hens laying watery eggs

[phoebe]

Thanks for posting that information. I had worried about the possibility of infectious bronchitis but aside from the watery eggs, the hens really have not displayed any other signs. Their egg production hasn't dropped and mostly their eggs appear normal (and the irregularities I've noticed seem minor compared to some images I've seen of IB related eggs). The hens themselves behave like normal, healthy hens. The red was wormed just before she came to me. The weather here in Seattle has been unseasonably cool. Well, it has to be something. I'll keep you all posted if I ever find out. I suppose it's possible that the red had this condition before she came to me and the australorp has just had a mild case . . . thanks, all, for offering your suggestions.

 

[phoebe]

Michelle, the Australorp's eggs have been noticeably more pale in the past few months, so maybe that's a second symptom. Yikes, so what do I do with these birds now?

 

[burquechick]

I had this in one of my hens once too. She slowly progressed from slightly twisted eggs to completely misshapen and extremely watery eggs. One of her eggs even came out twisted like a corkscrew and open on the end. I finally ate her after about a year of this. I looked all over the internet and I think it was egg drop syndrome. It is a viral infection of the reproductive tract. The damage occurs very early in life and it is permanent. It can also be contagious to other developing young pullets. They catch the infection by eating broken eggs from these birds. I highly recommend you get rid of them.

 

[reesepoultry]

Yes, I was reading about this. It is very contagious. It says there is no cure but you can treat them to have minimal signs. But they can never get rid of it.

This could explain why the new bird you got was fine for awhile then the same thing happened to her.

This will keep happening until they are seperated from your other chickens. Not sure what to tell you to do with them. If there is no cure. I would try to see if someone wanted them and let them know what they were getting into. If no one wanted them I would put them down. Not to sound cruel but they will infect the whole flock if not taken care of soon.

 

[burquechick]

Quote:
I just went back and saw this post. Yes, I believe it is this. You should ideally eat the birds. Giving them to someone else might just give them the infection too.

 

[reesepoultry]

I'm not sure you can eat birds that have infections. I would check up on that. I wouldn't eat them. I would just put them down. Better to loose a couple than the whole flock. Then I would make sure to really clean the coop out so this doesn't happen again.

Sorry for the bad news.

 

[burquechick]

You're right, if you're in doubt, don't eat it. My chicken was the picture of health when we ate her. She just couldn't lay a normal egg to save her life (literally).

 

[phoebe]

Okay, now I'm thinking it's egg drop syndrome: paler eggshell pigmentation than in the past, shells that are on the thin side and feel like sandpaper, and we did find a few broken eggs in the nest box the past couple of weeks (also one with a tiny peck in the shell, which could have been caused by a clumsy foot or a beak). As the hens do appear healthy and happy otherwise, that also would seem to fit with egg drop syndrome profile. Darn. Once we remove the two hens, what do we need to do to disinfect the coop and pen, given the fact that you can't treat for this? We are very fond of our third (apparently unaffected) hen and plan to keep her. Thanks for helping me figure out the best course of action. I will send a message out to my local urban farm group, give them all the information I have, and see if anyone wants these hens for whatever purpose.

 

[reesepoultry]

If you think it is egg drop syndrome. You could seperate the two hens and give them vitamins for a week or more to see if they get better. I use: Poultry Drench you can get it at TSC.

To clean the coop I would do the best I could. make sure to take all the shavings out or whatever bedding you use and then let the coop dry out a bit. Then I would try to use some kind of bleach and water and let that dry out. Then just put new bedding down. It just depends on your coop on what you can do to prevent this from happening again.

 

[phoebe]

Thanks, will try the vitamins! Also it was suggested to me by feed store to up the hens' protein, a recommendation I also saw today on an earlier thread here on the same topic of watery eggs. Worth a try; at least I can expect to see fairly immediate results if that's the problem. Will post a follow-up next week to let you know the outcome. Deeply appreciative of this community--thank you to everyone for your help.