Survivability of egg yolk peritonitis

[K0k0shka]

My favorite hen was diagnosed with EYP today by our local vet. Vet showed me the x-rays and the mass is so large and thick that not much else can be seen in the image, and she says it must have been like this for months Which is confusing, because my hens only resumed laying after winter about a month and a half ago, and this girl was first in the nest. Vet thinks it could’ve started before winter break, which would make it over half a year now since the onset… Is that possible? The hen has labored breathing if she’s being squished (like if I carry her in my arms) from the mass pushing on her air sacs, but fine when on the ground. No fluid in her belly (that the vet mentioned) and no other symptoms - she eats, drinks, poops, dust bathes, does all the chicken things, even sits in the nesting box for a while almost every day. I can’t tell if she’s actually laying, because most of the eggs look identical between several chickens. I assumed she was, so I had no idea what was brewing! She’s on antibiotics now and I have separated her, so I can observe if she’s laying.

So my questions are… How survivable do you think this would be, given how it’s presenting? Vet avoided answering the question, guess she didn’t want to get my hopes up, but… from your collective experiences… if the chicken has no serious symptoms, is that a good thing? Is there hope? And how could she have lived with this for half a year?!? This is so confusing, and unlike what I’m reading on here about EYP. Any input would be appreciated!

Here she is, in her separate quarters. The fancy boot is for bumblefoot, which is what initially brought me to the vet, and the EYP was discovered accidentally (thank you bumblefoot!)

 

[HorseGirlAbby]

Unfortunately, EYP is ultimately fatal. How old is she? Is she a buff Orpington? Hens can live with it for quite a long time before showing symptoms, and even after. One of my hens lived with it for over two years before passing this winter. It really only affects them during the times of year that they’d be laying eggs, like now. They have good times, like molting season and winter, where they appear to “get better” but the sad reality is that they don’t. My hen, like yours, pretended to lay an egg at least a few times a week, getting into a box and going through the motions, but nothing ever came of it. Eventually she grew so weak she couldn’t get on the roost, and died a few days later. I’d keep your hen in with her flock for now. If she has EYP, she’s not laying, and she’ll be lonely without them. And reintegrating her could be an issue if she’s gone for a while. Unless you’re prepared to keep her separated for months, she’ll probably be happiest with her flock.

I’m sorry to be the bearer of bad news. Your girl could have anywhere from a few weeks to a year left. Just enjoy the good days and help her through the bad ones.

 

[K0k0shka]

Unfortunately, EYP is ultimately fatal. How old is she? Is she a buff Orpington? Hens can live with it for quite a long time before showing symptoms, and even after. One of my hens lived with it for over two years before passing this winter. It really only affects them during the times of year that they’d be laying eggs, like now. They have good times, like molting season and winter, where they appear to “get better” but the sad reality is that they don’t. My hen, like yours, pretended to lay an egg at least a few times a week, getting into a box and going through the motions, but nothing ever came of it. Eventually she grew so weak she couldn’t get on the roost, and died a few days later. I’d keep your hen in with her flock for now. If she has EYP, she’s not laying, and she’ll be lonely without them. And reintegrating her could be an issue if she’s gone for a while. Unless you’re prepared to keep her separated for months, she’ll probably be happiest with her flock.

I’m sorry to be the bearer of bad news. Your girl could have anywhere from a few weeks to a year left. Just enjoy the good days and help her through the bad ones.

Thank you so much for the input! I'm sorry to hear about your chicken This gives me a whole new perspective though. I didn't think they could live with it for so long. In my mind, when I hear infection, especially an internal one, I think sepsis and death, with a sense of urgency, not something that can drag out for so long. But I thought back on my hen's history and remembered the heavy breathing pretty much always being there. I posted a thread about it, asking for help, with a video. I just found it and was floored to find that it's from over TWO years ago!!!!! She was still a pullet at that point. She's 3 years old now, English Orpington, but not buff - her color is "lemon cuckoo". She had only been laying for about a month at the time the video was taken. She was the first to lay from that batch of pullets, and I had no other chickens at the time but her and her 4 sisters, so I know she laid. In my thread, I say she'd been breathing heavy for months... Not sure how accurate my sense of time was, but if it was really monthS, then could she have ruptured her first egg internally, before she ever laid a real egg, and started a build-up that got so bad it affected her breathing so early on? What doesn't make sense is that her breathing was already so bad, and yet she went on to have a very productive first year of laying after that video was taken. I only had 5 hens at the time and would regularly get 5 eggs in a single day (maybe 2-3 times a week), so she went through that season laying regularly. The vet said it's possible for them to lay while having EYP... But it seems odd to have it so bad that she can't breathe (meaning the mass is large enough to compress her air sacs), and yet there's still enough room in there for eggs to form and pass through.

