Suspect Salpingitis

[Wyorp Rock]

Below are Violet’s X-rays. Does that egg look huge to anyone besides me????View attachment 2602559

Those are good images. Yes, to my untrained eye, it looks quite large. Does she seem to be straining at all to push the egg out?

 

[Nellzmom]

Those are good images. Yes, to my untrained eye, it looks quite large. Does she seem to be straining at all to push the egg out?

Haven’t had a chance to put the food coloring on her vent yet, and yesterday there were only 2 eggs, both normal sized. In the afternoon while I was sitting with them, it did seem like she was -not straining- but doing what they do when they’re going to poop.

I’ve been on the lookout for any eggs laid outside the nest boxes but haven’t found any. And it doesn’t feel rounded between her legs any more, so I’m wondering if maybe one of those eggs was hers? Not likely but I keep hoping. Food coloring is on our chicken torture list for today, besides the pills and a booty bath.
And btw, I looked at the vet bill and a gram stain was listed so the vet did check for type of infection.

Would it be okay to give her a calcium tab today? She’s acting totally normal: eating, drinking, digging, running for mealworms etc.

 

[Wyorp Rock]

You could give her a calcium tablet for a couple of days.
Glad she seems to be feeling better!

 

[Nellzmom]

Suspect Salpingitis (& egg yolk peritonitis) — the tale continues:

Violet finished the SMZ/TMP 7-day course and seemed to be getting better, but two days ago started going off by herself to lie down again during the day, getting lethargic again, & still had yellow in her poop at the end of the antibiotics (although it was lighter and lesser quantity). She didn’t lose her appetite and was eating & drinking.

Went back to vet today (where she acted perfectly normal of course ). He did another fecal and did bloodwork because he said continued yellow in the poop could indicate liver problems. Naturally, the bloodwork and fecal were totally normal. So no more antibiotics because of normal bloodwork. He gave me a bottle of probiotics to put on her food. He said she might stop laying.

When we got home and put her in the run with her sisters, she went to her corner and lied down. She did come running over when I brought out some moistened feed w/ probiotics, ate a little then went to eat at the regular feeder. Then back to her corner.

Questions:

- would the BYC wisdom/experience recommend trying to jumpstart her repro system with calcium bicarbonate or just keep up with the probiotics and focus on getting her gut back to normal?

- would poultry vitamins be useful?

I don’t care if she never lays again, I just want to do what’s best and get her back to normal. I’ve seen comments that this can be a chronic issue so am wondering about long term management to give her the best shot at a good life for as long as possible. Any help appreciated!

 

[Wyorp Rock]

For me, I would give the probiotics recommended by the vet.
I don't think it would hurt to give her poultry vitamins once a week. I don't really see the benefit of extra calcium, she's either going to resume laying or not.

Reality is, ime, with hens that have reproductive issues - there's not a lot that can be done except to make them comfortable with supportive care. This can include antibiotics to help with infection. Some hens respond to medications for a short period of time only to begin to decline once treatment has ended. Some do fine for long periods of time, then decline it can be frustrating because we want to help them.

 

[Nellzmom]

For me, I would give the probiotics recommended by the vet.
I don't think it would hurt to give her poultry vitamins once a week. I don't really see the benefit of extra calcium, she's either going to resume laying or not.

Reality is, ime, with hens that have reproductive issues - there's not a lot that can be done except to make them comfortable with supportive care. This can include antibiotics to help with infection. Some hens respond to medications for a short period of time only to begin to decline once treatment has ended. Some do fine for long periods of time, then decline it can be frustrating because we want to help them.

That’s exactly what I was trying to understand. I’ll treat with the probiotics and keep her comfortable and well taken care of along with the others, and the rest is up to her.

Thank you so much for sharing your experience—it’s a godsend!

 

[Jenwisp]

How is your hen doing?

 

[Nellzmom]

How is your hen doing?

Violet is a fighter, and is holding her own, but her reproductive system is definitely not working properly and I don’t expect it to return to normal.

Every couple of weeks she lays a paper egg from the roost along with yellow yolk-like stuff in her poop. I watch her to make sure that she acts normally after these and if she doesn’t perk back up, I give her a calcium citrate. Only had to do that once so far. If she ever doesn’t perk up after the calcium, I’ll assume infection & take her to the vet.

Today she expelled some yolk and what looked like sprayed calcium in one of the nest boxes (could have been urates, I guess, but there wasn’t any poop in the mess). No paper egg shell this time though.

Thanks for asking .

 

[Jenwisp]

Thank you for getting back to me. I hope she pulls through.