Zane Made REAL Progress (New Pics Pg 99)!RIP Lorelei...

[ozark hen]

Well now, I think I am going to stick to just chicks and eggs I get directly from home raised stock from now on. There is an Amish family living a few miles from us and they have a
"chickens for sale" sign, by george, I am going to go see if they have any orps. Somebody slap me

if I ever speak of buying some from a hatchery again. I do not want to experience what Cyn and others have been going through. I do have four ee's and five b.orps and one dominique from the hatchery so I will keep an eye on them. I only had one wrinkled egg and that was some months ago. Nothing has attacked here either and mine free range also. I have more eggs coming from home raised stock so hopefully I can increase my flock and they will be healthy...no guarantees, I know. Hugs to you Cyn. Keep us posted. Now in the meantime, if another reason pops up for the situation Cyn is in, I will rethink this decision.

 

[keeperofthehearth]

Well, I had a moment to do a bit of research last night. Preliminary findings for what maybe happening to our girls.
I googled for reproductive cancer in chickens and came across a sig. amount of research that surprised me.

1. The rate of Ovarian cancer among hens 2yrs and older is very high.
This is why they are using hens over the age of 2yrs old to do research on Ovarian cancer looking for ways to help women. It seems that the cancer "spontaneously" occurs the older the hen gets. One research article sited 84% among hens 2 yrs and older in the U.K. Whew!!
2. They have found progestine (I need to go back and relook at this) therapy greatly reduced the cancer occuring in older 4yr old hens.
** I encourage all those concerned to do some of your own research on the internet, it is a great tool. This was NOT an exhaustive search but the results of research gave me pause.
***I am thinking along these lines: If the hactcheries do not use their breeders for more than a year or two then they wouldn't necessarily know which ones have a genetic predisposition to getting Ovarian or other reproductive cancers/problems. Genetic predispostion. Thus many of our chickens we are getting fm them could have a predispostion to OV cancer and other assorted reproductive problems.
You almost need to breed your older birds or find lines that have proven strong against this disease.
Adding extra lighting in the winter will keep your hen laying strong but possibly quicken the reproductive "ageing" of your hen thus bringing on the cancer quicker. It dosn't mean they won't get the cancer but it may shorten their lives.
My Mom grew up during the depression and they had chickens. She asked me why mine grew sick and died. She didn't remember hers getting sick. Well, come to find out they never had chickens for more than a year or two. It was the depression and the chickens were for eggs and eating. Between early mortality, predation, and eating them thru the winter months they generally started out with a fresh batch of chicks nearly every year.
Chickens as pets - We love our chickens and thus want to keep them alive and healthy "as long as possible". I don't think this has been the usual thought or concern for keeping chickens until pretty recently. It is becomming "trendy" to have a few hens. Well, now we are finding out there is a problem amongst this recent push for more chickens quickly.
The demand is high for not only eggs (as in battery caged hens) but in replacement hens and even "show quality" fowl. Breeders are going to need to be long sited in their breeding lines if we are going to have long lived non cancer prone hens.
Well I best get back to my other life. It looks as if I, along with some others on here, will probably lose a few more girls this year.

I will be doing some more research and see if I can add/change something about their diet that may help out. I will also refrain fm using as much extra lighting in the winter months.
Still holding Zane & your girls in prayer, Speckledhen. This is tough but we can still rely on a Good and Gracious God who still loves His creation.

 

[gumpsgirl]

Still looking for that magic wand Cyn.

 

[ozark hen]

Keeper-thanks that was excellent advice and knowledge as is Diana's.

 

[Farmer Kitty]

Keeper-Very good info. If people used to process the hens and start new every year that could explain why it seems to be so much more a problem now as we keep them longer!

 

[speckledhen]

Take a look at the next wave of therapy for my Zane.
https://www.backyardchickens.com/forum/viewtopic.php?id=56204

That is unsettling news about the cancer in hens that I would consider still fairly young. Quite a downer, isn't it?

 

[patandchickens]

Cyn, if you've addressed this already and I've missed it then I apologize...

..what are the arrangements in your state for having the state ag dept (or whatever) do necropsies? It might really be worthwhile looking into. A couple of necropsies might really be able to settle your mind as to whether the problem is likely to be cancers, or a funny strain of IB (which I wonder about -- can't see any obvious reason why there couldn't be a version with minimal or no respiratory symptoms), or what.

I know it's a sad thing to think about.

Hugs and best wishes,

Pat

 

[Zookeeper9000]

where diease is concerned there is always the exception. I just went thru this with my son. For a week straight I took him in and said I think he has phnemonia (can't spell sorry). They said nope no signs of it lungs clear. Finally ended up in the ER and Dr said nope and I just told him look I know my kid please just do a chest xray the insureance covers it and so where would it hurt ya. Guess what he had phnemonia and it was so bad that 3 doses of anti's and he is just getting back to normal. Sometimes symptoms can be missing, so my ? is what are we missing.

I still think that they should look closer at the additives in foods for the reason cancer is becoming so rampant

Praying for Cyn and everyone else, sorry I can't help ya all more.

 

[gumpsgirl]

Quote:
I missed that post Cyn. so I'm so thankful that you posted it here! That is the coolest thing ever!!! I bet Zane does love it. I just can't quit smiling!!! Very cool and how wonderful!

Sorry about keeper's news though.

It was a good article and thought, however.

 

[rooster-red]

I'm glad I had time today to catch up reading this thread because I now (as of this week) have a hen laying enlongated eggs that have watery whites, got the third one this week just today.
The eggs are coming from 1 of 2 of my 4 RIR hens, but I've not been able to narrow it down to just one so far.
The egg is very pale for an RIR, and the shell has soft spots in it. The yolk is a very deep orange. darker than the other eggs I get from my RIR's.

I've also noticed that they are never fertile, though I have 2 roo's in that pen.

I've never had respiratory illness in my flock, absolutely no sign of sickness or weakness.

1 of the 2 hens that might be laying this egg is from a hatchery, the other is from a breeder.
The hatchery hen is not as dark in color as the hen from the breeder, both are very healthy, nice red combs.

Guess I need to isolate both hens to find out which is laying the problem egg.

Edited to add: Both hens are between 2-3 years old.