[Zak the Rabbit]

Laying in my chooks has been dropping off recently, as they get older its to be expected. I also had the last of my commercial birds with a severe prolapse last month who i had to cull.

Ive seen a steady increase in the number of soft and/or broken eggs over the last few weeks, to the extent that my chook minder last week while i was away only collected four eggs from my remaining three girls. All three are bright, eager and happy looking, comb and wattles good etc, however two of them are noticably smaller and have rather red bums!

I took the brown one out earlier to check her over, no mites or lice. Her rear end is rather bald, and i have seen the biggest girl peck her *, so shes been given a good coating of gentian violet to try and reduce that (not the first time with her). Shes generally clean there, and no sign of prolapse around her vent, but here abdomen (if thats there term, either way lower than vent but before legs!) is rather red, warmer than i'd expect, and appears to be a bit swollen.

I havent yet checked the other two, because obviously they got wind of what i was doing and i cant catch them now! I'll check them later at dusk.

Can anyone suggest what might be the cause of the soft/broken eggs, and her swollen/red belly?

They will be getting wormed shortly, and a sample will go off to the lab. They get diatom and lice powder (my own ratio) dusted on their bedding, perches, corners etc, cider vinegar in the water, all the usual stuff.

Advice much appreciated!

*edit to add - just ordered some anti-pecking rings to try and put a stop to this

[Zak the Rabbit]

what, no one got an opinion on this?

[PaulineM]

Hi

What breed and age are your girls?

My Isa type hens lay thin shelled eggs which more often than not break but they are 2 year old now so its to be expected.

I've no advice about the red swollen area other than if they have been pecking maybe that is the cause 

If you are providing a good quality feed,oyster shell and grit with not too many treats and your girls have no lice or red mites in coop and you are about to worm them (hopefully with flubenvet) then I think you are doing all you can. Hopefully you will get some more replies soon 

[Zak the Rabbit]

Im stuffed if i can remember the breeds now, these three were got for us by father in law about year and half/two years ago i think, my originals were isa types. Ive probably got the breed written down somewhere. I dont bother remembering, same as i refuse to remember the names the kids give them! Im not into showing etc so am just happy to have them healthy.

I have a feeling the one laying the soft ones is the brown one, and shes the one with the worst evidence of pecking. All three have now been inspected and dont have any serious issues, a few lice were noted and so they got a good dusting. No red mite at all present (checked after dark again last night), feet, vents etc in good order.

I think as you say it might just be age. Hopefully the pecking will be sorted when the rings arrive. The 'head' girl was definately none too happy to receive her check over yesterday, especially as she got the heaviest dusting!

They have oyster shell, mixed grit, plenty of layers pellets etc. They probably do get a few too many treats though, thats the missus!

There going on the verm-x this time, i dont seem to be able to get hold of the flubenvet at the moment. Its not as effective i know, but theres no direct evidence of a worm problem

Kids have decided we need some new chooks, so i'll get a few isa's from the local farm in next week or so.

[PaulineM]

Hi
I would definitely recommend frontline for lice, it kills everything virtually overnight and last for months. I get the sprayable frontline from my vet it cost @£17 but last for ages.
Flubenvet can be obtained online or you can buy pellets with flubenvet already added.
Try to stop treats for a while as they really need a high percentage of their diet to be layers pellets. Good luck