After seemingly endless days of blazing sunshine and clear blue skies, it looks as though we’ve returned to the relative norm of grey, dull dull dull days. So thank goodness for these little gems of colour popping up in the borders, a neat little reminder of what’s on it’s way.
Actually my anticipation of the delights of spring and summer are mixed with a bit of trepidation and forboding – mostly because I don’t know how Yoko will cope with her EYP over a whole laying season. I know I seem to rattle on about EYP in almost every post, and to be honest I really don’t want to think about it. I just have to keep focusing on the fact that she managed last year, and I’ve read accounts of other people’s hens living (so far) for 2 years or more with it. So that gives me a glimmer of hope. Cynthia’s swelling doesn’t seem to be subsiding at all, despite the fact that her sour crop has all but disappeared. She’ll go to the vet either tonight or Monday, but I think in my heart of hearts, the fact that she hasn’t popped an egg out since before her moult can only mean one thing. *Big sigh*.
Apparently hens have a 5-10% chance of developing egg peritonitis – whether this accounts for sterile egg peritonitis I don’t know. I think battery hens have been bred so that these sorts of problems can be a bit more inherent and widespread – after all, as far as the industry (bastards) are concerned, the hens are useless after 12-18 months (peak production), so I guess what would (and does) happen to them after this time doesn’t really matter (I’ve also read that because pigs are slaughtered at a specific age for their meat, no one is actually sure how old they can live to). Hence why I think generally, compared to other illnesses, there seems to be a lack of understanding and treatment for sterile EYP. The only advice I’ve managed to get hold of is from other amateur henkeepers that don’t have their birds purely for production purposes. My vet always seems a bit surprised that Yoko seems to be tootling along ok.
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