[shanta]

Can anyone help with a problem I am having? Over the last six months I have lost about six hens all with the same symptoms. They seem fine and their "combs" are red but they start to walk as if they have "wet their pants" and stop eating. I lost one yesterday and as I picked her up, not long before she died, a stream of fluid came from her vent.
Most are ex bats., they have the run of nearly half an acre (I have thirteen hens now). They have ad lib layers pellets, mixed corn twice a day and cooked potatoes/greens each morning.
Any advice would  be welcome.

[hillfooter]

MMMMmmm! Not a lot to go on there shanta.  Are you saying that they die suddenly with no other symptoms, no signs of depression?  Are their droppings unusual leading up to death?  Do they just drop dead?

I doubt it's a disease since the deaths are spread over a long period or am I wrong in assuming this.  Ie are the deaths grouped in any way which suggests infection such as all in the same house or related to birds from the same source etc.

The only thing which springs to mind particularly as they range such a large area is poisoning.  Could there be any mouldy corn or rat poison or polluted water they are being exposed to.

Best wishes
HF 

[Aunt Sally]

It could be egg peritonitis, it's very common in ex-bats 

[shanta]

Thanks for that.
There is no poison around and certainly no mouldy corn etc as what the chicken leave the sparrows have!!
The first symptoms are seen about a week before they die ie the strange walk and loss of appetite. They will eat a bit but I have to take it to them rather than they come to me.

[hillfooter]

It could be egg peritonitis, it's very common in ex-bats 

Sorry I missed the exbatts bit. Are all the chx which are affected exbatts?  If it's egg peritonitis that suggests that they have an egg binding problem which might explain the walk issue.  However it does rather seem odd that 6 out of 19 have had this as there shouldn't be a connection ie EP isn't catching.  Unless of course there's a common primary cause such as Infectious Bronchitis which causes ovary damage.  If so I doubt there 's much if anything you can do other than observe their laying behaviour and try to spot egg binding early.  For example have there been soft eggs laid or lashes (a sort of wrinkled leathery thing they lay) which could be very telling.

HF

[joyfull]

make sure they have access to a pot of oyster shell at all times. Their calcium supplies will be depleted through them constantly laying. As Aunt Sally has said ex batts are prone to egg peritonitis - this can be caused by a soft or weak shelled egg breaking inside them and infection setting in.

[8doubles]

Are they eating the pellets ? Cooked scraps every day and two helpings of corn may be too many treats and not enough pellets which may lead to soft shells and laying problems.

[Aunt Sally]

Ex-batt's egg making muscles have become very overworked and don't do their job too well anymore.

This may allow a fresh yolk to miss the fallopian tube and go into the body cavity instead, also albumin sometimes goes back up the tube and into the body cavity.

The hen's body reacts to this "foreign" material by producing a lot of fluid,  this fluid fills the abdomen making it swollen and causes them to walk like a duck.  It also puts pressure on their lungs and air sacs making their comb a bit blue.  This fluid can remain sterile or may become infected.

It is a painful, distressing condition and if it doesn't respond quickly to antibiotics the hen should be put down.  If it's happened once and the hen recovers there is a very high risk that it will happen again.

[hillfooter]

Ex-batt's egg making muscles have become very overworked and don't do their job too well anymore.

This may allow a fresh yolk to miss the fallopian tube and go into the body cavity instead, also albumin sometimes goes back up the tube and into the body cavity.

The hen's body reacts to this "foreign" material by producing a lot of fluid,  this fluid fills the abdomen making it swollen and causes them to walk like a duck.  It also puts pressure on their lungs and air sacs making their comb a bit blue.  This fluid can remain sterile or may become infected.

It is a painful, distressing condition and if it doesn't respond quickly to antibiotics the hen should be put down.  If it's happened once and the hen recovers there is a very high risk that it will happen again.

I think perhaps you've cracked it there Auntie
HF

[Aunt Sally]