Shadrach's Ex Battery and Rescued chickens thread.

[RoyalChick]

Well, just as I was feeling great about my tribes' overall health and the hens laying good eggs, this happened. These are Patucha's eggs over the past four days.

View attachment 3600319
View attachment 3600320
The two on the right have wrinkles on top and the one she laid this morning is massive.

She seems fine. I checked her out. Clean bum, vent is not swollen, red upright comb. She's walking around, foraging etc.

There are no signs of Infectious Bronchitis in these chickens. I've seen wrinkled eggs before from the hens I had before, but this was over three years ago. All of those hens have died -- and they had other symptoms like diarrhea, rales, sneezing, and very weak eggshells.

Patucha didn't live here until after the affected hens had died. I suppose it's possible that the two survivors (Cleo and Cheri) were still carriers, but unlikely -- I've read obsessively about IB and the virus is shed and dies out over one (minimum) and two (maximum) years after infection.

Patucha has none of the IBV symptoms, nor does anyone else, and these irregular eggs feel quite strong. I really don't think there's IB at work. But the wrinkles and sheer size of the last one ...sheesh.

I'd appreciate some input from anyone who may have seen this -- could it have something to do with the end of her current laying cycle?

I'm hoping she is at the end and will go broody, or perhaps she is going into a molt soon. She's not losing feathers, though. Patucha always goes broody about a week after Tina, and Tina went broody on July 27, so she's a bit overdue for a brood. She's laid a lot of eggs since weaning Solo (24 in the past 35 days) and I'd like to see her body get a break. She's about about 2.5 years old.

@Perris @Shadrach @MaryJanet @MrsNorthie @TheFatBlueCat or anyone else who's seen something like this -- thank you

Cleo's last eggs before she fell sick and died were also enormous and wrinkled, so I'm a bit worried.

I have had wrinkles eggs from some of my production breeds. They came and went and did not seem correlated with I’ll health.
Eventually all those first production hens of mine died but the wrinkles eggs were not the lead up to that.
I don’t have a clue what causes it, but it seems to me that a production process as complicated as putting a shell in an egg is bound to have the odd mistake.
Hope she is OK.

 

[Perris]

I don’t have a clue what causes it, but it seems to me that a production process as complicated as putting a shell in an egg is bound to have the odd mistake.

Indeed. Just today for the first time I found an egg within an extra membrane, laid from the roost overnight. No idea who laid it or why the glitch happened.

 

[Perris]

here's photos of it, with the extra membrane and when that was removed

 

[TropicalChickies]

I've read that wrinkled eggs indicate infection, but not experienced it yet.

But a general observation is a tendency by some on BYC to treat all illnesses as if they're life or death crises and need aggressive intervention if the bird is to survive. I prefer to provide tlc over drugs, and trust the bird's immune system to fight it off. Sometimes they don't make it of course, but those that do pass on their stronger genes and acquired immunity to the next generation, which is good for the flock.

Thank you for responding. Patucha has no other symptoms of anything so I'm not going to treat her with any medication. IBV -- in my experience at least -- comes with a bunch of pretty obvious signs (rales, diarrhea, sneezing, purple comb) but I don't see or hear anything like that.

She's not a production breed, she's a common farmyard mix and usually lays about 4x per week. It's also a bit unusual that she just laid the past four days in a row.

I'm hoping she's just at the end of her current laying cycle and takes a break soon.

 

[Perris]

Lots of problems to work through should she hatch from ensuring the chicks have food available to making sure they can get in and out of the coop and the extension.

perhaps when she's due you could stay at your eldest's nearby, just for the first couple of days, so you're on hand as often and as long as you like, for your own peace of mind as well as Fret and the chicks' wellbeing?

 

[ManueB]

Oooh, that black hen is so pretty. I think that's what Dusty would look like if she weren't frizzled!

That is our bantam Merle (blackbird in French) more adequately renamed "le diable" by my partner - don't think I need to translate !

How fast life can change. Carpe diem all!

Yes, indeed. And chickens are usually much better at this than we are !
I will keep hoping for Chirk, as long as he himself doesn't loose it.

