Kawkawkaye
Songster
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
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
