Is she sick or just mad?

[montanamidwife]

I have a three year old Americauna, lays maybe 3-4 eggs/week. My seven hens are normally allowed to run around in my large yard all day but I am doing a massive remodel/roofing project so I locked them in their run a week ago. Run is about 8x20 with access to their chicken mansion, fresh food/water/compost, etc. They are all very mad, but she has suddenly started to just stand there, head bobbing, eyes closed, not laying or running back and forth like she usually does. Does not seem to be egg-bound and her crop feels normal but maybe a little full, not hard or swollen with fluid but filled with lots of food. She just does not seem right. Can chickens get sick from being locked up? Like all the Americaunas I have ever had she gets pretty broody and hides her eggs but if you find her nest and destroy it she will lay in the communal nest box for awhile......is this an early sign of impending egg binding? Help!

 

[dawg53]

It's possible she could be eggbound. You could try soaking her in a container of warm water up to her sides and gently massage her underside front to rear for about 20 minutes. Hopefully she'll lay an egg.

 

[montanamidwife]

ok so my hen now has developed this gigantic swollen crop, about the size of an orange, soft and gushy. She is definitely "off".....

 

[California_chickie]

Ooh, that doesn't sound good, but I doubt it's terminal. Remodeling is stressful enough, now you've got an "off" chicken!
She probably just got into something. Especially if you're doing construction around your house, she more than likely either ate something "weird" or different than her usual diet, or just gorged herself because she's mad & stressed. Maybe sour crop? Yuck.
Will she let you handle her? Are her eyes completely closed? If you can handle her without stressing her out- very VERY very gently massage her crop (there are lots of threads about exactly how to do this) and separate her from the others if it is at all possible so she doesn't eat any more food for the rest of the evening, just water. Hopefully she will pass something by tomorrow & be all fine n' dandy when you wake up in the morning-- whether it be a giant poop or an egg! I always make my special "mash" for sick birds that is all natural before going to antibiotics, but I am in no way an expert. One of my CBFs (Chicken best friend) told me about it, and it's worked for me every time! Rather than stress out about measuring, I tend to just explain it simply:
Mix up some ACV (tsp or so, not alot), a tiny bit of molasses (optional) in some H20 (electrolyte enhanced is even better) until it looks like very light colored sweet tea. Mix it up with some standard or medicated feed until it looks like disgusting dog food. Then add some Olive Oil (tbsp, tops) some people like to add garlic, but that's awfully stinky!
This has really helped me, and I have never had a bad reaction from it-- but, everyone is different & I certainly don't want to give you bad advice.
Good luck & I hope she turns around!

 

[LuvinChickens]

It sounds like sour/impacted crop, or both. If it's impacted you may want to consider surgery. put Apple Cider Vinegar in the water. She may have eaten something moldy. Timothy Grass hay will impact the crop.

 

[montanamidwife]

Ok, I did figure out it was sour crop, not an impaction. I use horse hay for bedding, so she might have eaten some. Thanks California Chickie for the advice. I will go get her right now and lock her into a dog crate. She is very very friendly and will let me do anything I want with her, so can other folks give me their favorite sour crop remedies?

 

[montanamidwife]

Is anyone out there? So I turned my chicken upside down and massaged her huge swollen crop and she suddenly ejected an enormous quantity of the most foul-smelling, greenish-grey liquid you can imagine, all over me. Then, after I decided I WAS NOT going to vomit, I massaged her some more and pulled out a lot of slimy hay from her throat, then some other stuff came out and a lot more liquid.So I guess maybe she had an impaction from hay and also sour crop? Now she is in her dog crate making awful croaking noises. What should I do now? Thought I would give her some warm oatmeal with yogurt and AVC in her water. Should I (please no) do the crop massaging thing again? At what point should I consider doing the chicken surgery I have been reading about?

 

[klmclain1]

I'm not sure I'd give her anything but water and acv right now. See how she does for 24 hours.

 

[WI FarmChick]

I found this hope this helps.


[FONT=Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif]Sour Crop or Impacted[/FONT]


[FONT=Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif]Is it more hard or like a water balloon? Sour crop will be like a water balloon; whereas, an impacted crop is hard. "Doughy" kinda sounds normal, but that is a vague enough term that it can encompass the whole range of possible problems. Is her crop still full in the morning when she awakes?[/FONT]

[FONT=Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif]If sour crop:[/FONT]
[FONT=Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif]Massaging the crop in a downward motion. Hold all food from her and give her water with some apple cider vinegar (ACV) added to it (preferably ACV with mother, but regular will do). Make sure it is in plastic or glass as ACV corrodes metal and this can be toxic. A few times a day (as available anyway), give her an irrigation syringe full of 1/2 ACV - 1/2 water. This will take some patience as you can only give a little bit at a time to ensure she doesn't choke on it. I had a hen with sour crop that I would massage her crop while giving her the syringe. It would gurgle something nasty and she would have gnarly burps, but she started pushing up against my hand to keep massaging her crop and would open her beak for more of the ACV mixture, so it must've felt better. Sour crop is a yeast infection in the crop (hence hold food so it doesn't ferment more in there). The ACV kills the yeast. After a couple days you should see a difference and after 4 or so days, she should be near normal. Sour crop kills, so act quickly.[/FONT]

[FONT=Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif]If an impacted crop:[/FONT]
[FONT=Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif]Hold food. Give olive oil soaked bread (the bread is just to get the olive oil into the bird). Oil seems to be the best remedy as it slicks up the passage way to allow for food to pass through. It gets tougher it is long grass/hay stuck.[/FONT]
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Sour crop
[FONT=Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif]I suggest withholding all food except lots of water with ACV (4 tbsp to a quart of water) to let the crop try and empty - the acv is antifungal, antibiotic and anti yeast agent and will help kill any organism causing the issues - no sugar, sugar (molasses) feeds the organisms. After 6 - 8 hours feed her some olive soak bread every couple hours and continue with lots of water with acv. Gently massage the crop without pushing upward (you could choke her). The oil makes things slippery and anything stuck can begin to move out. Make sure she is on bedding that cannot be ingested. They will eat anything trying to get relief for themselves. After 24 hours check her crop and gently without pushing up massage the crop to help things. Massive gross poops are good. If the crop is still sour and smelly and gassy you can give her 1/4 tsp mylanta plain flavored to help settle the acids.[/FONT]

[FONT=Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif]Once the crop has empties don't be too quick to start feeding her again. Start off with the oil soaked bread, chicken pellets that have been wet and are mushy, a little yogurt and very finsly mashed boiled egg.[/FONT]

[FONT=Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif]You have to give the crop a chance to heal and begin to function before you let her have a free diet. After 3 - 5 days slow begin to introduce her regular food and a little grit to help it along.[/FONT]

 

[LuvinChickens]

After the hay is in there for awhile they get a yeast infection (Sour Crop) she probably has a sore throat from having her crop emptied. If her crop continues to fill and it doesn't empty into her stomach, she probably still has an impaction.

Don't give them bread. It expands in the crop.