked her for being egg-bound and that doesn’t seem to be the problem. I’m fairly certain it has something to do with peritonitis and internal laying, but I’m not positive. I’m concerned because two birds have been affected by the same problem in the last 6 months.

She stopped laying about 5 months ago. I chalked it up to the onset of winter but it appears I was wrong.

I'm sorry to hear about your hen

I don't think you are doing anything wrong. Sadly, this is very common in laying hens. I hate to say - this is just the way it is, but frustratingly that seems to be the case.
It's not uncommon to lose a couple of hens within a short period of time to something like reproductive disorders and then you do wonder if there's anything you can do, you doubt yourself and begin to think you could have prevented it somehow. I've been in your shoes (many others have been too) and from everything I can read, study, research - there is not much that can be done. Sometimes having "better quality" stock (non-hatchery) might help, but that takes time (years) to find out if the outcome will be different.

You have received good suggestions and links from the others. You might find the video in the first post of this thread helpful as well.
https://www.backyardchickens.com/th...ions-my-youtube-video-graphic-photos.1201052/

 

[RocketDog1]

I'm sorry to hear about your hen

I don't think you are doing anything wrong. Sadly, this is very common in laying hens. I hate to say - this is just the way it is, but frustratingly that seems to be the case.
It's not uncommon to lose a couple of hens within a short period of time to something like reproductive disorders and then you do wonder if there's anything you can do, you doubt yourself and begin to think you could have prevented it somehow. I've been in your shoes (many others have been too) and from everything I can read, study, research - there is not much that can be done. Sometimes having "better quality" stock (non-hatchery) might help, but that takes time (years) to find out if the outcome will be different.

You have received good suggestions and links from the others. You might find the video in the first post of this thread helpful as well.
https://www.backyardchickens.com/th...ions-my-youtube-video-graphic-photos.1201052/

Boy, Wyorp Rock, what a helpful post and video. Thank you! Despite doing my best to give my birds quality nutrition as well as a clean and roomy environment, I was afraid I was doing something wrong to cause the issue. Now I feel encouraged.

 

[Melissa97]

Hi yes this I common in hens especially ones that are consistant layers, it's impossible to see every egg you're hens lay so it's understandable that either she had an egg break inside her and gave her a serious septic infection or she may have just started to lay internally but unless it is noticed right away it becomes life threatening pretty fast. Don't beat you're self up its not you're fault I actually have delt with this before with my polish girl but she has always been a house chicken so I noticed what was going on right away. It started with her laying soft shelled eggs and not amount of calcium helped, even when the vet perscribed a liquid calcium supplement it didint help her form a hard shell so one day she was having a lot of trouble and sure enough the egg exploded inside her vent and was dripping out so I flushed her vent out with warm water and gave her an Epson salt bath but sadly a week later she develped an infection so off to the vet we went and they started her on baytril but it wasent working so I went back and said she needed better antibiotics then they added clavamox and that's when she started to really get better and they also gave her metacam for pain and inflamation. She was on thease meds for a month and a half and also was given a suprelorin implant to stop her from laying anymore eggs and it last about six months longer in the winter then needs to be given again after it wears off but she's going to be 7 this october so she's doing very well on thease implants she started the when she was 2 and they saved her life and she's very healthy and happy now! They are just like putting in a microchip into a dog as they go under the skin so very non invasive. I whould take her into the vets and get her started on some strong antibiotics and pain meds and see if she responds, she may also need to be drained is her abdomen swollen?