Odd laying behavior followed by severe lethargy

[Lil redhen]

Hi all. I'm new to keeping chickens and am afraid I'm about to loose my second hen in less than a month. I had four 12 month old ovaiole, Italian battery-type hens until one started acting lethargic for a few days and then dropped dead. We never figured out what killed her (a necropsy was too much to handle for us newbies), so we gave the chicken tractor a thorough scrubbing with vinegar and hoped that it was not contagious. Our neighbor also lost several hens recently, suddenly, and said neighbor did some chicken-sitting for us (possibly contaminating our flock).

Now a second hen is looking extremely lethargic, but this time I have a little more info:
We had the hens out free-ranging (they are in a tractor most of the time, but come out when they can be supervised).

Suddenly one hen stopped in her tracks, dropped one wing and just stood there. Alarmed, I stood by and observed. Standing fully upright, she laid a massive soft egg that had a ripped soft shell. She just stood there, with her vent spasming, until I approached to have a better look. Then she and another hen ate up the soft egg.

I kept an eye on her, but she seemed to have perked up and acted normal for the rest of the day.

Today, however, she is droopy and lethargic, standing in a corner with her eyes closed, tail low.
She is again having spasming movements in her rear.
Her belly is not hard or swollen, perhaps a little squishy but not noticeably enlarged.
Her vent looks normal (to me, I had to compare to the other girls to check).
She was eating earlier and her crop is full.
Her comb is normal colored and upright.
She is the same weight as the others.
Poop looks normal.

My intent for treatment is to do everything myself. We keep these hens for egg-laying and they are not pets, but will do everything possible to keep them happy, pain-free and productive (ie. Baytril is a non-option, and the vets here don't do poultry).

Does this sound like a disease or a laying problem like egg yolk peritonitis? What is the best way to proceed here? I think I'll quarantine her until it is clear what's happening, but I fear that if there is any infectious agent involved they have all already been exposed.

Hope someone can recognize these symptoms and give me a hand. I feel like I'm not doing a good job keeping my girls healthy and I don't even know what I'm dealing with here.

 

[sourland]

Sorry for the circumstances. To me it sounds more like a reproductive tract/egg laying problem rather than an infectious agent in this situation. I don't feel that 'quarantine' is necessary as all have already been exposed to one another. I am not familiar with the 'ovaiole', but egg laying problems are far more common in birds bred for maximum egg production. I seriously doubt that any of your husbandry practices are causing this problem.

 

[Lil redhen]

Thanks for the reassurance. It's so sad that they should be bred to this point, without concern for their well-being.

 

[sourland]

Yes, sad that they have come to be regarded as an expendable resource.

 

[Erica]

Hi lilredhen,
when hens try to lay soft shelled eggs, they can't push them out (nothing for the muscles to grip against). Best thing is to feed her wheat only for a week and encourage her into a moult. You can keep her in a cage in darkness for a few days, that will also encourage her to go into a moult.

While moulting you can look at what might be causing the soft shelled eggs. Unfortunately there are many causes. Here are some:
- not enough calcium in diet
- not enough vitamin D3 to absorb calcium (sunlight, cod liver oil)
- intestinal worms causing loss of nutrients including calcium
- algae in water or other causes of irritated gut (bacterial enteritis etc)
- too much phosphorus or magnesium compared to calcium (both compete with calcium for digestion; phosphorus is often too high in milk based foods, in bone meal, sometimes in meat meal; magnesium is high in dolomitic limestone)
- egg drop syndrome, which begins with a virus, and is resolved by forcing the bird into a moult
- some other respiratory disease can produce short term soft shelled eggs, but in that case you'd be seeing other symptoms

Yes, the high-production layers are bred to be laying machines, but eggshell quality is influenced by many factors.
I hope this helps,
Erica

 

[Lil redhen]

Hi Erica, thanks for the detailed info. I will try forcing a moult as you suggest. The flock is not lacking in oyster shell or sunshine, and I believe their diet to be well balanced, though I'll check the possibility that something is interrupting their absorption. They all were laying perfect eggs this month, one a day each until this began.

I'm going to read up on egg drop syndrome.

 

[Lil redhen]

Update: All is well. My hen perked up within a day with just some rest. No more soft eggs. I guess she just had a rough time with that one soft shelled egg and was worn out afterward.
Thanks for the help!