Reproductive disorder

[LaFleche]

What does that mean
She is vaccinated and is in a small flock. She is perfectly healthy. She just lays slightly strange eggs

It means that worms can cause nutrient deficiency among other issues, resulting in egg problems.

What kind of vaccinations exactly did she get?

Can you post a picture of some of her eggs?
Although you say that "she is perfectly healthy", a perfectly healthy hen would not lay the kind of eggs you describe. They hide issues quite well and even for a long time.

My hen laid a shelless egg the other day. There was egg in the nest box and the membrane was next to it. I was very confused.
She usually lays weird eggs; elongated and sometines blocky. Most of them have "leftover" shell pieces on top of the original egg.

 

[LaFleche]

I see, thank you for this insight!
She does have shell on offer, which all my other girls self-medicate with, but I’ve never been able to convince her to have any. I’ll definitely try to supplement her diet with more calcium forms, and see if I can get my hands on tablets. Thank you so much!

How is you hen doing by now, do you see any improvement?

 

[Kawkawkaye]

How is you hen doing by now, do you see any improvement?

Thanks for checking back in!

Since supplementing with calcium, her eggs have improved, but only up to a certain point. They’re definitely more consistent in size, and she’s only had one soft shell burst since, which she recovered from quick as ever. Most of the eggs that she is laying have still been quite brittle, and lately she’s having calcium deposits appear up the top.
Because of this I am shifting my focus to her phosphorus, d3, etc levels, which I’m currently researching how to get into her diet.

I must also thank you again for your suggestion! It seems so simple in hindsight, but with how irregular she was early in life and how otherwise healthy she is, I made the assumption that something more sinister was to blame. So thank you!

 

[LaFleche]

Thanks for checking back in!

Since supplementing with calcium, her eggs have improved, but only up to a certain point. They’re definitely more consistent in size, and she’s only had one soft shell burst since, which she recovered from quick as ever. Most of the eggs that she is laying have still been quite brittle, and lately she’s having calcium deposits appear up the top.
Because of this I am shifting my focus to her phosphorus, d3, etc levels, which I’m currently researching how to get into her diet.

I must also thank you again for your suggestion! It seems so simple in hindsight, but with how irregular she was early in life and how otherwise healthy she is, I made the assumption that something more sinister was to blame. So thank you!

I am glad that she is better. You could still up her calcium/phosphorus intake by adding the powder to her diet as suggested:

You're welcome!

As these high production hybrid hens have an enormous egg output, the normal calcium uptake will not suffice. you could also up her intake by adding calcium phosphate in form of powder to their diet. Just mix some germ oil with the pellets and add the calcium powder, mix well and ... voilà!

And maybe some additional vitamin C would help as well to build a healthy egg shell.

She might as well just have a congenital defect of the shell gland or congenital metabolic disorder and no matter what you try, will never be really well regarding her egg production.

I’ve read about hormones I can treat her with to cease her egg laying permanently, but I’m not sure where I stand with the side effects, whether it’s just inviting more problems. I’m not even sure if it’d be available to me, as I live in a very rural part of Australia.

And then there would be this last resort. I know people that had these chips implanted to give their beloved hens time to recover and heal from severe reproduction disorders. A Suprelorin chip implant will usually last for about 6 month.

 

[PolishAllTheWay]

Since your in Australia idk if there is wild lettuce, but it’s a pain killer. We have given it to our sheep which help with here birthing pains and stuff. You should definitely try it if you have it over there

 

[Ace1981]

Hello everyone, I have posted this issue multiple times, hoping that maybe the right person will see it.
I have a hen with chronic laying issues. It goes on a while but I’d appreciate all the help I can get.

-she is an isa brown, 2 years old. Access to laying pellets and poutry mix, grit, egg shell, water, etc. Free ranges most of time.
Since she started laying she’s had issues. Her first egg was a triple yolker, next six eggs were all doubles. Slowly her production of double yolkers reduced, haven’t had one from her in six months.
Trouble started when she started experiencing difficulty laying, often late in the evening, she’d be walking around in her egg pose, straining to lay. This would last several hours. Eventually she would lay a shell-less egg, more often than not bursting in her abdomen.
A major consequence of this amounted when she ended up laying a lash egg, presumably from an infection from the exploding yolks in her bottom. She was quite poorly, I treated with antibiotics. I was hoping that would be the end of her egg laying, but she resumed after just a week. Since the lash egg particularly, her eggs have been very watery (although most of our eggs are slightly watery anyway due to water intake and our climate.)
She gets these bursting shell-less eggs roughly every fortnight to a month, and often she’ll have several in a row for a couple of days, then will stop laying, and gradually start laying normally again. The first couple of eggs are usually very small and yolkless, with a brittle shell. I can only assume that the brief non egg laying moments are her recovering from mild infections.
My main concern for her is the pain she’s in regularly, and that she’ll eventually prolapse from the strain of pushing for several hours, often entire days at a time. It’s very obvious she’s in pain, with her body all fluffed out, face flushed, often she’ll be squealing in pain as she pushes. I feel awful for her, often wondering if I should just end it all for her, but then when she’s not in pain, which is 95% of the time, she has such a lovely personality and lust for life.
I’m not sure why exactly she has trouble pushing out these eggs in particular. I personally would have thought shell-less eggs would be easier to get out. Sometimes she lays shell-less eggs in her nest box too, without incident, so I really don’t know the factor of why she has such trouble sometimes.

