Hen laid a hard / "cooked" yolk (no shell)

[Kiki]

Looks like you're done talking about lash egg, but I am going to bring it up again. Thanks to @Wyorp Rock, I believe my hen, Penny, has lash egg. I don't know for certain, because I didn't cut open the egg, but all the signs are pointing to it.
In the past few months I have had 3 hens die from being egg bound (not including Penny), but maybe it is lash egg too? I have never had any of my flock get sick until now, and all my flock is getting eggbound/lash egg.
My question is, why are all my hens getting sick with this??? They have plenty of calcium, but we do have a major lice problem (I'm working on it!). Please help. If I don't get any answers here I will probably post my own thread.

What do you feed your flock on a daily basis including any and all treats/extras?

 

[Wyorp Rock]

Looks like you're done talking about lash egg, but I am going to bring it up again. Thanks to @Wyorp Rock, I believe my hen, Penny, has lash egg. I don't know for certain, because I didn't cut open the egg, but all the signs are pointing to it.
In the past few months I have had 3 hens die from being egg bound (not including Penny), but maybe it is lash egg too? I have never had any of my flock get sick until now, and all my flock is getting eggbound/lash egg.
My question is, why are all my hens getting sick with this??? They have plenty of calcium, but we do have a major lice problem (I'm working on it!). Please help. If I don't get any answers here I will probably post my own thread.

I'm sorry to hear you've lost some hens.
When they died, did you happen to perform a necropsy or send a body to your state lab?
If you did, what was found?

How old are the hens?

 

[casportpony]

Not sure if I'm getting this right, but for my 4lb hen this would come out to 0.18mL, which seems like the volume of a raindrop. Does this sound about right?

Yes, that is correct. Okay to round up to 0.2 ml.

Is it safe to mix with water, or should I administer undiluted?

Give undiluted orally twice a day.

Also, any idea how many days I should keep at this dosage? I've completed about 3 days of amoxicillin so far and I'm not sure if I should run a complete course for enrofloxacin just to be safe.

For something like this I would give five days, maybe longer. The problem with going longer is that sometimes they will get a yeast infection, and for that you would need something like ketoconazole of fluconazole.

 

[PioneerChicks]

What do you feed your flock on a daily basis including any and all treats/extras?

At the time I was feeding them Country Companion layer pellet, with a bit of scratch mixed in (much less than ten percent).

I'm sorry to hear you've lost some hens.
When they died, did you happen to perform a necropsy or send a body to your state lab?
If you did, what was found?

How old are the hens?

No, I didn't send the bodies in for any testing, I just buried them like I always do.
The first three hens were around 4 years old, and Penny, the one who is currently sick, is 3.

 

[denz88]

I usually recommend 0.05 ml per pound, so that would be 0.2 ml for you 4 pounder. You can get a 1 ml syringe at most pharmacies or WalMart to give babies medications, and those are free (at least at my Walmart, recently.) It should be given for 5 days, even though you gave amoxicillin before. Probiotics would be good to feed her during and after antibiotics.

Edited to say that it should be given twice a day for 5 days.

Yes, that is correct. Okay to round up to 0.2 ml.


Give undiluted orally twice a day.


For something like this I would give five days, maybe longer. The problem with going longer is that sometimes they will get a yeast infection, and for that you would need something like ketoconazole of fluconazole.

Thanks guys! Hoping for the best. My hen's gotten quite used to drinking out of a 3mL dropped I've been using. Since I'm most confident with it, I'm using that. It turns out I have a 1mL syringe lying around in the house so I pulled up ~0.18mL. I then "ported" the enrofloxacin to the dropper. My girl picked up all of it!

I'll move the dosage up slightly to 0.20mL beginning with the next dose tomorrow morning.

@casportpony I happen to have some ketoconazole shampoo, but perhaps it's not suitable for chickens? I don't think I've ever had a chicken with yeast infection so I'm not sure what to look for exactly.