While it was due to something completely different I’ve had vestibular syndrome. It was a very frightening experience until I had the correct diagnosis and treatment.

Well, just as I was feeling great about my tribes' overall health and the hens laying good eggs, this happened. These are Patucha's eggs over the past four days.

View attachment 3600319
View attachment 3600320
The two on the right have wrinkles on top and the one she laid this morning is massive.

She seems fine. I checked her out. Clean bum, vent is not swollen, red upright comb. She's walking around, foraging etc.

There are no signs of Infectious Bronchitis in these chickens. I've seen wrinkled eggs before from the hens I had before, but this was over three years ago. All of those hens have died -- and they had other symptoms like diarrhea, rales, sneezing, and very weak eggshells.

Patucha didn't live here until after the affected hens had died. I suppose it's possible that the two survivors (Cleo and Cheri) were still carriers, but unlikely -- I've read obsessively about IB and the virus is shed and dies out over one (minimum) and two (maximum) years after infection.

Patucha has none of the IBV symptoms, nor does anyone else, and these irregular eggs feel quite strong. I really don't think there's IB at work. But the wrinkles and sheer size of the last one ...sheesh.

I'd appreciate some input from anyone who may have seen this -- could it have something to do with the end of her current laying cycle?

I'm hoping she is at the end and will go broody, or perhaps she is going into a molt soon. She's not losing feathers, though. Patucha always goes broody about a week after Tina, and Tina went broody on July 27, so she's a bit overdue for a brood. She's laid a lot of eggs since weaning Solo (24 in the past 35 days) and I'd like to see her body get a break. She's about about 2.5 years old.

@Perris @Shadrach @MaryJanet @MrsNorthie @TheFatBlueCat or anyone else who's seen something like this -- thank you

Cleo's last eggs before she fell sick and died were also enormous and wrinkled, so I'm a bit worried.

While I hope and believe that Perris and RC are right that most likely it's just a glitch, my experience was more sad, though it's hard to conclude anything from it. I had a hen, Caramel, an ex-batt, that laid eggs like these all her rather short life. She died at the end of July 2022, from EYP after internal laying, or more exactly from the operation meant to try to save her. She was 2 years and 10 months. Before that, she never showed any of the IB symptoms, like your hen. In the beginning of May 2022 she was extremely unwell for a week, but still laying. She had no specific symptoms, so not knowing what to do we dewormed her and she seemed to recover. The internal laying happened at the beginning of June. She seemed fine up to about a week before we took her to the vet clinic.
I can not say if her wrinkled egg had any correlation to her peritonitis. My three dead ex-batts all passed directly or indirectly from reproductive diseases and she was the only one that laid those.

 

[Molpet]

two survivors (Cleo and Cheri) were still carriers, but unlikely -- I've read obsessively about IB and the virus is shed and dies out over one (minimum) and two (maximum) years after infection.

This says the survivors are carriers
Under wrinkled eggs
https://poultrykeeper.com/egg-problems/

 

[Perris]

It was a very frightening experience

I'm sorry to hear you had this scare, but glad to also read about it in the past tense. All good now yes?

 

[Iluveggers]

Well, just as I was feeling great about my tribes' overall health and the hens laying good eggs, this happened. These are Patucha's eggs over the past four days.

View attachment 3600319
View attachment 3600320
The two on the right have wrinkles on top and the one she laid this morning is massive.

She seems fine. I checked her out. Clean bum, vent is not swollen, red upright comb. She's walking around, foraging etc.

There are no signs of Infectious Bronchitis in these chickens. I've seen wrinkled eggs before from the hens I had before, but this was over three years ago. All of those hens have died -- and they had other symptoms like diarrhea, rales, sneezing, and very weak eggshells.

Patucha didn't live here until after the affected hens had died. I suppose it's possible that the two survivors (Cleo and Cheri) were still carriers, but unlikely -- I've read obsessively about IB and the virus is shed and dies out over one (minimum) and two (maximum) years after infection.

Patucha has none of the IBV symptoms, nor does anyone else, and these irregular eggs feel quite strong. I really don't think there's IB at work. But the wrinkles and sheer size of the last one ...sheesh.

