Impacted/Doughy Crop + Stool Question, 5-1/2 mo Silkie hen

[Swbertrand1]

So, our little 5-1/2 month old Silkie hen, Peanut, that suffered from Wry Neck in June/July/August has developed a Doughy/Impacted Crop. This was first noticed by my bf mid-day yesterday afternoon when he picked her up and her crop was larger than normal, about the size of an adult full-size hen egg.

Her crop never really went down once he removed anything she could find to eat starting about 4pm yesterday, and she was started on Coconut Oil (CO) and every 1/2 hour crop massages. She will take all the CO we'll give her, eating the little frozen pieces readily. Last, we cannot feel an egg inside her (slippery finger method and external exam), though she's been laying regularly for just over a week; she did not lay yesterday nor today however.

She is leaving regular stools and they don't look concerning to us, a little moist, but mostly black and white and reasonably solid, though one (now more through the day) had a lot of yellow fluid with it first thing this morning, and the spot under where she roosted last night shows regular looking stools, but with a lot of green color staining the pine shavings adjacent to the stool itself. I'll post her other stools in post #2 on this thread.

With the CO she was getting last night, we added Yogurt to it for probiotic, and today she's on probiotic water, frozen CO chips, and we're about to give her some wet Starter Feed with Yogurt and Vitamins.

Here's my question:
The stool she left at 11am today has us puzzled though (shown in the photos). There was the tan colored "thing" about the size of a bean that was shaped like a human kidney. When put on a bench and unfurled it. It had what looked like a piece of intestine extending from one end. We cut it open, and it was fibrous inside. Does anyone have any idea what this might be? We can't tell if it's organic or synthetic either, but it has shrunk up as it's drying out.

 

[Swbertrand1]

Other stools from this morning and the greenish stool in the coop from overnight:

 

[humblehillsfarm]

So, our little 5-1/2 month old Silkie hen, Peanut, that suffered from Wry Neck in June/July/August has developed a Doughy/Impacted Crop. This was first noticed by my bf mid-day yesterday afternoon when he picked her up and her crop was larger than normal, about the size of an adult full-size hen egg.

Her crop never really went down once he removed anything she could find to eat starting about 4pm yesterday, and she was started on Coconut Oil (CO) and every 1/2 hour crop massages. She will take all the CO oil we'll give her, eating the little frozen pieces readily. Last, we cannot feel an egg inside her (slippery finger method and external exam), though she's been laying regularly for just over a week.

She is leaving regular stools and they don't look concerning to us, a little moist, but mostly black and white and reasonably solid, though one had a lot of yellow fluid with it first thing this morning, and the spot under where she roosted last night shows regular looking stools, but with a lot of green color staining the pine shavings adjacent to the stool itself. I'll post her other stools in post #2 on this thread.

With the CO she was getting last night, we added Yogurt to it for probiotic, and today she's on probiotic water, frozen CO chips, and we're about to give her some wet Starter Feed with Yogurt and Vitamins.

Here's my question:
The stool she left at 11am today has us puzzled though (shown in the photos). There was the tan colored "thing" about the size of a bean that was shaped like a human kidney. When put on a bench and unfurled it. It had what looked like a piece of intestine extending from one end. We cut it open, and it was fibrous inside. Does anyone have any idea what this might be? We can't tell if it's organic or synthetic either, but it has shrunk up as it's drying out.

The first pictures look like egg membrane.

 

[Swbertrand1]

Failed to mention that she is acting perfectly fine, shows no signs of lethargy, is eager to eat/drink, and regularly expels waste, but is showing more and more of the yellow liquid...

 

[Swbertrand1]

More stools from today are below. This Silkie hen is still acting normally, though she hasn't eaten but twice today (Starter Feed, Yogurt, B-vitamins, Coconut Oil). She's gotten crop massages every 1/2 hour through the day, has had plenty of water, and is outside now dustbathing in a secured, sandy (plenty of grit) run that has no grass or other foliage that she can get into due to the crop issue mentioned in post #1.

@azygous - I could really use your input on this one. The more I read, I'm thinking Egg Peritonitis, but she's only 5-1/2 months old. This one's got me stumped.

I'm going to start Calcium Carbonate tonight and considering Amoxicillin too...

 

[Swbertrand1]

We're still trying to get some guidance/answers to the mystery photos in post #1 above that seems to have coincided with a doughy or impacted crop. Thank you!!!

@Wyorp Rock @Eggcessive @aart @casportpony @dawg53 @LaFleche

 

[azygous]

Is the fibrous material in the poop nesting material or did it come with the poop? If it's part of the poop, she is impacted, and you will need to continue with the treatment for impacted crop.

