Egg peritonitis? Antibiotics?

Just thought I'd update on progress, Rhonda has laid two hard shelled eggs one yesterday and one this morning. The shells are a little dry, slightly speckled - I would say nearly porous and they don't have the nice brown sheen/lustre of her first few eggs. But I believe things are settling down (fingers crossed) and that indeed these soft shelled eggs are the result of the trauma/general stress of her move to us. I will just note the symptoms didn't start immediately - I believe about 1.5-2 weeks after we got the girls. I thought I'd update as I read through so many posts about similar problems that had no ending! Leaving one unsure if the advice/treatment helped...

Thanks for the advice - a forum like this is invaluable for new/inexperienced folk like myself.
 
Good news Millie and thanks for the feedback. As you say, there are many threads with no reported ending, which isn't as much help for people as it could be. Do you think the worming with Flubenvet helped?
 
Hi Chris, I certainly think worming them has done no harm - indeed it may well have helped - but I'm not 100% convinced worms were the cause of the problem. I inspected their droppings daily (thoroughly!) and continue to do so, I haven't seen anything to indicate worms. However I have also read that the worms can be very small and difficult to see with the naked eye... My 'feeling' is the soft eggs were a byproduct of stress caused by her move and perhaps a bit of gut/stomach upset that went along with this (probably not helped by my introducing treats too early). This is of course the observation of someone with no experience whatsoever to drawn on!!

One of my lecturers used to say if you hear hooves outside don't look for a zebra! Worms seem to be a common issue and therefore a good place to start and I can't deny that after a few days of treatment with flubenvet things appear better. I had my poor girl diagnosed with every illness known to chickens thanks to the help of Dr Google!
 
I totally agree with everything in that excellent post , Millie! How many times have I groundlessly diagnosed horrible things for myself and my animals with the help of the Internet. But at least nowadays one can get a lot of information about what's really important to look out for, and also find out what the basics of good husbandry based on common sense might be. When I got my first chickens in the 1970s, I really had to play it all by ear and made lots of unnecessary mistakes along the way, as even books on poultry keeping for beginners were practically non existent and very expensive as well.

Yes you're right about not seeing the worms, except in very severe infestations, but it's still a good idea to keep up the worming, as one would for dogs and cats, because then you can protect the flock against more serious infestations which would pull them down and make them less well able to resist any other health problems they may encounter. Also, worms take a lot of nourishment which should have gone to the hens themselves, to help them maintain strong and healthy bodies and produce lots of eggs. If you worm regularly. At least you can rule that out as a factor if one of them is under the weather. I don't suppose worms caused her problems as she's a young bird, going through stress at an unfortunate time in her development, but all the same she was due for a treatment.
By the way, don't feed them earthworms, although they love them and they provide a nice protein snack, because earthworms eat contaminated soil if your birds have been out on the grass and are an intermediate host for worm eggs, which then get back in the chicken from whence they came. Not a problem for you at the moment, more of an issue for people where hens have been on the same grass for quite a while.
 
When diagnosing illness, time is of the essence. It helps a lot if worms can be discounted from the onset, so it is essential to have a worming programme in place.

You won't see the worms in the poo Millie unless the infestation is chronic. You won't see them afterwards either because they are digested when they die. What you will notice is a slightly 'slimy' poo for a day or so after the worming is started in bad cases. The danger is that worming with a chronic load can kill the bird, as the worms give off toxins when they die. The other thing we appear to have now encountered is worms blocking the digestive system to the passage of indigestible objects like cherry stones. This then leads on to an impacted gizzard, as the bird eats grass to try to clear the blockage and that builds up into a solid plug. We are touch-and-go with an Orpington at the moment and I have spent days checking her poos and keeping her moving about.
 
Thanks Marigold and Chris - yes indeed, I plan to keep up a regular worming regime not least for the reasons you have both outlined. I am a big fan of equipping oneself with knowledge, but, as in many situations in life, there is a knowledge and confidence that will only come through experience and time... As Marigold alluded to in her post, for new folk like myself with no 'grounding' in chicken keeping you can be prone to being a bit hypervigilant and worrying about absolutely everything!

I hope your Orpington makes it Chris sounds like she is in good hands...
 
Talking of hyper vigilant Millie. When we first started, over 8 years ago now, there wasn't much on the internet. It was in the days when chicken keeping was a bit of a 'secret society' thing, Verm-X was sold as a wormer and the Chinese hadn't started making chicken coops. I went down to the Orchard to check on our 4 Orpingtons to discover that all their combs and wattles had gone black. In a bit of a panic I jumped onto the internet and discovered a thing called 'Blackhead'. Really serious disease requiring immediate quarantine. I rang the vet and made an appointment, which wasn't until later that afternoon. Went back down to the Orchard to see how they were all doing. They seemed happy enough, just scratching about under the cherry trees. So I picked one up for a closer look and noticed her facial feathering was 'sticky'. So thought while I have her I will try and wash it a bit so she looks tidy for the vet. Well when I got water on the comb, the black started to wash off. The penny dropped. They had been eating fallen cherries and the juice had splattered all over their heads and a soil bath had resulted in our sooty black soil (stops slugs) sticking to them. After bathing the lot, I phoned the vet to explain I had 'cured' the problem and wasn't coming in. No doubt they had a good laugh about it later -assuming they had heard of Blackhead themselves of course, because at that time most vets were totally clueless about chickens.
 
Great story Chris! I imagine the vets were relieved more than anything though!
 
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