Thanks again for all of the input, it's been super helpful.

 

[casportpony]

@casportpony I happen to have some ketoconazole shampoo, but perhaps it's not suitable for chickens? I don't think I've ever had a chicken with yeast infection so I'm not sure what to look for exactly.

That one would use for a fungal infection on the skin. The yeast I am talking about would be internal, so pills would be needed.

Watch for runny poop and/slow clearing of the crop.

 

[denz88]

That one would use for a fungal infection on the skin. The yeast I am talking about would be internal, so pills would be needed.

Watch for runny poop and/slow clearing of the crop.

Sounds good! I'll keep an eye out for those symptoms.

 

[denz88]

I've found updates in other posts like these helpful so I thought I'd share one here as well.

I administered the last dose of enrofloxacin yesterday morning. She seems to be recovering and perking up quite a bit, so I've decided not to extend past the recommended 5th day (10th dose).

A few hours after that last dose, I started feeding her some Rooster Booster, which contains lactobacillus / probiotics to help her restore her microbiome. The container instructions call for 1/3 tsp per gallon of water, but I added that much to a half-cup just to kick start things. Will begin adding yogurt tonight.

I've let her play outside a few times and she's fairly energetic for a good 30 minutes before she slows down. When resting, she still has her tail pointed down quite a bit, but not nearly as much as before.

Since yesterday, she's been shedding a ton of feathers, so perhaps this is a result of molting? The angle's comparable to a couple of other hens undergoing molt.

I haven't seen any egg in her droppings lately and she hasn't laid from the time we brought her in. I'm fine with her never laying again, so long as she's healthy. I should note her droppings have been obscenely large, probably because she holds them until I let her out (outside and indoors. To my chagrin, she loves leaving a dropping every time I set her aside to clean her bedding...!).

Diet now consists of the layer feed with a tiny bit of scratch mixed in. We also have some leafy greens (not of the variety that prevents calcium absorption like kale) in the mix. Also added egg whites last night as a treat to help with the molt.

(finger for scale, from yesterday ~5 hrs after last dose of enrofloxacin)

We're going to keep her inside for a few more days to monitor. I hope the treatments have helped put her in the clear or at the very least, bought her some more time to live in good health.

Let me know if there is anything I should watch for / any other treatments I should provide at this point. Thanks again everyone for chiming in with advice and suggestions!!

Finally, on a side note, our rooster's had fowl pox for the past two weeks. It seems like it's gone from dry form to wet and he's stopped eating (dripping him bits of yolk / rooster booster in water). I might make a separate post, but other existing posts have been helpful so far. We've kept him 8-10ft away from our recovering hen. Let me know if I should add more distance to this or if this is sufficient for now.

 

[Eggcessive]

Does the rooster have any yellow patches or spots inside his beak or throat? They can extend into the trachea (airway,) esophagus, and crop as well. @casportpony can help you with instructions if you need to tube feed him. Liquids are most important, and you may add water to feed or egg.

 

[denz88]

I have never had any of my flock get sick until now, and all my flock is getting eggbound/lash egg.
My question is, why are all my hens getting sick with this???

@SoftSilkie how is Penny and the rest of the flock doing?

I've also been puzzled over why my hens have gotten this and I often wonder if past hens who've died suddenly in the past succumbed to egg-related issues.

One common element I've noticed with my last hen with EYP and this one with lash egg is bumblefoot.

The first hen with EYP I caught in an advanced stage of bumblefoot because I simply didn't know to look for it. Since then I've been much more vigilant and have come across 5-6 other instances, which seems high for a flock of about 12. Nipped most of these in the bud before they can do any damage though with epsom salt soaks + neosporin + bandage wrap until plugs fall.

In any case, perhaps it's the stress of bumblefoot placing strain on the immune system. That, or possibly the infection from bumblefoot itself traveling. Have you had any issues like this?