Milky poo and yolkless eggs-possible internal laying

[abserbean]

Thanks for the info, I had already read the first post, but not the second. My girl seems to have the symptoms that fit, although it is a little werid that she continues to lay an egg, just no yolk. She did have the prior issues though, thin shelled egg, meat spots in eggs, and I think a couple of shellless eggs too. If she seems to be in distress, I could drain her to see if it helps. So far she seems like herself, just slower to run about. Most of the posts I have read say that the hens tend to go down quickly. We have four hatchery/feed store/production birds, our first chickens, and ten birds from breeders or farms. Knowing what I know now, I don't think I would get production birds in the future. I'm afraid our red sex link will be next. She doesn't have any symtpoms, but she has laid an egg a day with only two days off for over a year, she even laid through a molt. That can't be good for her.

 

[abserbean]

She is the same today, no egg yesterday or today at all. She is running around, although a little slowly, eating and acting normal. I am going to send a message to my vet and see what her advice is. She does not appear to be suffering, but I know chickens are good at hiding things.

Maybe she will just stop laying for the winter, and it will give her a chance to recover on her own. I have read more that sometimes the internal laying can correct itself, but will usually return. Her belly is the same, not bigger, and still no obvious signs of infection.

 

[abserbean]

She has taken a decided turn for the worse. It is definately internal laying, she hasn't laid an egg in five days now, but there is nothing upon exam for her to push out. Tried upping her calcium, warm, quiet place, etc. Nothing has helped. She had been acting normally until this afternoon. Now she is laying down and closing her eyes, breathing heavily like a hen would do if hot (it's not hot here today and she has water), and her comb and wattles are pale. I'm so sad, she was our first hen and is such a sweetheart. There doesn't seem to be anything else I can do for her at this point. I hope she isn't suffering too much. Her two closest flock mates are standing guard over her while she lays down, and won't let any other chickens get close, they seem to know too.

 

[Eggcessive]

I'm sorry to hear she is worse. Do you have any antibiotics or any Corid, just in case it might be something other than internal laying? Since she seems to be doing so poorly, I would hate to miss something like coccidiosis or enteritis as a possible cause. Amoxicillin can be used to treat enteritis. Have you ever had any coccidiosis in the flock? Here are a couple of links to read just in case:
http://www.merckmanuals.com/vet/poultry/coccidiosis/overview_of_coccidiosis_in_poultry.html
http://www.thepoultrysite.com/diseaseinfo/101/necrotic-enteritis

 

[abserbean]

I do have antibiotics I could give her. We have never had cocci, but I have treated before when I had a sick chick and didn't know what it was, so I have the corid. Her poos are actually better, not so milky, they look pretty normal. I went back out to check on her, and she is up scratching and eating again, comb is red, but still breathing a little heavy. I supposed I could dose her with antibiotics just in case. I hate seeing her struggle and thinking there isn't much to do to help her. My vet said it does sound like internal laying to her, but I didn't take her in for an exam that was just over the phone.

 

[Eggcessive]

I don't think you would lose anything by treating her with an antibiotic such as amoxicillin. Baytril is used by some vets that won't be used for meat--it is technically against the law to use Baytril on chickens, but some vets still prescribe it for backyard chickens.

 

[abserbean]

I went ahead and gave her a dose of antibiotics, I figured it can't hurt. Her belly actually feels a little better. I don't know, I thought for sure we were losing her a few hours ago, and now she seems about the same as before. I will keep watching her, maybe she will turn around.

 

[abserbean]

So she seemed okay today, but she just laid a soft shelled egg filled with blood, no yolk. What does that mean? Going to do more research

 

[abserbean]

Everything I'm finding is talking about a bloody yolk, there was no yolk, some that looked like a clot, some red blood and albumin. Shell was very soft, even though I've been giving her calcium. Seems like her whole egg production/system is having problems, maybe she has ovarian ca? I have read about hens having that. She is still eating, drinking and acting okay for the most part. Belly is the same, no larger or smaller, vent seems okay. Any thoughts? My poor girl.

 

[abserbean]

Well, after two days with no eggs, today she attempted to lay a soft shelled egg. It broke while she was laying, and I had to help her get the rest out. There was no yolk, but no blood this time either. Even though I got the shell out, she is still straining. I dosed her with some liquid calcium, although the additional calcium doesn't seem to be helping. She is currently in our "chicken ICU" under a heat lamp. She is scratching around a little, but still straining. Her comb looks good, but she is definitely less active, her belly is the same, no larger. I don't know if there is anything else to be done for her. The antibiotics didn't seem to have any effect, although the last two soft shelled eggs came after starting antibiotics, but I think that is a coincedence.