Questions about Egg Peritonitis

[PioneerPrincess]

Howdy! I'd like to know what chicken breeds you've had that seem to be prone to egg peritonitis. Is there anything you can do to fix a hen with this condition? I'm curious as to what causes hens to get this and if there's anything you can do to prevent them from getting it. Thanks for your help!

 

[speckledhen]

Any hatchery production breed or the most popular types the feed stores get every year are most prone to egg yolk peritonitis, such as sex links, RIR/Production Reds, Plymouth Rocks, Buff Orps and it seems the hatchery Wyandottes are some of the worst for it. It seems my good quality breeder and heritage types have better genetics. Even my hatchery hens who are not the first breeds who think of for production, like my Brahmas, are less prone to that. The further from the direct hatchery hens I get, the healthier and longer lived my hens are.

Egg yolks can back up, can drop into the abdomen, called internal laying or false laying. There are several slightly different reproductive ailments that all look the same on the outside and all lead to the same end, basically.

If you could see when an infection is starting, you could possibly administer penicillin immediately to kick it out, but you can't. And even then, it will recur, being a chronic malfunction.

Sometimes, the cloaca that is supposed to close off the intestine when an egg is laid becomes "loose" and feces is sucked back into the oviduct, setting up an ecoli infection called salpingitis.

There are several ways it can start, but hens are the only animal on the planet who develop spontaneous ovarian tumors like human women and are studied to search for a cure.

It is genetic/hormone based. There is no prevention and there is no cure other than a complete hysterectomy to stop egg production entirely.