chickenmomma1108
Chirping
Hey, I've got a Lavender Orpington hen of ~4 years old (weighs 6.4 lbs - nice and lovely feathers) that was standing away from our flock yesterday - tail down and moving slowly. We brought her home to watch for her intake of water (I added electrolytes) and have grit available.
She hasn't laid an egg since last October sometime..that's why my guess is she's around 4 years old?
She may have been like this for maybe a day or two? She was taking dust baths earlier this past week (Feb. 19-21st)..we noticed she wasn't bossing around the younger ones as much and only coming out for water and poking slightly at the food.
All other flock mates are running around, eating & drinking normal in the run; hens laying eggs pretty regularly for their ages (other hens are 1-2 years old).
She has had an issue before around this time of year and we brought her home to observe and she bounced back with some TLC
I'm wondering if overall age is just getting to her and her crop is getting "slow"? I also needed to clean some straw out of their run and am not sure if there was any wet/mold issue she got into? I am so mad at myself not to have cleaned that out sooner (should have been gone when our last dump of snow cleared up here in east central Nebraska).
She seems to know when her crop is out of whack because she tends to just stick to water and then either lays somewhere or stands in a quiet corner. Biggest change was seeing her on the bottom roost Friday night - she usually gets up a little higher than that.
Poops are quite watery - when saw her off by herself Saturday morning she did poop and it was quite gooey clear/white and bright green. I will attach poop pictures below.
Treatment so far was to offer her electrolyte water and grit, yesterday I offered her some scrambled egg which she ate the smallest bits. I'd say she ate like 15 pieces that I offered? She also passed another watery poop and then a poop that was more like 3 solid little things that remind me of a hairball? She kind of perked up after that poop... She does have a bit of clear liquid come back up if she bends down over the grit or she will shake her head and open her beak if I pet her near her head. Today right away I checked her crop and it was still slightly doughy. She has a slight smell to her breath and I'm wondering if her slow crop has turned into sour crop?
I'd like to treat her crop issue myself. I would like to make sure that it is sour crop before treating with the miconazole as my past experience was not so great (Buff Orp pullet that had reproductive issue - laid a lash egg and she later passed away). I also want to make sure this older hen gets proper nutrition in her - do I feed just scrambled or hard boiled eggs for awhile? Should I offer small amount of watery feed? Should I also be giving her vitamin B complex? We have a 17% layer feed crumble. We do throw out (I try to make sure it is sparingly) a snack of cracked corn, BOSS (black oil sunflower seeds) & BSFL (black soldier fly larvae). Usually that is no more than a couple handfuls tossed in their run to get them active or sometimes a few in our hand when treating say bumblefoot or just handling somebody. We're able to be out on the weekends and every 2-3 days to our farm, and have cameras to observe daily activity inside the coop and run when not there.
Coop at our farm has fine pine shavings for bedding (wood floor) and dirt in their enclosed run (hardware cloth walls)...except the straw that I cleared out Saturday that could have been getting moldy!! Again, so stupid of me to not remove it waaaay earlier.
We do have a few sparrows that squeeze in the chicken wire that is the enclosed run's roof.
Now she is in our garage with flake pine shavings, fresh electrolyte water & grit. This afternoon I gave her a teaspoon of coconut oil - she perked up and pecked at that nicely. Seems alert enough, but just slow moving and the watery & green poops have me worried...This old hen seems to know how to ride it out, but I want to make sure she gets the best care we can offer!
Here are the poop pictures - didn't get a pic of the 3 small more solid poop pellets she did Saturday (they reminded me of little hairball logs? if that is a description of chicken poo...idk)
Poop seen here is what I observed on Saturday morning when she was hanging out by herself in the chicken run.
This is her poop when in the garage here at home, I think after drinking some of the electrolyte water?
Her poop today, pretty watery as well. Think she had one or two poops like this..and seen sipping some water from time to time. Definitely liked the coconut oil offered.
Please let me know your thoughts to help this ol' gal through this issue
Thanks a bunch!
She hasn't laid an egg since last October sometime..that's why my guess is she's around 4 years old?
She may have been like this for maybe a day or two? She was taking dust baths earlier this past week (Feb. 19-21st)..we noticed she wasn't bossing around the younger ones as much and only coming out for water and poking slightly at the food.
All other flock mates are running around, eating & drinking normal in the run; hens laying eggs pretty regularly for their ages (other hens are 1-2 years old).
She has had an issue before around this time of year and we brought her home to observe and she bounced back with some TLC
I'm wondering if overall age is just getting to her and her crop is getting "slow"? I also needed to clean some straw out of their run and am not sure if there was any wet/mold issue she got into? I am so mad at myself not to have cleaned that out sooner (should have been gone when our last dump of snow cleared up here in east central Nebraska).
She seems to know when her crop is out of whack because she tends to just stick to water and then either lays somewhere or stands in a quiet corner. Biggest change was seeing her on the bottom roost Friday night - she usually gets up a little higher than that.
Poops are quite watery - when saw her off by herself Saturday morning she did poop and it was quite gooey clear/white and bright green. I will attach poop pictures below.
Treatment so far was to offer her electrolyte water and grit, yesterday I offered her some scrambled egg which she ate the smallest bits. I'd say she ate like 15 pieces that I offered? She also passed another watery poop and then a poop that was more like 3 solid little things that remind me of a hairball? She kind of perked up after that poop... She does have a bit of clear liquid come back up if she bends down over the grit or she will shake her head and open her beak if I pet her near her head. Today right away I checked her crop and it was still slightly doughy. She has a slight smell to her breath and I'm wondering if her slow crop has turned into sour crop?
I'd like to treat her crop issue myself. I would like to make sure that it is sour crop before treating with the miconazole as my past experience was not so great (Buff Orp pullet that had reproductive issue - laid a lash egg and she later passed away). I also want to make sure this older hen gets proper nutrition in her - do I feed just scrambled or hard boiled eggs for awhile? Should I offer small amount of watery feed? Should I also be giving her vitamin B complex? We have a 17% layer feed crumble. We do throw out (I try to make sure it is sparingly) a snack of cracked corn, BOSS (black oil sunflower seeds) & BSFL (black soldier fly larvae). Usually that is no more than a couple handfuls tossed in their run to get them active or sometimes a few in our hand when treating say bumblefoot or just handling somebody. We're able to be out on the weekends and every 2-3 days to our farm, and have cameras to observe daily activity inside the coop and run when not there.
Coop at our farm has fine pine shavings for bedding (wood floor) and dirt in their enclosed run (hardware cloth walls)...except the straw that I cleared out Saturday that could have been getting moldy!! Again, so stupid of me to not remove it waaaay earlier.
We do have a few sparrows that squeeze in the chicken wire that is the enclosed run's roof.
Now she is in our garage with flake pine shavings, fresh electrolyte water & grit. This afternoon I gave her a teaspoon of coconut oil - she perked up and pecked at that nicely. Seems alert enough, but just slow moving and the watery & green poops have me worried...This old hen seems to know how to ride it out, but I want to make sure she gets the best care we can offer!
Here are the poop pictures - didn't get a pic of the 3 small more solid poop pellets she did Saturday (they reminded me of little hairball logs? if that is a description of chicken poo...idk)
Poop seen here is what I observed on Saturday morning when she was hanging out by herself in the chicken run.
This is her poop when in the garage here at home, I think after drinking some of the electrolyte water?
Her poop today, pretty watery as well. Think she had one or two poops like this..and seen sipping some water from time to time. Definitely liked the coconut oil offered.
Please let me know your thoughts to help this ol' gal through this issue
Thanks a bunch!
