RIR are dieing in weird way!!!

regina1994

In the Brooder
10 Years
Jun 17, 2009
33
0
22
Northern Central Iowa
In the past month and a half I have lost 4 RIR in the same way...Become lethargic..combs go pale, abdomen swells up, gets difficult to walk, tails tucked and waddle. Poop is runny too. I had treated them all thinking Egg bound, but Today I dissected the latest hen to die and found a HUGE yellowish off white mass inside her texture was a hard cheese consistency. What is going on...it's ONLY my 2 y old RIR no other breeds.
 
I killed an old Leghorn that had stopped laying and found just such a mass in her abdomen. It had layers and it was a cottage cheesy texture when mushed. It was about as big as a goose egg. I am thinking it was just because she was old and she had always laid huge eggs since I had her, then her laying became sporadic.

She did not, however, have any symptoms prior to her death. I was just culling her for nonlaying and found this thing. I'm thinking it is an old ovarian cyst, "egg bound" or some such reproductive malady.
 
Sounds like they are internal layers. Common in commercial laying breeds ie: RIR etc. Not much you can do for internal laying. If you do a search by hitting Search at the top of the blue bar on the page and type in internal laying it will pull up helpful post of others with that problem and things they have done. Sorry I couldn't help more... Best Wishes
 
Ty all who chimed in!!! Just weird that only my older RIR did this and YES they were laying HUGE eggs recently..so I kept thinking egg bound but when I opened up the last one to see what it was and found that...maybe internal layer is accurate...sad to see that sometimes chicken are inbreed enough to be known for that as I see SEVERAL posts lately that have RIR with the exact same symptoms. javascript:insert_text('
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What does one mean by commercial hens? Does that mean hatchery chicks? IF you find a local breeder is this much more unlikely to happen? I think one of my has started this internal laying.
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I just lost one last week and if this one dies it will leave my 3 year old hen alone till my chicks grow up. What would this mean for her?
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Unfortunately from what I've read in BY poultry or Practical Poultry, hens who lay oversized eggs are more likely to have problems. As are hens who are over weight. There was one article that showed how to tell if your hens are too fat. Fat hens are more likely to stop laying and prolapse from trying to pass a large egg.

Check your hens for excessive weight. If you have this many with this problem it could be that.
 

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