I'll call the vet tomorrow and see if she'll have any more input given this information. I doubt it though, her answers are all along the lines of "it's possible", "it has been known to happen", "maybe", etc. Which I understand... this isn't an exact science. I guess I'm just looking for stories, people's experiences. Like yours. I wish more people would weigh in with their EYP stories, but I don't know how frequently this subforum is visited...

 

[K0k0shka]

I’d keep your hen in with her flock for now. If she has EYP, she’s not laying, and she’ll be lonely without them. And reintegrating her could be an issue if she’s gone for a while. Unless you’re prepared to keep her separated for months, she’ll probably be happiest with her flock.

I should’ve clarified - she’s not fully separate. I have a partition of my run for separating chickens while maintaining their presence with the flock. It’s just some chicken wire that’s separating them. So they can still see each other. I let her out in the late afternoon and she sleeps with the flock, then I move her again in the morning. I’m only doing this to make sure she isn’t laying, because we’re not supposed to eat her eggs now that she’s on antibiotics. She’s been separated like that for 4 days now and no eggs, so I can probably assume she’s not laying, and let her stay with the flock full time.

 

[HorseGirlAbby]

Thank you so much for the input! I'm sorry to hear about your chicken This gives me a whole new perspective though. I didn't think they could live with it for so long. In my mind, when I hear infection, especially an internal one, I think sepsis and death, with a sense of urgency, not something that can drag out for so long. But I thought back on my hen's history and remembered the heavy breathing pretty much always being there. I posted a thread about it, asking for help, with a video. I just found it and was floored to find that it's from over TWO years ago!!!!! She was still a pullet at that point. She's 3 years old now, English Orpington, but not buff - her color is "lemon cuckoo". She had only been laying for about a month at the time the video was taken. She was the first to lay from that batch of pullets, and I had no other chickens at the time but her and her 4 sisters, so I know she laid. In my thread, I say she'd been breathing heavy for months... Not sure how accurate my sense of time was, but if it was really monthS, then could she have ruptured her first egg internally, before she ever laid a real egg, and started a build-up that got so bad it affected her breathing so early on? What doesn't make sense is that her breathing was already so bad, and yet she went on to have a very productive first year of laying after that video was taken. I only had 5 hens at the time and would regularly get 5 eggs in a single day (maybe 2-3 times a week), so she went through that season laying regularly. The vet said it's possible for them to lay while having EYP... But it seems odd to have it so bad that she can't breathe (meaning the mass is large enough to compress her air sacs), and yet there's still enough room in there for eggs to form and pass through.

Yes, it’s an odd disease, for sure. My girl, Nancy, hung on until she was five and a half, which is pretty old, and much longer than I’d hoped for. She had a happy life, and I loved her to the end. It first started in spring of 2021, ironically, I hatched one of her final eggs. Of course it was a rooster, so we couldn’t keep him, but it was still cool. Nancy’s belly started getting swollen, and I didn’t think she had much longer. I’d had a couple other hens pass from what I’m pretty certain was the same disease, and one died within a few days of showing symptoms, and the other hung on for a few months, still weak, but she was a fighter. So I was really worried about Nancy. A month or so after that, she was still hanging on, and it got suuuuuper hot outside. Like, 116 degrees. Nancy and another hen both got heatstroke, and Nancy survived. Sadly, the other hen didn’t make it. But the good thing was, the heatstroke made Nancy stop “laying,” and the disease didn’t progress any more for a while. The next spring, she went downhill again, in the summer she was a bit better, then it was too much for her in the fall. She was an Easter Egger, and I think the mixed breed toughness helped her, the “hybrid vigor.” My other two that passed from EYP were production hybrids, Amberlinks. They were more susceptible to the disease, and couldn’t fight it off as easily. So there’s more hope for your hen, because she’s a heritage breed, and they’re naturally sturdier than the production breeds. This is evidenced by the fact that she hasn’t shown any symptoms by now.

