Hen dead, broken egg inside? How common?

[JodyJo]

I had a Gold Comet hen at 26 weeks, die on Wednesday...I posted a plea for help when I noticed her ill. When I first saw her, it looked as if she was passing a yellowish watery substance...someone suggested she had a broken egg inside.

How common is this? Do I need to be watchful of the other hens?

She was young and very healthy, this is bothering me, poor thing...I don't want to lose any more!

 

[al6517]

My Take on egg bound hen's is this............. we see so many many more cases of hen's being egg bound from hatchery hen's, the reason being is the hatcheries are Obessed with creating the egg machine in their hen's. The vast majority of hatchery customers are also egg obessed and want nothing more than to have egg's egg's and more egg's. breeder bred Heritage birds on the other hand are much more well balanced with level egg's production, body type, and color correctness.

So in the end when the hatcheries instruct their breeders to breed for mix breed mutant egg producing strains in their breedings, you are going to have a huge amount of egg bound hen's. I know many breeders of different breeds and we talk and visit often and egg bound hen's are never a topic of disscussion, as we concentrate on the whole bird not just a pet egg machine as the hatcheries do.

 

[JodyJo]

Quote:
hmmm. well....I hope it doesn't happen too often, is there any way of helping them if this happens again...? I am not using light this winter in my coop, I want them to have a break, eggs are nice, but hens alive and healthy are nicer...I guess in a few years when I establish a new flock, I will go with Heritage breeds.

 

[al6517]

Quote:
hmmm. well....I hope it doesn't happen too often, is there any way of helping them if this happens again...? I am not using light this winter in my coop, I want them to have a break, eggs are nice, but hens alive and healthy are nicer...I guess in a few years when I establish a new flock, I will go with Heritage breeds.

You have alot of egg production breeds in your flock and most of your birds are specialy designed egg laying machines. IE the GC,BSL, and PR'ds............. feed them a balanced healthy diet and limit scratch to a smidge weekly or monthly. Ensure they have plenty of fresh water, do periodic vent inspections, and provide them plenty of excercise improving muscle tone. These will help some. Often when a hen get's her first episode of egg bounding, she will maintain a propensity to have a few more.

 

[JodyJo]

Quote:
hmmm. well....I hope it doesn't happen too often, is there any way of helping them if this happens again...? I am not using light this winter in my coop, I want them to have a break, eggs are nice, but hens alive and healthy are nicer...I guess in a few years when I establish a new flock, I will go with Heritage breeds.

You have alot of egg production breeds in your flock and most of your birds are specialy designed egg laying machines. IE the GC,BSL, and PR'ds............. feed them a balanced healthy diet and limit scratch to a smidge weekly or monthly. Ensure they have plenty of fresh water, do periodic vent inspections, and provide them plenty of excercise improving muscle tone. These will help some. Often when a hen get's her first episode of egg bounding, she will maintain a propensity to have a few more.

thanks for the advice, I will reduce the scratch...they get tons of exercise...they run all over the property, 300+ acres! Lots of water, they are quite pampered and well taken care of that is why this surprised me. I guess I could have saved her if I had known what to do, I got the warm water bath etc, too late to help her. Any other suggestions on what to do to help when they get egg bound again.

 

[Haunted Chicken]

Just curious as to why scratch is bad. I hear such mixed opinions. Some toss in a handful a day, some more, some much less.

 

[Wynette]

Scratch has little to no nutritional value. They love it, just like I love hot fudge sundaes (I'm overweight....not surprising since I love hot fudge sundaes). They enjoy healthy treats such as dark, leafy greens (kale, mustard greens, and the like) just as well if not more, so choose those as treats. Or, healthy grains such as oats or barley (I feed steam rolled oats & barley as treats on occasion) or BOSS.

Another thing you can do that MAY help with your production breeds, Jodyjo, is to not push them toward laying when you have them as youngsters. Many folks push them by feeding them layer ration before they begin laying - it's just too much for them, and they'll end up laying internally or becoming eggbound as a result.

I'm very sorry you have lost one of your gals. But - good on you for asking for feedback/advice for the future!

 

[JodyJo]

Quote:
They were getting a handful of scratch with BOSS every AM, not any more...also, all my chickens are still on Grower/Starter...I have 3 17 week old EE pullets, so I am holding off on Layer Feed till they start laying, so everything about my girls has gone as their bodies have chosen...I won't even use light this winter, let them take a break...I appreciate the advice and plan to be more on the look out...