Wrinkled or Mis-Shaped Eggs, Ever had one? Infectious Bronichitis Info

[steffpeck]

justabit... If the chickens your were given have had Infectious Bronchitis(IB) then they are now immune to it for life.

Do you have other chickens besides these that were given to you?

 

[justabitdotty]

Steffpeck,

All the chickens were given to me, although I believe some he had only recently acquired. I had none before.

Thanks for responding.

Dot

 

[steffpeck]

If you don't have any other chickens, and they appear to be healthy then I wouldn't worry about it. If you do get new chicks, then if they become exposed to the IB they will be young enough and won't be laying so they should not have any damage to their oviduct and they will be immune for life. Good Luck with your new chickens!!!

 

[justabitdotty]

Thanks!

Dot

 

[LilRalphieRoosmama]

This info has been very helpful. After doing alot of reading, I think this may be what my flock has. We had the vet put one hen down yesterday and perform a necropsy. I'm still waiting for the results but it doesn't look good for the others and it is spreading quickly. Here are their symptoms: starts with sneezing and coughing and quickly progresses into very loud breathing and gasping for air. The one we put down yesterday had bubbles/fluid in her eye. The sickest one this morning had a clear discharge from her nose in addition to the other symptoms.

I noticed in reading that damage to the kidneys is one sign. The vet didn't mention anything abnormal about the kidneys, but he did say the liver wasn't right (I can't remember his exact words). They sent a cross-section of the lungs to be tested because they contained alot of mucous and her white blood cell count was extremely high.

I didn't know anything about this disease or the appearance of eggs, but in putting two and two together, the eggs have been getting progressively lighter in color. Mine are buff orps and while most of the time their eggs were never really dark, they have been getting lighter and pinker. The eggs layed this week (symptoms just observed Wednesday morning) have been few and very white. Some of them also look like they were cracked across the middle with more shell applied thinly over it. This all makes sense.

They are all on antibiotics in their water but it isn't helping. I am seriously considering culling them all and starting over. I have a dozen or so of their eggs in the incubator due to hatch Monday so they will be able to live on through their young.

Would this be the smart thing to do? I don't want to jeopardize DBF's flock at his house either. Have been showering and thoroughly changing clothes & shoes before I step foot over there.

What about contamination to my yard & coop? How do I make sure that the new babies won't get it? I just can't take a chance and lose them too. Please help me.

 

[Wynette]

What a helpful thread - thanks, steffpeck, for posting. There are many reasons an egg can be "wrinkled" looking, but I do believe IB may be the highest % of reason for one this wrinkled. Here's a website that has very helpful info. (and pics) of eggshell defects:

http://www.thepoultrysite.com/publications/1/egg-quality-handbook/18/misshapen-eggs

 

[caralouise1974]

Thanks for all the info here - very useful indeed in my case.

My hybrid bluebelle, Bella, (see my separate thread on her recent troubles) has never laid a wrinkly egg, just consistently shell-less ones, along with the odd one that is very thin-shelled with a gritty surface and an irregular overall shape. She will usually throw in a couple of normal perfect eggs each week too. The whites of all of her eggs are consistently runny. We have tried strong calcium supplements and she is always eating oyster shell, so I'm pretty convinced it isn't a dietary imbalance.

I was beginning to entertain the possibility of IB (even with her total absence of respiratory symptoms)... but...

In the absence of any of these classic wrinkled IB eggs, should I look elsewhere for the cause of her laying problems?

I'm still wondering if Egg Drop Syndrome might be to blame - I know it's rather less common in the UK than IB is, but is still a possibility.... isn't it?

 

[chickon baby]

Ok now I am really confused.Since this stuff is all new to us,Im not sure what to do.We have 3 black and 1 golden wyondottes.We were told the vaccines were in the feed.They were 1 year old on April 1st. All appear healthy,happy,eating n drinking.After going on the link abt eggs/shapes etc.There was a flat sided egg which we have had 2,there was funny grooves/wrinkles on the eggs posted and we have had a few of those(abt4-5) Our babies were all laying 1 egg a day counting the funky shped/flat ones and all those yolks n whites appeared normal.The golden stopped laying and her front waddles when she walks n looks like she has 2 big breast down in the front.Even though she ate,drank n seemed fine I thought she was just constipated n soaked safflower seeds in olive oil,fed her those n she pooped and layed a egg.she continues to go through spurts of no eggs n big front,when she lays the front goes down in size.Well the latest is even though we have had eggs every day,lately we were not getting any or just 1. one of them started laying a nice big/perfect egg up on the high shelf. I had written in before becuse I wasnt sure why all of a sudden they were not laying or they were eating em.Made a point of checking the coop every hr on Tues n had 1 egg on the shelf,1 in the nest and one on the floor the size of my thumb nail.Broke it open n the whites were normal n a speck of yolk. today only 1 on the shelf.They all seem fine,eat like crazy,drink and play.Is there anything I should do or look for? Isnt the vacine in the feed? My brother in law gave them to us n he was so proud of himself getting us tobe "chicken farmers" and he recently passed away.So these babies have a even more special meaning to us.Any advice.Thanks.

 

[LilRalphieRoosmama]

It should be noted that when chickens first start to lay, the eggs can be odd and that's normal. We've had plenty with creases and even no shells. Sometimes you'll even get tiny little eggs with no yolks. All of this is normal until the girls get their "plumbing" working right. If they have been laying consistently normal and then you notice these problems - and more than one weird egg in a row - there could be a problem if the hen has other symptoms to go along with it.

Update on mine: I was fully prepared to cull my flock tomorrow, but the vet called and said not to do anything yet. The bacteria the lab found in the lung tissue was normal, so now they are thinking it is viral. They are overnighting the samples to the Ohio State Dept of Pathology for further testing and we hope to hear something no later than Monday. The hen I didn't think would make it seems to be improving and the fluid from her nose and the others is clear. They are still sneezing and coughing but not gasping for air anymore. Their appetites are good and they are drinking the water with the antibiotics. I gave them a special treat of spinach and sprinkled the antibiotic on it to coax them to eat more, which they did. The egg laying has dropped dramatically and the shells are white instead of tan but they were all normally-formed today. We're hoping the worst is behind us.

 

[caralouise1974]

Quote:
Bella has never really laid consistently hard shelled eggs. She's been laying for about a month and a half, and started well, but within a couple of weeks she started laying soft shelled and thin-shelled eggs. My suspicion that it is something other than her plumbing 'getting into practice' is that the situation is getting worse, not better. We're getting less and less perfect eggs, and she's taking longer and longer each day to lay these soft shells. It's clearly becoming a struggle for her.

She has had no other symptoms of illness whatsoever.

I'm utterly at a loss to explain what's going on