Molting hen with crop issues

[Wyorp Rock]

Have you tried placing a crop bra on her? It may help.

 

[Winchikn]

Have you tried placing a crop bra on her? It may help.

I haven't tried that because her crop is pretty solid morning and night - not squishy or pendulous at all. Is it still worth a shot?

She's getting very thin but still has a lot of will so I got a small syringe and tube from the drug store today and might try to find the nerve to attempt to tube the molasses flush into her. The tube is only about 4 inches long. I think I read that 6 or so is good but can I work with four? And should I try just getting some water in to move some of the solids through before trying the molasses?

She's still passing some small amounts of food but after two weeks of impaction I know she won't go on much longer.

 

[Tookie]

I haven't tried that because her crop is pretty solid morning and night - not squishy or pendulous at all. Is it still worth a shot?

Definitely worth a shot, it won't hurt to do so. I'd try it right away.
When treatment for impacted/sour crop doesn't work, next thing to try is the crop bra.

 

[Winchikn]

Definitely worth a shot, it won't hurt to do so. I'd try it right away.
When treatment for impacted/sour crop doesn't work, next thing to try is the crop bra.

Thank you. Her crop is so compact to her breast/chest still that I think the bra would have to be really, really tight to make a difference.

But I'm going to pull out all the stops and brave a molasses flush today or tomorrow and will try to get a bra on her too!

 

[Winchikn]

I haven't managed the bra yet but we did get a molasses flush into her Sat/Sun mornings. First time we have ever put a tube in a chicken or done a flush, so that was a big accomplishment.

The first flush seemed to result in some movement, the second she only pooped out some brown foam and a few bits of food later in the day. She was isolated with fresh water and soft food both days. Her appetite is good but she really dislikes eating anything that sticks to her beak so won't touch the mash. I gave her some rice and a bit of runny yoghurt and some crushed up meal worms later on both days and she was keen on that - but it all wound up in a ball in her crop again last night, which hadn't moved much by this morning.

We are more than two weeks in and she is very light (under 3.5 lbs) but has good energy and is very happy to be back roaming with the flock today. We are going to try an epsom salt flush tomorrow in the hopes of moving some stuff through her, then start deworming with Safeguard the next day when the medication has a better chance of making through her system. I already dewormed with Piperazine but know it's efficacy can be limited.

I'm wondering about Copper Sulfate as her crop has really felt kind of doughy this entire time- sticky like a stress ball - but a full week of clotrimazole had no effect. There's a small mat of what I'm guessing is grass in her crop but anything else that goes in just gets all gummed up.

I'm hesitant about the copper sulfate after reading application would be to the full flock for 7-10 days. I don't want to medicate the others unnecessarily.

Still hoping to find someone who will do a fecal float for me but I'm afraid time is running out for this little one.

 

[Wyorp Rock]

I haven't managed the bra yet but we did get a molasses flush into her Sat/Sun mornings. First time we have ever put a tube in a chicken or done a flush, so that was a big accomplishment.

The first flush seemed to result in some movement, the second she only pooped out some brown foam and a few bits of food later in the day. She was isolated with fresh water and soft food both days. Her appetite is good but she really dislikes eating anything that sticks to her beak so won't touch the mash. I gave her some rice and a bit of runny yoghurt and some crushed up meal worms later on both days and she was keen on that - but it all wound up in a ball in her crop again last night, which hadn't moved much by this morning.

We are more than two weeks in and she is very light (under 3.5 lbs) but has good energy and is very happy to be back roaming with the flock today. We are going to try an epsom salt flush tomorrow in the hopes of moving some stuff through her, then start deworming with Safeguard the next day when the medication has a better chance of making through her system. I already dewormed with Piperazine but know it's efficacy can be limited.

I'm wondering about Copper Sulfate as her crop has really felt kind of doughy this entire time- sticky like a stress ball - but a full week of clotrimazole had no effect. There's a small mat of what I'm guessing is grass in her crop but anything else that goes in just gets all gummed up.

I'm hesitant about the copper sulfate after reading application would be to the full flock for 7-10 days. I don't want to medicate the others unnecessarily.

Still hoping to find someone who will do a fecal float for me but I'm afraid time is running out for this little one.

I'm glad she's still energetic.

Let's see if @azygous can share thoughts on how to proceed, she's a wealth of knowledge.

 

[Winchikn]

I'm glad she's still energetic.

