I frequently hear from poultry owners around the country , touch me out of business organisation for their heap . Among the poultry questions I most commonly receive are :
I am always happy to facilitate my fellow fowl Farmer . After all , we are all part of the domestic fowl - farming community and we should support each other .
This summer , however , I receive two questions from fowl keepers I know in Michigan regarding consideration I ’d never encountered or even woolgather subsist . I was embarrass , perplexed and perturbed . What on Earth was happen ?
I turned these questions over to my trusted fowl authorities atMichigan State Universityfor assistance and to learn about these antecedently unknown ( to me ) ill .
The Case of the Exploding Hens
Katherine and I had been chatting aboutBig Boy ’s bumblefootand the bumblefoot she had been seeing in her own flock of bed . abruptly , she ask me if I might have any idea why her biddy were explode .
What ?
One of her layers very dead developed a severely swollen abdomen . “ It was punishing and hot and very red , ” Katherine told me , “ so swollen that it ’s getting in the fashion of her walking . ” After a fistful of days struggle with this malady , the poor hen died .
PETER M/Flickr
When Katherine place the hen ’s carcase on her compost heap , the body break like a balloon . “ It just explode … white slimy goop went everywhere , ” Katherine say .
The next day , another biddy emerge with a raging , voiceless , ruby-red , distended belly . That biddy met the same conclusion as the first layer , right on down to the explode corpse . A third hen is now show symptom .
Ask an Expert
I ’d not pick up of any illness or condition that causes a biddy ’s organic structure to explode . My nous went to peritonitis , a bacterial excitation of the abdominal facing , or perhaps uroabdomen , a medical shape in cat and dogs symptomized by a distended abdomen .
Then again , I ’m not a vet or an avian diagnostician , so I asked a soul who is .
“ My guess is gangrenous dermatitis , ” said Zac Williams , PhD. , the pedantic specialiser at the Michigan State University Poultry Extension . “ Gangrenous dermatitis is a bacterial transmission that is typically because of an injury or gash through which the bacterium can enter and multiply . The bacteria bring forth a lot of gas pedal and pus , which would have been seen when the birds burst open on the compost . The contagion happen very apace and generally results in high mortality . ”
PETER M/Flickr
I shared this entropy with Katherine right off . She has not replied about her explode hens , so I go for she has n’t lost more layer . PETER M / Flickr
The Case of the Precocious Putrefaction
John and Margie have a plenty of Khaki Campbell ducks that they absolutely adore . They cautiously studied all availableduck breedsbefore selecting the Khaki Campbells for their laying ability , because John loves to broil withduck eggs .
John and Margie buy the honorable organic , locally produced duck’s egg rations for their flock . They dug a small pool for the girls ’ consumption . Their duck’s egg menage could duplicate as a frontier cabin , it ’s so charming and spacious .
I ’ve never seen such a well - loved duck’s egg raft ( outside of my own , of course ) .
you may guess my obfuscation when I get a call in August from a very upset John , informing me that something was haywire with his girls . For the past hebdomad , every single egg the duck laid was already rotten . The eggs looked utterly fine on the exterior but the yolk and albumin were grizzly - green and putrid .
John had ruined a batch of his exceptional griddlecake batsman with these reeking eggs . After that initial experience , he crack the duck orchis into a separate bowl first , and each one was rotten .
“ They ’re fresh eggs ! ” he exclaimed . “ It ’s not like they ’ve been sitting out in the duckhouse for months ! We collect them double a solar day and pretty much use them up as they ’re laid . Why would they be lay rotten ? ”
I expect John about storage , and he confirmed that he stash away the eggs on his parry , in an bollock tray , bloom integral . “ I use them all the time when I cook . They maybe last a daytime in the tray before I use them . Or at least , they used to until this . ”
Bug in the Birds
Williams ’ best guess is a hemipteron in the birds . “ If the eggs are freshly set , then the duck’s egg hen credibly have a bacterial infection , ” he said . “ Your friend will involve to find the hen that are lay the rotten eggs and either get them handle or cull them . ”
Williams also recommended checking any informant of contaminant between the duckhouse and the kitchen .
I can only imagine John ’s brass when I relay to him the choice of culling his flock . Those Khaki Campbells are his feathered tike . Culling was out of the question . or else , he opted for treating the entire flock with Tylan . He and Margie systematically scrub and sanitized the duckhouse and , just to be exhaustive , also washed their gardening baseball mitt .
Within a week , the girls ’ eggs were back to normal , which John was very relieved to report . He mirthfully go back to baking and Bernaise — until the start of October , when he sent me a prompt text :
“ Why are n’t my fille put down ? ”
So mature the batch of fowl interrogative still depart to answer .
