- Apr 23, 2012
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I have a 2.5 yr old red sex link hen (Tweety) that is having problems with her egg laying. She has been laying shell-less or thin shell eggs at night. She gets free choice oyster shell. She also doesn't get any additional grain besides her chicken feed, as I have been told that this can upset their calcium balance. This morning there is yolk on her foot and she is acting off. She is standing around, closing her eyes. I just lost another member of the flock. She was lethargic for just under a month. I have the preliminary results from the necropsy but not the lab results. Tweety, the current hen, is acting similarly to the hen that I just lost. Standing around, sleeping, pecking at weird things on the ground, not interested in food. Stripey, the hen that died, hadn't been laying. From the preliminary report, it sounds like she had a bacterial infection that caused eggs to back up in the oviduct. They were not passing into the body cavity or I am sure she would have died right away. I am not sure if this was treatable by antibiotics. I had actually taken her to the vet and the vet didn't seem to predict this. She ran a fecal which was negative. Beyond that she seemed to suspect a viral infection.
My question is this: Could this bacterial infection be spread? There are three others that seem fine. Even if it couldn't be spread, could Tweety have a similar problem? Should I treat with antibiotics, which kind and where do I get them? Also, should I treat them all?
I had another hen in the flock die a few months ago from ovarian cancer. The shell gland wasn't working properly and she had peritonitis that immediately caused her death. I am beginning to think that since hens have been bred for prolific laying, their longevity has been compromised. I am a new chicken keeper, but the two hens that I have lost, seem to have both died from reproductive issues. I'm not sure if there is anyway to treat them or prevent their deaths.
Here are the findings from Stripey's necropsy:
Gross Pathology Presented for necropsy is a 2.51b 2.5yr old Brown Sex Link hen in fair to poor nutritional condition and fair to poor postmortem condition (estimated death-necropsy interval is 2 days). There is no ocular or nasal discharge at time of necropsy. The viscera are autolyzed. The skin and muscles at thoracic inlet and vent are discolored green.
The oviduct is markedly expanded by numerous eggs (dry friable yellow egg-shaped masses which have laminated cross sections). The serosal surfaces of the intestines are red and rough (serositis) but there is no detected free yolk in the coelomic cavity.
GROSS DIAGNOSIS: OOMPHALITIS
GROSS FINDINGS: BODY AS A WHOLE: underweight; autolysis OVIDUCT: infection
COMMENTS: We have set up bacterial culture from the contents of the oviduct. Certain bacterial infections can cause the eggs to fail to move down the oviduct; in that case, the next egg bumps up against the stuck egg, and additional eggs pile up inside the oviduct until the oviduct is misshapen enough that the next ovarian follicle "misses" the oviduct and is ovulated into the body cavity. We did not see evidence of this in Stripey, but your report of her behavior prior to death makes it sound like she was suffering from a bacterial infection.
My question is this: Could this bacterial infection be spread? There are three others that seem fine. Even if it couldn't be spread, could Tweety have a similar problem? Should I treat with antibiotics, which kind and where do I get them? Also, should I treat them all?
I had another hen in the flock die a few months ago from ovarian cancer. The shell gland wasn't working properly and she had peritonitis that immediately caused her death. I am beginning to think that since hens have been bred for prolific laying, their longevity has been compromised. I am a new chicken keeper, but the two hens that I have lost, seem to have both died from reproductive issues. I'm not sure if there is anyway to treat them or prevent their deaths.
Here are the findings from Stripey's necropsy:
Gross Pathology Presented for necropsy is a 2.51b 2.5yr old Brown Sex Link hen in fair to poor nutritional condition and fair to poor postmortem condition (estimated death-necropsy interval is 2 days). There is no ocular or nasal discharge at time of necropsy. The viscera are autolyzed. The skin and muscles at thoracic inlet and vent are discolored green.
The oviduct is markedly expanded by numerous eggs (dry friable yellow egg-shaped masses which have laminated cross sections). The serosal surfaces of the intestines are red and rough (serositis) but there is no detected free yolk in the coelomic cavity.
GROSS DIAGNOSIS: OOMPHALITIS
GROSS FINDINGS: BODY AS A WHOLE: underweight; autolysis OVIDUCT: infection
COMMENTS: We have set up bacterial culture from the contents of the oviduct. Certain bacterial infections can cause the eggs to fail to move down the oviduct; in that case, the next egg bumps up against the stuck egg, and additional eggs pile up inside the oviduct until the oviduct is misshapen enough that the next ovarian follicle "misses" the oviduct and is ovulated into the body cavity. We did not see evidence of this in Stripey, but your report of her behavior prior to death makes it sound like she was suffering from a bacterial infection.
