Lash Egg- Oviduct Infection

[Sk8inChick(en)]

Hey, chicken people!

I have a 4 yr old sex link hen who produced this mass of egg and tissue the other day.

I figured salpingitis, so took her to the vet the next morning. She had an X-ray that confirmed infection, and we’re on day 12 of a 2-week Baytril course.

She hasn’t been acting herself, and hasn’t layed in 3 weeks. She usually eats a ton, and she’s hardly eating now.

My question is, what do you all think is the prognosis here?

If the Baytril made any difference, would she seem better by now? Do you all have any suggestions as to what else we can do for her? To at least make her more comfortable?

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[Saaniya]

Oviduct infection are serious vet advice will be great. My friend lose 2 hens after oviduct infection they also done implant but sporty didn't recover


Hope ur hen gets good working advises

 

[rebrascora]

Unfortunately the likelihood is that her oviduct is impacted with much more lash egg material that she will be unable to pass due to the sheer size and irregular shape, (it can become as large as a grapefruit) so even if the antibiotics prevent further infection, she is still clogged up with that bad stuff and if she is still ovulating, which is possible/probably, more egg yolks will be getting backed up behind the impaction until the oviduct is full and they start dropping into the abdominal cavity. Hormonal implants will stop the ovulation and prevent things getting any worse but are expensive at $100-150 a time and need to be replaced every 3-6 months for the rest of her life because the oviduct will remain blocked. Risky and expensive surgery is an option to remove the impacted oviduct but hormonal implants are still essential after that, so it is a huge financial commitment to try to save such a bird with no guarantee of success.
If the impaction in her oviduct becomes so large as to constrict the gut and prevent her from pooping (usually they will only be able to pass clear or white urates) the birds digestive system will get stopped back and the bird will stop eating and if you are not going to go with the surgery, the kindest thing you can do is euthanize
because otherwise toxins from the faeces will build up in her body and fatally poison her or her heart will fail due to the strain of it.

I'm sorry the prognosis is so bleak!

 

[Nats Chickens]

 

[Sk8inChick(en)]

Thank you everyone for your replies!! Much appreciated. I thought I had posted a while ago, must have never saved. Oops.

Surprisingly, the hen is still with us. She still has not laid in over a month, and she is not eating nearly as well as she used to. Seems to be okay, though, still foraging and going for treats.

Do you think she is internally laying? Should I ask the vet about implants at this point?

Should I just let her be? She finished her Baytril course a while ago, but not much improvement. No more tissue/pus masses passed.

 

[rebrascora]

Really pleased to hear she is still plodding along. Is her comb still red and plump, which would indicate that she is still ovulating? If so, she is almost certainly internal laying. How does her belly look and feel. My guess would be that she is probably getting heavier and you could monitor that.
If her comb is still red, have you tried restricting her access to daylight? ie. Keeping her overnight in a box somewhere cool and dark and then letting her out at lunchtime each day, so you drastically reduce her length of daily exposure to light and hopefully trigger her to moult early which would hopefully also shut down her ovary and you should see a little improvement after that.

 

[Sk8inChick(en)]

Really pleased to hear she is still plodding along. Is her comb still red and plump, which would indicate that she is still ovulating? If so, she is almost certainly internal laying. How does her belly look and feel. My guess would be that she is probably getting heavier and you could monitor that.
If her comb is still red, have you tried restricting her access to daylight? ie. Keeping her overnight in a box somewhere cool and dark and then letting her out at lunchtime each day, so you drastically reduce her length of daily exposure to light and hopefully trigger her to moult early which would hopefully also shut down her ovary and you should see a little improvement after that.

Thanks for your reply!
Her comb is still red, and I saw her in the nest box today. None of the eggs collected really look like hers, though. I would guess that means she's still laying internally. The light thing makes a lot of sense, but I don't really have a place to put her inside.

I guess I'm wondering if it's okay to just let her be? She seems okay, but I don't want her to be in pain and misery. It's been over 6 weeks since she laid, and 1 month since I found the "lash egg". Is there a chance she recovered from an infection and is just no longer going to lay?

I realize "Baby" is old for a production hen at 4 yo. (the vet staff were quite amused by her name) But I wonder if her system is just giving out. Seems that if she had an unresolved infection/reproductive defect, she wouldn't be alive a month later? I don't know much about that, though.

