| Archive for Downsizer For an ethical approach to consumption |
| Lianne |
Egg peritonitis?I work at a vet surgery (handy with 5 dogs, 2 cats & 3 chickens ).
We had a lady in today to have another one of her rescue chickens put to sleep with egg peritonitis. She has lost 3 so far with the same problem.It turns out she got her 'gang' from the same rescue batch I got mine from. Is there anything I can do to prevent or reduce the risk of mine getting the same problem? I have done a little research and have found out about the excercise, stress & diet factor My girls are laying well (1-3 eggs per day out of 3 chickens), they are fed on (as recommended) layers mash, although I am gradually adding mixed corn & pellets to it (they dont seem too keen on it atm and keep on leaving the new stuff!). They are in the run until lunch time and then let out to mooch and scratch as is thier want in the afternoons & evenings. They seem happy and always have full crops and are pooping well ++++ (nothing white or yellow there, mind you.....they have found my plum tree so are a bit loose atm  )
Any tips or advice welcome! I am a beginner with chickens! 
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| Mrs Fiddlesticks |
we've had a couple go with that. I got the impression it was sometimes more to do with them being hybrids than anything else. They lay their little socks off for 18months and then things can start to go wrong as their systems get worn out (they're not designed to be long lived as far as I know). They are at risk of laying bigger and bigger eggs with sometimes thinner and thinner shells and sometimes one will just break inside (and stress could be a factor, but our poultry supplier said that could be anything like a particularly loud aircraft going over or a thunder storm i.e nothing you could prevent)
We lost one to that when she was only a few months old. That was caused by coming in to lay in the spring. The longer days got her brain in to making big eggs that her body hadn't grown big enough to lay properly hence peritonitis. I posted what we learnt here |
| Lianne |
Thank you for that!
I did not realise that hybrids had such a short life span! The 3 that I have are hybrids and are 18 months old. As long as they are happy that is fine by me! An egg a day would be nice as well!
I have never seen such un stressed birds in my life! They are scratching the garden up like they have done it all thier lives! I have 3 dogs (atm) and the girls are totally unphased by them. They will happily peck around them and walk under thier stomachs etc. No fear at all! I think the dogs are more scared and I have 2 Irish Setter gundogs!  Trouble is, if a fox came into the garden (unlikely............hopefully) I think they would be equally unphased!
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