My First Non-Hatchery Internal Layer...I'm so Tired of This

[rancher hicks]

I too am sorry for your situation. I've printed out your post for future reference.
I've read and reread your post, are there any other symptoms other than weight loss? How can you be sure of your diagnosis?

 

[speckledhen]

Besides the extreme weight loss, they quit laying entirely for long periods. I have 30 hens in that flock and sometimes, I just don't catch who is not laying till they've been off for some time. This girl's vent is small and dry like they are before they ever lay an egg, not moist and oval and "stretchy" like it should be. Because her eyes are bright and her color and feather quality is excellent and she is pest-free, the internal laying is what we are positive is her problem. We opened up the other ones who died of this and found all the layered masses inside of them along with all other organs being healthy and well-colored inside, no lesions or odd nodules on the liver, heart, etc.

 

[HorseFeatherz NV]

SpeckledHen my heart aches for you and Cherry and am hoping for the very best.

 

[rooster-red]

I have my fingers crossed for you Cyn, but I know the helpless feeling you get when a situation like this comes up.

 

[LilRalphieRoosmama]

We've lost a couple to this too - egg peritonitis is what our vet called it. Ours were hatchery birds, if that makes a difference. The yolks were deposited into their abdomens and the whites dripped out of their vents. We had one hang on for several months until DBF took her to the vet. They suggested surgery but when they opened her up, she passed. Her abdomen was so filled with yolks they said it was like cement.

I lost one of my BO's to the same thing not too long after that.

We did manage to save another but it might have been a fluky thing. DBF had some heavy-duty antibiotics his vet gave him for his boa who had a mouth infection. The snake healed just fine so he crushed some tablets up daily, mixed with water, and fed it to the hen. She survived and is laying fine. No idea if it helped or if she healed herself, and I don't know what the antibiotic is called to even tell you.

I do wish you the best.

 

[speckledhen]

Thanks for your support. I'll let you know how she does, if it looks like she may be on the upswing or on the way out. I hate to lose her! I did recently lose my hatchery GLW, so I guess my "death by egg" girls is up to five, with Ivy recovered (at least for now) and poor beautiful Cherry in the hospital crate above Zane's cage. She just turned a year old in April, so she and the GLW were a year younger than the other four who died last year.

 

[steffpeck]

I am really sorry that you are having more trouble with "egg" issues. (((HUGS)))

 

[WriterofWords]

Wow, I can't believe this is happening to you on top of everything else, it's not fair. I hope it turns out for the better though, you and Cherry are in my thoughts.

 

[KatyTheChickenLady]

I know NOTHING.
I am only learning and this is not something I have dealt with, but . . . I come from a corporate invironment where we are incouraged to think "outside the box"
So, pulling from my extemely limited poultry knowledge and a creative mind; I would try extra large dose's of soy. It has a vegetable effect of estrogen which has "some" limited impact on "some" mammals. I know a chicken is not a mammal, and I don't even know if they have estrogen, BUT it's in the same ball park and it sounds like she is the chicken version of "menopasal" Sorry in advance for the bad spelling!

 

[Year of the Rooster]

Oh, I'm really sorry to hear this Speckledhen

And on such a nice looking Rhode Island Red.. At least you know she lived a happy life

Easy come, easy go I guess. The world has ways of balancing itself, so something great is bound to happen in the near future.

You raise your birds very well. They are strong fighters, remember that