 

[rebrascora]

Chickens create waxy solid pus to try to isolate infection from the rest of the body and prevent it from spreading. An infection of the oviduct can say isolated for many months. What often kills them in the end is that the mass of infected egg material inside them starts to press on internal organs and finally either block the gut and cause toxic shock or organ failure. If her comb is still red then she is still ovulating and those egg yolks will be slowly adding to that mass inside her like a ticking time bomb.... or pumping air into a balloon until it eventually bursts.

You could lift her off the roost at night and place her in a cardboard box with holes punched in it for ventilation and place that in a cupboard or similar or a garage or shed with a tarp over it... as long as it doesn't get too hot.... better cool than too warm at this time of year. As long as it is dark she should be quite calm and quiet.

If she is eating and acting otherwise normal.... watch closely to make sure she is eating and not just pretending (they will sometimes pick up and drop the same pellet or morsel of food to appear normal).... then I would suggest that she is not in too much pain or discomfort but that will eventually change when that mass of eggs inside her becomes critical and things get tight in her abdominal cavity.

I wish you luck but sadly she is almost certainly living on borrowed time. It may be a matter of weeks or months depending upon when she stops ovulating but I very much doubt she will make it to this time next summer. Can you keep us updated whatever you decide. The more information we can collate on these situations the better we can advise people in the future.

You may decide that quality of life is more important now rather than buying her a few3 months by restricting daylight and that keeping her boxed for half the day is in itself inhibiting that quality, especially with it being summer..... would you prefer a few weeks of summer sunshine or a few extra months of winter weather?? Whatever you decide will be the right decision for you and her because you are the only one who can make that judgement.

Sincerest best wishes

Barbara

 

[Sk8inChick(en)]

Thank you, that makes sense. So it seems like she'll never recover from this if she keeps ovulating? I really don't want to put her in a box, as we live in the Midwest and it's upper 90's right now. She would get majorly over-heated. I could put her in a dark room in the house, but I doubt she'd be happy separated from her flock.

It seems that maybe implants would be the best option, if our vet could do it. I'll call them on Monday and see if they would. Do you think it would be too late, though, at this point? It's been over a month since the "lash egg" and she hasn't had any normal laying in 8 weeks or so. Would it be worth it to do an implant? Or is it too far gone? Her abdomen still feels swollen and "liquidy" like she has some ascites.

I'm leaning toward just preserving a quality of life right now, but if an implant could give her a chance, I'd certainly see if it could be done. I'd love to see her pull through if possible.
Otherwise, I'd rather she live out her days happily "chickening" with the flock.

 

[micstrachan]

Chickens create waxy solid pus to try to isolate infection from the rest of the body and prevent it from spreading. An infection of the oviduct can say isolated for many months. What often kills them in the end is that the mass of infected egg material inside them starts to press on internal organs and finally either block the gut and cause toxic shock or organ failure. If her comb is still red then she is still ovulating and those egg yolks will be slowly adding to that mass inside her like a ticking time bomb.... or pumping air into a balloon until it eventually bursts.

You could lift her off the roost at night and place her in a cardboard box with holes punched in it for ventilation and place that in a cupboard or similar or a garage or shed with a tarp over it... as long as it doesn't get too hot.... better cool than too warm at this time of year. As long as it is dark she should be quite calm and quiet.

If she is eating and acting otherwise normal.... watch closely to make sure she is eating and not just pretending (they will sometimes pick up and drop the same pellet or morsel of food to appear normal).... then I would suggest that she is not in too much pain or discomfort but that will eventually change when that mass of eggs inside her becomes critical and things get tight in her abdominal cavity.

I wish you luck but sadly she is almost certainly living on borrowed time. It may be a matter of weeks or months depending upon when she stops ovulating but I very much doubt she will make it to this time next summer. Can you keep us updated whatever you decide. The more information we can collate on these situations the better we can advise people in the future.

You may decide that quality of life is more important now rather than buying her a few3 months by restricting daylight and that keeping her boxed for half the day is in itself inhibiting that quality, especially with it being summer..... would you prefer a few weeks of summer sunshine or a few extra months of winter weather?? Whatever you decide will be the right decision for you and her because you are the only one who can make that judgement.

Sincerest best wishes

Barbara

Barbara, thank you for the thoughtful, thorough post. It helps all of us. “A few weeks of summer or a few months of winter” really struck a cord with me and I will remember that one.