Crop Issue - 3 year old Amelia

[N8Yoder]

Update - We kept Amelia separated for 3 days as we attempted to manage her crop issue (still believe it was sour crop).

During crop massages she would expel some super nasty liquid - most of it green. Initially we provided her a stool softener - 100 mg Ducolax tablet and kept food from her for 24 hours. Then we started feeding her yogurt, watermelon, crushed blue berries and water with apple cider vinegar for the last 3 days while keeping her separated from the other birds in our "hospital". She seemed to perk up yesterday. We made the decision to allow Amelia to roost with her flock last night. She immediately went to her closest sisters at dusk and they all roosted together. I was more than a bit nervous last night. Her crop yesterday - while not as bad as the previous 2 days - was still soft and squishy. We did see signs of diarrhea in the hospital but no huge discharges. She had also been losing quite a few feathers (perhaps due to the trauma of the crop issue) but that seems to have slowed now that she is doing a bit better.

This morning my wife and I went out to tend the ladies. They were all down ready to come out of the coop - even Amelia! Her crop was small this morning (may be still a bit squishy) but no bigger than the other birds. In fact - her crop felt very similar to the others. Amelia was also hungry. She quickly re-established herself as the dominant bird and she is eating the dry chicken food and some watermelon and apples we put out for all of them this morning.

If her crop doesn't enlarge again does that mean that she never head sour crop and instead had an impacted crop? Or - could she still have sour crop and the crop just be functioning better than it was previously? Thoughts? Should we still consider an antifungal, keep on with the apple cider vinegar in the water? Any advice would be appreciated.

 

[chickcrack]

If her crop seems normal now and she is acting her perky self I would take a cautious watch approach. Feel her crop evdning and morning for the next few days to ensure eating and emptying is normal. It's hard to tell if she was blocked or sour (or both) but I personally have dealt with sour crop several times and not needed to resort to anti-fungal meds. Epsom salt treatment has worked. Make sure she has access to grit and if you can avoid grass and scratch for a couple of days that would be best. Easy to digest foods. Very happy to hear that she appears to have recovered.

 

[polish hen]

If her crop seams to be working then yes maybe it was only an impaction and I whould just monitor her closely and most importantly cheak her crop to make sure it's flat every morning for at least a few weeks just to be on the safe side

 

[N8Yoder]

Ok - update on Amelia's crop issue:

Amelia's crop initially had gone down after we vomited her. In fact we vomited her a couple of times due to the fact that she was drinking so much water (our opinion is that she had an impacted or blocked crop and was trying to drink liquids to dissolve the blockage). After vomiting her (her crop was initially HUGE) in order to try to clear the crop we gave Amelia an Epsom's salt treatment and put her on a water and apple cider vitamin mix only diet for 12 hours. We gave the treatment with a syringe (very carefully).

We also gave her 2 100 mg Ducolax pills and put her on a Apple Cider Vinegar with water regimen with only watermelon and crushed blueberries for food. We would syringe liquids into her and massage her crop every 2 - 3 hours to try to break up any blockage (we never felt any). During this time she didn't show much interest in food or water. The throw up was green. This to me indicated that she had lots of grass in her crop.

After about 24 hours we noticed that she had diarrhea. This was a good sign (or so we thought) as at least something had made it through her crop. Additionally we noticed the crop was smaller. While her breath was still bad (indicating possible sour crop) we started feeding her yogurt. She seemed to like the yogurt and we kept her isolated for 1 more day. During this time we continued to provide apple cider vinegar and water mix as well as yogurt and watermelon to keep her hydrated. We didn't want to kill her by not ensuring that she stayed hydrated. This went on for about a day and a half. Luckily I work from home when I am not travelling and I was home for this portion of her treatment. I was able to massage her crop - and she didn't throw up any more (good sign in my opinion).

In all we kept her isolated for 3.5 days in a 2nd coop (we call it the hospital coop) inside the run so that she could see the other chickens but they were still separated. During her isolation she had her own food and water supplies. Amelia showed improvement the end of day 3. Her crop was small. While her breath was still a bit stinky she was up and about and showed interest in the food outside her coop for the first time. We provided her some mash (meal worms softened in water) and yogurt. She at that well. At this point we decided to allow her to interact with the flock.

She immediately made her way to the greens we had provided the flock. Initially this concerned me as they can be more difficult to digest (or so I have been told). However, I was going to be home so we allowed her to have greens as we could easily monitor her crop during the day. One of the other more senior hens made the mistake of trying to intimidate her as Amelia had been absent from the flock for 4 days. Amelia quickly asserted herself and order was restored. She may be a pound or two lighter but she is no less authoritative.

Amelia is mostly recovered now and seems to be doing well. We will continue to monitor her to ensure there are not more issues.

Many thanks to polish hen, cuz chickens and chickcrack for their helpful advice and welcome mentorship during this tough ordeal! Your advice and candor are greatly appreciated. Many thanks as well to Back Yard Chickens for the site and work that you do. I don't know where we would be without all of you!

 

[chickcrack]

Super happy to hear she's feeling better. Nice job!

 

[N8Yoder]

well - after two days of seemingly normal behavior she stumbled out of the coop this morning staggering sideways and walking backwards. I have her isolated once again in the "hospital coop" but have no idea what to do. I have read that this could be botulism, mareks (though she is 2 - 3 years old now) or even something in her ear. I will be headed out to check her ear shortly. Any other thoughts?

 

[chickcrack]

Oh I'm so sorry. Sometimes crop issues are a symptom of other underlying problems. Best I can advise is a thorough check of crop (full/empty), vent (stuck egg), feathers (for mites/lice), body check for any hidden injuries. Keep her warm and try to get some water in her. If she's visibly dizzy she probably hasn't been drinking and regardless of what may be causing this she needs to be hydrated. Let us know if you find anything.

 

[N8Yoder]

Have checked her for mites. Didn't find any. She seems just a bit better since I have separated her from the others. She was super hungry this morning and made a very crooked but committed attempt to get to the food bucket when we brought it out. I am trying to figure out how to attach a video I took of her. Any idea how I can get that to you?

 

[chickcrack]

If you have a YouTube acct you can post it there and put the link here.
If she is having aiming issues picking up food moistened pellets or scrambled eggs in a deep dish may be easier for her.

 

[N8Yoder]

Many thanks! I have tried eggs in the hospital coop and she loves it. Now that she has eaten and was separated for much of the day she is back to her old self again.

I know she isn't acting ill for attention but I can not find anything wrong with her. I wondered if in her excitement this am to get out of the coop if she banged her head. She's still the boss of the coop but she sure does love to be held (to the point where she comes to us now when we enter the pen). This is new behavior for her. I am starting to wonder if she just likes the attention - lol.