I'd appreciate some input from anyone who may have seen this -- could it have something to do with the end of her current laying cycle?

I'm hoping she is at the end and will go broody, or perhaps she is going into a molt soon. She's not losing feathers, though. Patucha always goes broody about a week after Tina, and Tina went broody on July 27, so she's a bit overdue for a brood. She's laid a lot of eggs since weaning Solo (24 in the past 35 days) and I'd like to see her body get a break. She's about about 2.5 years old.

@Perris @Shadrach @MaryJanet @MrsNorthie @TheFatBlueCat or anyone else who's seen something like this -- thank you

Cleo's last eggs before she fell sick and died were also enormous and wrinkled -- but also thin-shelled , so I'm a bit worried.

(Edited to mention that IBV is often cited as a reason for wrinkles in eggs -- but I suppose it could be many factors)

I have had wrinkles eggs from some of my production breeds. They came and went and did not seem correlated with I’ll health.
Eventually all those first production hens of mine died but the wrinkles eggs were not the lead up to that.
I don’t have a clue what causes it, but it seems to me that a production process as complicated as putting a shell in an egg is bound to have the odd mistake.
Hope she is OK.

Just chiming in here, I’ve only seen eggs like that when chicken-sitting for the neighbors. XL wrinkled eggs came from their ISA brown, the only production breed they own. All of the eggs we collected for the week that were hers were either cracked or wrinkled. She is just over 3 years old.

 

[TheFatBlueCat]

Well, just as I was feeling great about my tribes' overall health and the hens laying good eggs, this happened. These are Patucha's eggs over the past four days.

View attachment 3600319
View attachment 3600320
The two on the right have wrinkles on top and the one she laid this morning is massive.

She seems fine. I checked her out. Clean bum, vent is not swollen, red upright comb. She's walking around, foraging etc.

There are no signs of Infectious Bronchitis in these chickens. I've seen wrinkled eggs before from the hens I had before, but this was over three years ago. All of those hens have died -- and they had other symptoms like diarrhea, rales, sneezing, and very weak eggshells.

Patucha didn't live here until after the affected hens had died. I suppose it's possible that the two survivors (Cleo and Cheri) were still carriers, but unlikely -- I've read obsessively about IB and the virus is shed and dies out over one (minimum) and two (maximum) years after infection.

Patucha has none of the IBV symptoms, nor does anyone else, and these irregular eggs feel quite strong. I really don't think there's IB at work. But the wrinkles and sheer size of the last one ...sheesh.

I'd appreciate some input from anyone who may have seen this -- could it have something to do with the end of her current laying cycle?

I'm hoping she is at the end and will go broody, or perhaps she is going into a molt soon. She's not losing feathers, though. Patucha always goes broody about a week after Tina, and Tina went broody on July 27, so she's a bit overdue for a brood. She's laid a lot of eggs since weaning Solo (24 in the past 35 days) and I'd like to see her body get a break. She's about about 2.5 years old.

@Perris @Shadrach @MaryJanet @MrsNorthie @TheFatBlueCat or anyone else who's seen something like this -- thank you

Cleo's last eggs before she fell sick and died were also enormous and wrinkled -- but also thin-shelled , so I'm a bit worried.

(Edited to mention that IBV is often cited as a reason for wrinkles in eggs -- but I suppose it could be many factors)

I've not personally had wrinkled eggs in the way that your photo shows. One of the neighbour's hens that came to live with me laid eggs that were ridged/wrinkled all over, but now that hen lays smooth strong eggs, when she actually does lay which isn't often. She laid those odd eggs for about 6 months though.

I often get odd eggs at the beginning and end of the laying period in my older hens. Wonky shapes, rough chalky patches etc.

There is not a lot I do about any of it. If one if my birds actually falls ill (which so far hasn't happened since the deaths of my production red hens) I provide care at home (warmth, baths, fluids, electrolytes, support) and if it's not looking promising my husband will put them down.

The only medications I use are dewormers, and coccidiostats to chicks who look like they need it, but only if I'm seeing symptoms. I probably should have some antibiotics on hand just is case...