Internal layer

[NewAtThis8]

I inherited a ~1.5 year old hen from a friend, that was being bullied severely and was separated from the flock. Reintroductions didn’t work, so we took her in and after a rough couple of weeks she’s integrated well now.

During the bullying, she stopped laying eggs. Her prior owner believed it was due to the stress, but I’ve made some observations and connected some dots and believe that it’s due to internal laying- unless anyone here with more experience may think differently (and frankly, I hope so, because it seems the prognosis for internal laying is not good..)

-she was bullied because she was ill and separated; she was bleeding profusely from her vent. She was brought to a vet (coincidentally, our vet) who wasn’t able to find the cause and thought it could have been a foreign object tearing her up- offered x-rays but she declined. She made a full recovery from whatever it was, though, and seemed perfectly healthy with no more issues from her vent or with bleeding.
-she laid a few eggs after recovering, but then stopped. Again, as noted above, believed due to the stress of the bullying- they pecked her bloody on her back and pulled feathers.
-when we got her, we figured she’d still not lay because the transition was another stressor. However, we quickly noticed some odd behaviors; she wanted to be in the nesting boxes RIGHT AWAY and would sit on the girls who were in there laying (much to their annoyance, it did not help her make friends). After she got used to everyone and was spending the day with the flock and roosting with them at night, she would go into a nesting box every day/every other day, sit for a while like she was laying, and nothing ever came out. This behavior continues to this day.

she’s of normal body composition (kind of on the larger side- she’s an olive egger), and her vent looks normal. Her belly feels normal. She eats, drinks, digs, dust bathes, walks and runs and forages normally with no issue. You’d never think there was anything wrong with her.

No soft shell eggs, weird eggs, just yolk, etc.

This has been ongoing since March, apparently.

Your thoughts?

Does this seem like internal laying, or can stress linger? The main reason I think it’s internal laying is the sitting but not producing paired with the previous injury / issue with her vent and bleeding. Like maybe an oviduct ruptured or something…. I don’t know. And i wouldn’t think stress would impact them from laying THIS long especially since she’s integrated well into the flock now.

If it IS internal laying, what are the odds she doesn’t have an infection after doing this for potentially 5 months, because I will get her an implant to save her life if needed.

Thanks for reading!

 

[Debbie292d]

I honestly would blame this all on just she's still not settled in. Some talk about it taking 6 months to a year for a laying hen to lay eggs again. Sometimes, they shut down, like when molting.

If she was indeed internally laying, my understanding is that's a phase they can go in and out of, and there's no cure or treatment.

I'd keep a dish of oyster shell available though. Maybe that would inspire her?

It's concerning they never found out what was tearing her up either though. That could have been an eggshell from a broken one that was missed. I think I'd give her a calcium pill though, just so I felt better about it. That would give her contractions. So might an Epsom salt water bath. Maybe nothing is there anymore, but none of this hurts her to try.

She's sure got a good life though with your care.

 

[ChicNmom]

+1 on the above.

I think if she was internal laying that long she would have some obvious signs of infection by now. It's hard to know sometimes until a crop issues emerges or you see some bad poops.

My personal experience, I had one that sat in nest boxes, not laying and eventually did show signs of and died from an internal infection. She was probably swelling internally and feeling that pressure before I could feel it when checking her abdomen.

I also had one hen that just liked to sit in the boxes and take a break in a place no others would bother her. If you tried to get her out of the box she would sing her egg song. But she was just faking me out so she could chill in the box.

 

[NewAtThis8]

+1 on the above.

I think if she was internal laying that long she would have some obvious signs of infection by now. It's hard to know sometimes until a crop issues emerges or you see some bad poops.

My personal experience, I had one that sat in nest boxes, not laying and eventually did show signs of and died from an internal infection. She was probably swelling internally and feeling that pressure before I could feel it when checking her abdomen.

I also had one hen that just liked to sit in the boxes and take a break in a place no others would bother her. If you tried to get her out of the box she would sing her egg song. But she was just faking me out so she could chill in the box.

Thank you! She’s really showing no signs of issue HOWEVER, she has had some yucky poops. Especially when we first got her, she seemed to explode when she pooed and it was just a giant liquid mess. It’s cleared up some, but it’s still kind of gross. I related that to the stress as well. Actually the day after I posted this, one of my chickens was showing signs of issue (but she was laying), so I rushed her to the vet same day. We had a chicken die suddenly last week and had a necropsy done which pointed to enlarged heart as the cause of death, but did state she also had an abdominal infection, so I didn’t want to mess around. Vet found small amount of “abnormal” bacteria in her stool so now they’re all on antibiotics- I’m hoping that helps all of them and maybe this as well!

 

[NewAtThis8]

I honestly would blame this all on just she's still not settled in. Some talk about it taking 6 months to a year for a laying hen to lay eggs again. Sometimes, they shut down, like when molting.

If she was indeed internally laying, my understanding is that's a phase they can go in and out of, and there's no cure or treatment.

I'd keep a dish of oyster shell available though. Maybe that would inspire her?

It's concerning they never found out what was tearing her up either though. That could have been an eggshell from a broken one that was missed. I think I'd give her a calcium pill though, just so I felt better about it. That would give her contractions. So might an Epsom salt water bath. Maybe nothing is there anymore, but none of this hurts her to try.

She's sure got a good life though with your care.

I just filled a little bowl next to their feeder with oyster shells at your recommendation! All of them including this girl went in I hope it helps give her some relief.

 

[Debbie292d]

I just filled a little bowl next to their feeder with oyster shells at your recommendation! All of them including this girl went in I hope it helps give her some relief.

Oh I sure hope so! That is a good sign! We supplement our layer feed and yet, they'll still sometimes go for those oyster shells.

Be sure after the antibiotic you give about two weeks of probiotics. That puts good bacteria back into us/them and helps the flora and digestive issues. We use Hydro-Hen but there are other powders for water, or Greek yogurt is high too.