How Common Can Egg Peritonitis be? Can I do anything to try and prevent it happening?

[venetta]

I've had two young chickens die in the past month, and both causes point to egg peritonitis (necropsy done by vets, day after death).

Neither chicken had started laying when they had died, and they were both of similar age - around 9 to 10 months old.

Our first was our wyandotte, who we got at approximately 10 weeks of age in December, and a month later our barnevelder who we got in January at approximately 8-10 weeks of age.

Our other three chickens are in good health and all laying (two of which are younger than the two ladies who died).

Is there anything we can be doing to ensure this does not happen again? Or is it really just bad luck to have happened twice about a month apart?? The girls are on layer pellets, with a bit of poultry mix given now and then and they have their fruit and veg scraps etc daily - is there anything I should really be avoiding in regards to scraps? I usually avoid anything that is bad for dogs (because our dogs have a habit of sneaking into their pen to eat their food)

It's a bit disheartening as we're trying to do our best for our girls but we're now at a loss

Any advice would be greatly appreciated! Thank you all in advance

 

[Eggcessive]

I don't know how they could have had egg yolk peritonitis several months before they ever started laying. What were their symptoms?

 

[venetta]

They were lethargic, depressed but still eating etc. That was the main symptoms.

The wyandotte lost a little colour in her comb and wattles, while the barnevelder did not.


Necropsy of both had no signs off other issues, bar the peritoneal cavity being fluidy with what looked like cooked egg yolk - and what the vet said as her uterus looking like it was filled with pus :/

 

[venetta]

Could they have been internally laying though?

 

[Eggcessive]

Hopefully someone with veterinary experience will chime in on this thread. Chicks at that age would be more likely to have had coccidiosis which causes intestinal damage, but they will usually stop eating due to pain in the abdomen. Coccidiosis has symptoms of lethargy, diarrhea--sometimes with blood, standing puffed up or hunching, ruffled feathers, and poor appetite. Corid (amprollium) is most commonly used for treatment.

This is indeed interesting, and I hope you will get more comments tomorrow, since it is late at night in the US.

 

[casportpony]

Odd that you would have two so young do that, both with infected repro tracts and internal laying. Perhaps something genetic or related to their diet?

-Kathy

 

[venetta]

Odd that you would have two so young do that, both with infected repro tracts and internal laying. Perhaps something genetic or related to their diet?

-Kathy

That's why I was mainly concerned! I'm just hoping I am not doing anything wrong by their diet!

 

[casportpony]

Quote: I do necropsies on all of mine and I have never seen internal laying in a hen under one year, but note that all of my hens are mutt game crosses, so they are less likely to have those kind of problems.

-Kathy

 

[casportpony]

Is it possible that the infection in the uterus was actually a stuck soft shelled egg and that it being stuck caused them to start laying internally? Stuck soft shelled eggs can be more common in young hens.

-Kathy