Let's see if @azygous can share thoughts on how to proceed, she's a wealth of knowledge.

Thank you for the referral.

We did the first epsom salt flush about 2 hours ago (1 tsp in 1/4 cup - hopefully enough as she is a small hen). I just finished a meeting and went out to check on her and there's one small poop that looks more like a poop than anything that has come out of her the last 2 weeks. Promising!

Although she's still VERY full of fluids 2 hours later.

I've given her a tiny bit of scrambled egg with oil and a couple of tiny maggots since the flush - and have some questions:

• what do I feed during the 3 days of epsom salt treatment? Are soft scrambled eggs in small pieces okay, or should we tube in some raw egg/yolk? How much? Is it best to stagger feedings between flushes?
• Should I give her some grit or nothing solid at all?
• If I want to get some safeguard into her, should that come after the morning flush?
• I want her to hydrate so don't want to give ACS until the epsom salt flush is done. Do I start that once the flush is finished?

Thanks.

 

[Wyorp Rock]

Thank you for the referral.

We did the first epsom salt flush about 2 hours ago (1 tsp in 1/4 cup - hopefully enough as she is a small hen). I just finished a meeting and went out to check on her and there's one small poop that looks more like a poop than anything that has come out of her the last 2 weeks. Promising!

Although she's still VERY full of fluids 2 hours later.

I've given her a tiny bit of scrambled egg with oil and a couple of tiny maggots since the flush - and have some questions:

• what do I feed during the 3 days of epsom salt treatment? Are soft scrambled eggs in small pieces okay, or should we tube in some raw egg/yolk? How much? Is it best to stagger feedings between flushes?
• Should I give her some grit or nothing solid at all?
• If I want to get some safeguard into her, should that come after the morning flush?
• I want her to hydrate so don't want to give ACS until the epsom salt flush is done. Do I start that once the flush is finished?

Thanks.

I would provide her with her normal feed (wet or dry) if she's willing to eat. Bits of eggs is fine too. Provide feed free choice, they will eat or not usually.
I usually make grit available free choice, just a few pieces.

If you are giving flushes, I'd wait until after you finish to deworm her.

And the ACS is for? Yeast infection - Sour Crop?
The Epsom salt flush may just take care of that.

You give the flush, once, then provide fresh plain water free choice during the day (waking hours). She should be drinking normally.

 

[Winchikn]

I would provide her with her normal feed (wet or dry) if she's willing to eat. Bits of eggs is fine too. Provide feed free choice, they will eat or not usually.
I usually make grit available free choice, just a few pieces.

If you are giving flushes, I'd wait until after you finish to deworm her.

And the ACS is for? Yeast infection - Sour Crop?
The Epsom salt flush may just take care of that.

You give the flush, once, then provide fresh plain water free choice during the day (waking hours). She should be drinking normally.

Thank you, again.

I did not know I could give normal feed so she had very little today. I thought she could only do soft foods in light of ongoing impaction/crop issues. She would not eat egg after the bit she had this morning but I did get a couple tbsp of canned dog food into her late in the day.

Although she had pooped out a lot of liquid all day (with a few squiggles of solids) her crop was still quite full and squishy when she went to roost with the flock this afternoon/evening and I couldn't see how there would be room for another flush . But I just went to check on her and she had clearly pooped out the rest of the water and her crop was hard again so we got another 1/4 cup of flush into her and put her back to bed. I have read in several azygous posts that it is critical to do 2 flushes per day and given she's small and we're only doing 1/4 cup, I hope this is okay.

I had her isolated in a crate right next to the run today and will do the same tomorrow but give her some of her pellets - she will not eat the wet mash or egg and she is getting extremely thin.

I was thinking about the ACS because I have wondered about doughy crop on top of some impaction but will hope the epsom salts can blow any of that out of her. And I will wait til the flushes are done to worm her with Safeguard.

I'm losing hope for this little one but maybe a miracle will occur in the coop tonight and she'll finally get her crop free after almost 3 weeks...

 

[Winchikn]

No miracle this morning. Just the same hard ball that has been there every other morning.

Another flush done, though she had drank a bunch of water before we did it so we couldn't get the whole thing in before it started coming out of her. I added a tiny bit of Nutridrench to the flush to help get some vitamins and minerals into her.

We'll flush again this afternoon or evening (whenever her crop is empty enough of fluids to take it) and keep praying - although she really only seems to be moving fluids through so I'm not sure the impaction in her crop is going to budge.