My Girl isn't eating

[animalgrl]

I have a Cream Legbar, nearly a year old. She has never laid an egg, but I don't think that is related to the current problem. I noticed for the last week or two she seemed to be acting "off." Normally she owns the roost and makes my other two girls sleep on the coop floor, but the last week or two she has been sleeping on the floor and the other two are on the roost. I also noticed that she is way less energetic than normal, and though she seems like she wants to eat, she isn't eating much. She has picked half-heartedly at strawberries and tomato and scratch, and I haven't really seen her in the pellets at all. I weighed her, and she has lost a lot of weight - 1 lb since I last weighed her about 8 weeks ago. She now weighs a little less than 2.5lbs. I don't think it is coccidiosis since all droppings seem fine and I treated for coccidiosis about 6 weeks ago when I thought one of my other girls might have it. I'm thinking maybe impacted crop. I tried feeling her crop this morning, but we're newbies and I'm not confident in our crop feeling abilities (I thought it felt full, the boyfriend said he thought it felt empty). I have put her in a crate in my laundry room with food, water and grit. I did squeeze the liquid from one docusate sodium (stool softener) capsule into her mouth this morning in case it is an impacted crop (I don't think it will hurt her if it is something else, will it?). I'm just kind of at a loss and am wondering if anyone has any other suggestions as to treatment plan or what this could be. I might try to get her in to see the vet on Thursday when I take my cat in.

 

[Eggcessive]

Crops usually are empty in the morning, and full in the evening after a day of eating and drinking. Try feeling the right upper chests of your other chickens, and you will become proficient at feeling the crops. Do your chickens have access to poultry grit most of the time? If her crop is full and hard first thing in the morning, you will need to get her to drink some electrolyte water, and massage her crop several times a day, while not feeding any whole grains, but only soft foods such as plain yogurt and some egg. Try entering sour or impacted crop in the search bar at the top of this page.