I'll call the vet tomorrow and see if she'll have any more input given this information. I doubt it though, her answers are all along the lines of "it's possible", "it has been known to happen", "maybe", etc. Which I understand... this isn't an exact science. I guess I'm just looking for stories, people's experiences. Like yours. I wish more people would weigh in with their EYP stories, but I don't know how frequently this subforum is visited...

I know a lot of us on here have experienced this disease. I wish there was a way to get this featured on the homepage so that more people will see it.

I should’ve clarified - she’s not fully separate. I have a partition of my run for separating chickens while maintaining their presence with the flock. It’s just some chicken wire that’s separating them. So they can still see each other. I let her out in the late afternoon and she sleeps with the flock, then I move her again in the morning. I’m only doing this to make sure she isn’t laying, because we’re not supposed to eat her eggs now that she’s on antibiotics. She’s been separated like that for 4 days now and no eggs, so I can probably assume she’s not laying, and let her stay with the flock full time.

Oh, good. That’s a smart precaution, I’d forgotten you said antibiotics. Those will give her a better chance as well! But yes, she’s probably not laying now. Buuuuut it may just be the stress of a new situation, vet visit, etc. You might want to keep her there for a while longer, just to be on the safe side.

 

[SacredWaves]

Yes, it’s an odd disease, for sure. My girl, Nancy, hung on until she was five and a half, which is pretty old, and much longer than I’d hoped for. She had a happy life, and I loved her to the end. It first started in spring of 2021, ironically, I hatched one of her final eggs. Of course it was a rooster, so we couldn’t keep him, but it was still cool. Nancy’s belly started getting swollen, and I didn’t think she had much longer. I’d had a couple other hens pass from what I’m pretty certain was the same disease, and one died within a few days of showing symptoms, and the other hung on for a few months, still weak, but she was a fighter. So I was really worried about Nancy. A month or so after that, she was still hanging on, and it got suuuuuper hot outside. Like, 116 degrees. Nancy and another hen both got heatstroke, and Nancy survived. Sadly, the other hen didn’t make it. But the good thing was, the heatstroke made Nancy stop “laying,” and the disease didn’t progress any more for a while. The next spring, she went downhill again, in the summer she was a bit better, then it was too much for her in the fall. She was an Easter Egger, and I think the mixed breed toughness helped her, the “hybrid vigor.” My other two that passed from EYP were production hybrids, Amberlinks. They were more susceptible to the disease, and couldn’t fight it off as easily. So there’s more hope for your hen, because she’s a heritage breed, and they’re naturally sturdier than the production breeds. This is evidenced by the fact that she hasn’t shown any symptoms by now.

I know a lot of us on here have experienced this disease. I wish there was a way to get this featured on the homepage so that more people will see it.

Oh, good. That’s a smart precaution, I’d forgotten you said antibiotics. Those will give her a better chance as well! But yes, she’s probably not laying now. Buuuuut it may just be the stress of a new situation, vet visit, etc. You might want to keep her there for a while longer, just to be on the safe side.

Maybe contact the moderators, and see if we can get this on the homepage, or something about it, anyhow. I had never heard of this. So many things to learn. I am glad I am compiling a binder with all the information I have gathered on behavior, breed, illness, etc. Quick reference is all. I am getting older, and the memory isn't what it was 20 years ago. Maybe we can contact someone on here and at least get something posted to the homepage? Thank you for bringing this to my attention. I am sorry to hear of your girl, and it's always hard to lose a chicken. For me it is, anyhow. I never intended these birds for food, beyond eggs. So, I named them, and came to find they have personality, and are alot smarter than we give them credit for. I never knew chickens were such great animals. I used to be scared of them, after a rooster run in. Lol. Anyhow, thanks again, and I wish you well. Keep us posted??