Association of Cecal Spirochetes with Pasty Vents and Dirty Eggshells in Layers

Abstract

Feces-stained eggshells, diarrhea, and typhlitis were identified in two commercial laying flocks in Ohio. Hens with diarrhea had spirochetes in cecal lumina and crypts. On culture, the spirochetes were motile and non-hemolytic, did not produce indole, had 12 to 15 axial filaments, were 9.2 to 11.7 microns in length and 240 to 370 nm in diameter, and had a wavelength of 5.1 to 6.5 microns on transmission electron microscopy.