EYP in Wyandottes.... Is it common?

[NovaAman]

All right... A month ago or so, I had to cull a very lovely SLW because she started laying soft shells, even with extra help. Those soft shells started to become broke before she even got them out, then she quit laying all together, started internal laying and developed EYP. It was awful to watch and feel so helpless. Anyway, now another dotte from the same breeder Has started to not lay at all, never did the soft shell stage, but her abdomen is starting to swell, feel very hot, and she's not walking around, showing not interest in food or water, just layiing in a cool dirt pit under the coop, tail down. She pooped out egg yolk the day before yesterday which brought it to my attention, at that point she was walking and talking just fine. Well, anyway, I have a feeling she will not be with me when I get home from work today since we are supposed to have a nice (not really) heat wave come through with indexes topping out over 100... 2 days ago we were in the 70s with lows in the upper 50s, so I have a feeling she's not going to handle this very well considering she's already got problems. I know about the antibiotics and all. I also realise this can be an ongoing problem. What I really want to know is how common is this with this breed? I have one more girl that I got from this breeder. They are some of my favorite birds, so beautiful and fat. They were some of the first birds I ever got, and have only just turned a year old in April. I am not having these problems with any other birds, and I have 17 laying hens... This is them dust bathing... The SLW has already passed, and now The one next to her is showing the same problems...

 

[chickened]

That is not common with regards to breed but it is with breeders. A common problem I have seen over the years is inbreeding. When you inbreed especially sibling to sibling any minor hereditary defects are exaggerated each generation.

I have gotten otherwise great birds from good breeders but find upon breeding them that there are mishaps associated with their lines that are not happening with mine and vice versa.

As for your hens it is hard to say sometimes it just happens. I had a hen prolapse yesterday and one today with a broken egg in her that will most likely die and all I did was swap rooster.

 

[NovaAman]

Ah, thanks for answering. I am so bummed... They are some of my favorites. So beautiful... I will be burying the second tonight. This heat we have here, well, it just made it so much harder on her today, and she is not doing well, even though I moved her to the garage which is about 80, versus the 97 outside...

 

[speckledhen]

All I can tell you is that I have lost every single hatchery Wyandotte I ever had to it, several SLWs and a younger GLW. My friend lost both SLW hens to it as well. That said, I won't buy hatchery stock, period, because I lost RIRs, BRs and a Buff Orp to it as well, all from the same hatchery. My breeder stock seems to have better longevity, or at least, they don't get the reproductive crud as much as the hatchery hens do.

I'll never again get another Wyandotte from a hatchery-their stock, well, let's just say, is crappy, as far as the most common Wyandotte varieties go.

 

[NovaAman]

Thats just it... These girls came from a breeder over in Borculo Michigan... Can not remember her name now, but she had very lovely birds. But maybe it was in inbreeding issue that popped up... like you get with dogs.. only a lot of people just think... its just a bird... UGH! I will miss her now too. The last dotte I have left, she seems to be doing just fine. I hope that stays that way... I also hope that none of the chicks that I hatched off these girls will have those same problems when they hit reproductive maturity... They roo came from a completely different farm... so...

 

[SunnyAlberta]

I'm sorry for your losses. To be certain that you are outcrossing lines, it would be a good idea to ask the farm where the rooster came from about where there birds came from. Although I am new to chickens I raised pedigreed cats for 12 years and I know just how tricky it is to get "new blood".