Am posting this for general discussion and possibly it might help others pick up problems early....
I have a hen who is currently churning out the eggs in anticipation of going broody (not that she ever really does - last year she sat on the nest for 2 days then got bored and wandered off and that was that!) About a month ago she laid a shell-less egg, and a few days ago a lash egg - the entire thing was lumpy rubbery 'yolk' stuff with no white at all and was obviously abnormal. According to many websites, both of these things can occur simply due to heavy egg-laying and arent necessarily anything to worry about.
I just went through all of the eggs Ive collected from the girls over the last 2 weeks and boiled all of her eggs - they are slightly longer and more pointy than the the other girls so easy to identify - and of the 8 eggs, 2 of them had a small amount of 'stuff' in them. All 8 eggs looked normal, and if I wasn't specifically looking for it I would not have noticed the problem. But 2 of the eggs have small patches of 'yolk' that look very slightly different from the rest of the yolk...its a small but distinct firm and rubbery mass that doesnt crumble like the rest of the yolk but retains its shape, and when cut in half is shiny. See the pictures - Ive highlighted the edge of the mass still in the egg in the second copy of the photo to make it easier to see, and the lumps of yolk on the chopping board are parts of the masses taken out of the eggs and not actual yolk.
I lost one of her sisters to salpingitis a few months ago and have had time to reflect on whether I missed any early warning signs, and I did, and I can now see that this chook is exhibiting the same signs albeit at a much milder level...she has a tendancy to wander slightly away from the flock and do her own thing, and for some reason has gone from eating food in big gulps to 'nibbling' - if I offer treats she only takes dainty mouthfulls rather then scoffing it as she used to, and soon looses interest. Neither of these behaviours are so extreme that I had thought were problematic, but combined with the lumps in the egg yolk and realising the her sister behaved the same way in the months prior to her death, I now stongly suspect she has early stage salpingitis and will treat her with antibiotics. (I plan to use 25mg / kg doxycycline for 5 days).
The reason I posted here though is that all of the literature on salpingitis says it causes a decrease in egg production, but this chook is laying heavily. I suspect that the decrease in eggs only comes once the infection is advanced and most likely beyond treatment. Also, Ive not really read anything about smaller chunks of 'stuff' in yolks as an early warning sign, lash eggs are really only discussed in the context of the entire 'egg' being deformed. I just wanted to raise awareness of what I strongly believe are small but subtle signs that something is wrong and which may otherwise be overlooked - the lumps in the eggs would have gone totally unnoticed if I wasnt actively looking for them and her behaviour change so subtle that I only realised the implications in retrospect. If its possible to identify the infection early, the chances of treatment and recovery are higher.
Anyone else had this experience?
I have a hen who is currently churning out the eggs in anticipation of going broody (not that she ever really does - last year she sat on the nest for 2 days then got bored and wandered off and that was that!) About a month ago she laid a shell-less egg, and a few days ago a lash egg - the entire thing was lumpy rubbery 'yolk' stuff with no white at all and was obviously abnormal. According to many websites, both of these things can occur simply due to heavy egg-laying and arent necessarily anything to worry about.
I just went through all of the eggs Ive collected from the girls over the last 2 weeks and boiled all of her eggs - they are slightly longer and more pointy than the the other girls so easy to identify - and of the 8 eggs, 2 of them had a small amount of 'stuff' in them. All 8 eggs looked normal, and if I wasn't specifically looking for it I would not have noticed the problem. But 2 of the eggs have small patches of 'yolk' that look very slightly different from the rest of the yolk...its a small but distinct firm and rubbery mass that doesnt crumble like the rest of the yolk but retains its shape, and when cut in half is shiny. See the pictures - Ive highlighted the edge of the mass still in the egg in the second copy of the photo to make it easier to see, and the lumps of yolk on the chopping board are parts of the masses taken out of the eggs and not actual yolk.
I lost one of her sisters to salpingitis a few months ago and have had time to reflect on whether I missed any early warning signs, and I did, and I can now see that this chook is exhibiting the same signs albeit at a much milder level...she has a tendancy to wander slightly away from the flock and do her own thing, and for some reason has gone from eating food in big gulps to 'nibbling' - if I offer treats she only takes dainty mouthfulls rather then scoffing it as she used to, and soon looses interest. Neither of these behaviours are so extreme that I had thought were problematic, but combined with the lumps in the egg yolk and realising the her sister behaved the same way in the months prior to her death, I now stongly suspect she has early stage salpingitis and will treat her with antibiotics. (I plan to use 25mg / kg doxycycline for 5 days).
The reason I posted here though is that all of the literature on salpingitis says it causes a decrease in egg production, but this chook is laying heavily. I suspect that the decrease in eggs only comes once the infection is advanced and most likely beyond treatment. Also, Ive not really read anything about smaller chunks of 'stuff' in yolks as an early warning sign, lash eggs are really only discussed in the context of the entire 'egg' being deformed. I just wanted to raise awareness of what I strongly believe are small but subtle signs that something is wrong and which may otherwise be overlooked - the lumps in the eggs would have gone totally unnoticed if I wasnt actively looking for them and her behaviour change so subtle that I only realised the implications in retrospect. If its possible to identify the infection early, the chances of treatment and recovery are higher.
Anyone else had this experience?