After oil and stool softener have still not resolved it, try a Epsom salt flush. You can do a minimal dose by oral syringe of one teaspoon of magnesium sulfate in one ounce of warm water or a more effective flush with half a cup of warm water with a teaspoon of the MS. This you would probably need to tube into her crop. Do it twice a day until the crop is emptying, but no more than three days total.

If she continues to be lethargic, yes, it could be a reproductive infection. Did you cut into that cheesy lump? If it's mucous, it may not be from an infection. If it's solid and cheese consistency, it's maybe salpingitis and you can try to treat her with amoxicillin.

Calcium carbonate won't hurt anything, but I don't see signs of a stuck egg necessarily. But if you suspect a stuck egg, calcium citrate works faster.

 

[Swbertrand1]

Is the fibrous material in the poop nesting material or did it come with the poop? If it's part of the poop, she is impacted, and you will need to continue with the treatment for impacted crop.

After oil and stool softener have still not resolved it, try a Epsom salt flush. You can do a minimal dose by oral syringe of one teaspoon of magnesium sulfate in one ounce of warm water or a more effective flush with half a cup of warm water with a teaspoon of the MS. This you would probably need to tube into her crop. Do it twice a day until the crop is emptying, but no more than three days total.

If she continues to be lethargic, yes, it could be a reproductive infection. Did you cut into that cheesy lump? If it's mucous, it may not be from an infection. If it's solid and cheese consistency, it's maybe salpingitis and you can try to treat her with amoxicillin.

Calcium carbonate won't hurt anything, but I don't see signs of a stuck egg necessarily. But if you suspect a stuck egg, calcium citrate works faster.

Replying in order of your paragraphs above:

1) When I say "fibrous", I'm talking about the inside of the "bean-like" pink mass she expelled with her stool Monday (yesterday) morning. It looks like organic tissue, and when opened up, the "bean" was fibrous, sinewy, and, yes, "cheesy" feeling. We have seen no other stools that look like that. The crop treatments do continue because we feel like we're dealing with 2 issues here, a Crop issue and/or a Reproductive Issue like an Infection.

2) We have not gone to a stool softener yet or an Epsom Salt flush, but they're on tap. Thank you for the MS directions; I would have had to look for them.

3) This 3rd paragraph seems to come closest to what we're dealing with. Yes, the mass, about the size of a bean was "cheesy" consistency, fibrous on the inside, and as near as we could tell some form of organic tissue. The strange thing is that she's not lethargic at all. She's alert, active, and moving around like she always does, BUT with a crop that won't drain... We know this perky behavior likely will not continue as we are moving into the 3rd day of her "condition" with the Crop.

4) She was laying regularly, as regularly as a hen that's only laid about 5-6 eggs so far can be laying anyway, but the last egg from her was on 9/10 or 9/11 as I recall, so it's been a few days. I meant to say Calcium Citrate, but had "carbonate" on my mind for some reason. We did not start that yet last night, pending some more information on what we're dealing with here.


I'll start her on Amoxicillin now. Is the dosage correct at 125-150mg given every 12 hours for a 2# 2oz bird?

Thank you for your reply! S

 

[azygous]

Yes, I believe you're dealing with an early case of salpingitis. You should be in time for the antibiotic to be effective. I'd treat at that dose for ten days.

I think you have a handle on this.

 

[Wyorp Rock]

Yes, I believe you're dealing with an early case of salpingitis. You should be in time for the antibiotic to be effective. I'd treat at that dose for ten days.

I think you have a handle on this.

I'll start her on Amoxicillin now. Is the dosage correct at 125-150mg given every 12 hours for a 2# 2oz bird?

I agree, I think you are dealing with early Salpingitis as well. Take note of your photo - that "bean" - it's sitting on top of the poop and looks relatively "clean" (not mixed with fecal matter), so for me and my thought process, it came from the oviduct instead of the intestines. Further confirmation is your description of "cheesy".

I would treat with the Amoxicillin. Dose is 57mg per pound of weight given orally twice a day for 10-14 days. She weighs 2lb 2oz so that comes to 121.125mg - soooo 125mg twice a day is what I would give (there's wiggle room in amoxicillin dosing).
Do you have tablets or capsules? The powder in the capsules does not mix well with water, so it's better to mix it into something like coconut oil.
For example if you have 250mg capsules mix it with something "known" like 1 tsp coconut oil. Mix well, divide that in 1/2 - there's your 125mg dose! You can roll that coconut mixture into a little pill shape if you wish, put in the freezer to harden, then just pop it into her beak like a pill. Make sense?

I would also treat the crop like you are doing. It may be slowed due to infection - crop issues and reproductive disorders just seem to go hand-in-hand. So working on both conditions, hopefully she will start to recover for you.