Treatments I’ve tried:
-bathing, epsom salts, etc. I’ve bathed several chickens before and let me just say, this girl is not a bath girl. She hates it. I’ve tried multiple times to get her used to it, with no progress. She’s very cuddly and comfortable with being handled too. I’ve tried putting a towel over us so it’s dark, putting her head in my jumper, everything I can think of to comfort her. I just don’t see this as an avenue anymore. It causes a lot more stress to her.
-massaging the area, lube. Whether or not this at least comforts her I can’t tell. Haven’t had egg success this way, but unclear if it relaxes her.
-herbal remedies. I give her oats in turmeric and oregano twice a day which she loves. I can only hope it helps her with the pain and inflamation, and her immune response to infection.
-antibiotics. Tried this multiple times, no obvious effect. Of course, it only becomes apparent she’s having issues WHEN she’s having issues, so it’s a struggle to prevent it in time for antibiotics to have any success. I am cautious to give her antibiotics regularly in case she develops immunity.

I’ve read about hormones I can treat her with to cease her egg laying permanently, but I’m not sure where I stand with the side effects, whether it’s just inviting more problems. I’m not even sure if it’d be available to me, as I live in a very rural part of Australia.

Thank you so much anyone who made it this far!! I would be so grateful for any insights at all, big or little, that I can explore to help her. Thank you all so much xx

Hi,

This sounds like the same issue I had with 2 of my Isa browns.

After many vet visits and many anti inflammatories and anti biotics I chose to implant them both with a hormone which stops the Production of eggs.

Since the first implant I have had to re implant one of my chooks but they are much healthier and happier than before. Implanting is not cheap but it saved my chooks and I am so grateful to have them around.

Isa browns are egg laying machines and were bred especially for that, but in turn we have reduced their quality of life and their life expectancy.

Chickens weren't meant to lay eggs every day so when they do they will inevitably run into problems.

The solution for me was the implant but it isn't cheap.

Good luck and I hope it all works out.

 

[kristieh]

Hello everyone, I have posted this issue multiple times, hoping that maybe the right person will see it.
I have a hen with chronic laying issues. It goes on a while but I’d appreciate all the help I can get.

-she is an isa brown, 2 years old. Access to laying pellets and poutry mix, grit, egg shell, water, etc. Free ranges most of time.
Since she started laying she’s had issues. Her first egg was a triple yolker, next six eggs were all doubles. Slowly her production of double yolkers reduced, haven’t had one from her in six months.
Trouble started when she started experiencing difficulty laying, often late in the evening, she’d be walking around in her egg pose, straining to lay. This would last several hours. Eventually she would lay a shell-less egg, more often than not bursting in her abdomen.
A major consequence of this amounted when she ended up laying a lash egg, presumably from an infection from the exploding yolks in her bottom. She was quite poorly, I treated with antibiotics. I was hoping that would be the end of her egg laying, but she resumed after just a week. Since the lash egg particularly, her eggs have been very watery (although most of our eggs are slightly watery anyway due to water intake and our climate.)
She gets these bursting shell-less eggs roughly every fortnight to a month, and often she’ll have several in a row for a couple of days, then will stop laying, and gradually start laying normally again. The first couple of eggs are usually very small and yolkless, with a brittle shell. I can only assume that the brief non egg laying moments are her recovering from mild infections.
My main concern for her is the pain she’s in regularly, and that she’ll eventually prolapse from the strain of pushing for several hours, often entire days at a time. It’s very obvious she’s in pain, with her body all fluffed out, face flushed, often she’ll be squealing in pain as she pushes. I feel awful for her, often wondering if I should just end it all for her, but then when she’s not in pain, which is 95% of the time, she has such a lovely personality and lust for life.
I’m not sure why exactly she has trouble pushing out these eggs in particular. I personally would have thought shell-less eggs would be easier to get out. Sometimes she lays shell-less eggs in her nest box too, without incident, so I really don’t know the factor of why she has such trouble sometimes.

Treatments I’ve tried:
-bathing, epsom salts, etc. I’ve bathed several chickens before and let me just say, this girl is not a bath girl. She hates it. I’ve tried multiple times to get her used to it, with no progress. She’s very cuddly and comfortable with being handled too. I’ve tried putting a towel over us so it’s dark, putting her head in my jumper, everything I can think of to comfort her. I just don’t see this as an avenue anymore. It causes a lot more stress to her.
-massaging the area, lube. Whether or not this at least comforts her I can’t tell. Haven’t had egg success this way, but unclear if it relaxes her.
-herbal remedies. I give her oats in turmeric and oregano twice a day which she loves. I can only hope it helps her with the pain and inflamation, and her immune response to infection.
-antibiotics. Tried this multiple times, no obvious effect. Of course, it only becomes apparent she’s having issues WHEN she’s having issues, so it’s a struggle to prevent it in time for antibiotics to have any success. I am cautious to give her antibiotics regularly in case she develops immunity.

I’ve read about hormones I can treat her with to cease her egg laying permanently, but I’m not sure where I stand with the side effects, whether it’s just inviting more problems. I’m not even sure if it’d be available to me, as I live in a very rural part of Australia.

Thank you so much anyone who made it this far!! I would be so grateful for any insights at all, big or little, that I can explore to help her. Thank you all so much xx

Isa Browns tend to have reproductive problems once they reach roughly the age of two. This is because they never have a rest from laying as the heritage breeds do during winter. They are little egg-laying machines designed to do nothing but lay eggs. The average life span of these chickens is only two to three years and the reproductive issues start at about this age.
I have two of this breed and I have them implanted by the vet once a year, that way they are forced to have rest which they otherwise would not do. This has worked for me and both girls are now 4 1/2 years old, still laying, and are very healthy. I too live in Australia.