Poorly Warren stopped laying - update

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mspencer

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More info following my original posting....

We have a Warren, Sylvia, who has been a very regular layer for almost 2 years. She stopped laying suddenly a couple of weeks ago. She has seemed otherwise well, though her appetite has now fallen off significantly as has the other warren. Having done a detailed 'chicken check' this evening we've found...

1. both Warren's have very dirty feathers around their vents. Neither hen has ever had a dirty vent area.
2. there are signs of diarrhoea on the shelf under the perch.
3. sylvia had a very soft malformed egg poking out of her vent, roughly the shape and size of a crumpled finger, which we carefully extracted

Any help would be gratefully received; whilst we're taking Sylvia to the vets tomorrow, they seem fairly clueless about hens.

Thanks
Mark
 
Hi
Have your girls been wormed? dirty bums normally a sign.
I have a few ex batts running around in the field, some do on occasions lay soft shelled eggs, nothing to worry about.
Do let us know how Sylvia gets on

Sue
 
Hello Mark,

We agree with Sue that there is a possibility that your hen has worms. It is advised that hens are wormed every six months to ensure that they maintain a healthy gut. We advise that customers use Flubenvet which is an easy to use and effective worming product.

There is also the possibility that your hen is suffering from Coccidiosis. Check to see if the hen’s droppings contain signs of blood, whether they have lost weight or seemed hunched up.

We would advise testing a sample of her droppings to test for coccidiosis. You can purchase a test kit from the Chicken Vet website. We can then carry out the test in our poultry veterinary lab and report any findings and recommendations to yourself. The test will help to either identify or eliminate any worm or cocci issues in Sylvia.

Following any digestive upset we would also recommend using some Beryl’s Friendly bacteria, it is like a “yakult” for birds, it contains over two hundred friendly bacteria and it helps to maintain and restore normal gut flora. We would definitely recommend this product if Sylvia is put on antibiotics by the vet tomorrow, it should be given 48 hours after the antibiotic treatment ends.

Your vet should be able to judge the severity of her illness when they examine her and if necessary will recommend a course of antibiotics. Good luck and do let us know how you get on.

Best Wishes,
Chicken Vet
 
Possibly egg yolk or egg peritonitis, would be unusual to have two at the same time but not impossible.
 
Hi everyone, thanks for all your posts.

Sylvia seems better but she still isn't laying, so there's something not quite right. She has laid 6/7 days for the last 2 years, like clock-work!

It's probably six months since we wormed the girls with Flubenvet, so we've started a course of treatment. We regularly check for lice, they're clean, as we found all three were infested when we bought them. Horrible.

No blood in their droppings, and no hunching, and - after the time elapsed since my first posting - I assume she can't have coccidiosis as she is still alive. I remember, as a young child, my grandfathers chickens contracting coccidiosis with terrible outcomes.... I don't believe there was a cure then.

Not sure what's going on. I'll try them with a change of diet, I'm not sure the local feed is great and they don't seem keen

Many thanks again
 
Just a thought but have you tried a calcium supplement.
 
mspencer said:
More info following my original posting....

3. sylvia had a very soft malformed egg poking out of her vent, roughly the shape and size of a crumpled finger, which we carefully extracted
Thanks
Mark
Click to expand...

This sounds more like a lash than an egg. A lash is formed by the shedding of the lining of the oviduct, usually in response to some infection or other assault to the oviduct tissue. Normally the "laying" of a lash is the end of the laying days.

Also Warrens are a high volume production layer. To still be laying at 2 years is really good. They are normally considered "spent" by the farms at 72-80 weeks, becuase after this the egg production slows down.
 
heres a pic of a lash one of mine 'laid' http://poultrykeeperforum.com/viewtopic.php?f=7&t=1978&p=10425&hilit=lash#p10425
 
I don;t think it was a lash. It didnt have an inner and did seem like a soft, crinkled empty egg-shell - sausage shaped.

She's started laying again, but averaging one every 3 days :-)
 
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