Silkie Hen stopped eating & drinking

[SCarolina Chick]

The only chicken I have is less than 1 year old, was laying at least one every other day sometimes every day. Yesterday she started just standing around, not eating or drinking or pooping. This morning I found liquid yellow/white no solids for her poop. Not sure if she is egg bound or some other problem. Today I started forcing water in corners of beak with syringe and opening beak & placing boiled egg in her mouth. Still no poop, have purchased KT parrot hand feed food and started her on it... forcing of course. She is such a sweet chicken I am sick thinking she may die without the proper actions. Any suggestions? I am not able to take her to vet mostly due to lack of funds. Please help point me in the right direction. SCarolina Chick

 

[BayBay Peepers]

If she's not eating or drinking I suggest tube feeding her. You'll want a 60ml catheder tipped syringe or the largest you can find, and an 18 French tube if you can find it. If not 18 the highest you can find. I'll try to find the links in a moment.

Can you put on a glove or lube your finger and try to feel around in her vent for an egg? In a pinch you can crush a calcium pill and feed it to her. If there is an egg sometimes this can help get it out. You can also soak her in a warm bath, but make sure to dry her really well afterwards. You can use a blow dryer...I've never seen a hen turn away from warm air

What do you feed her normally? How does her comb and wattle look? Any chance you can take a picture of her and her poop?

Welcome to BYC and I hope we can help you help her through this. You may need to look into an antibiotic and there are some you can just purchase online.

 

[BayBay Peepers]

https://www.backyardchickens.com/t/805728/go-team-tube-feeding

 

[SCarolina Chick]

These pictures are of the same poop just with different backgrounds. I feel a few small bumps in her crop & tried to flush out with warm water. She threw up after awhile but only after much massaging and holding her on an upside down angle. The small objects are still in the crop.

 

[SCarolina Chick]

It is hard to tell if comb and waddles have changed since everything is black, she is a black silkie.

 

[artsyrobin]

if you think it is the crop, here is some info i have a friend wrote up

Sour Crop
(I am not a vet. I am a vet tech and have dealt with many sour crop cases.)
What is Sour Crop?
Sour crop is a laymen’s term used for when the crop of a chicken is overloaded with the yeast candida.The term is
also used loosely to refer to an overgrowth of bacteria or fungus in the crop. Basically, any type of infection (fungal,
yeast, or bacteria) which will cause a slowing or cease the emptying process of the crop to the proventriculous,
leading to malnutrition. This is not to be confused with Impacted Crop… which is a crop packed full of material that
will not pass.
How to know if you are dealing with Sour Crop:
Signs of sour crop are very loose watery green stools, lethargy, puffiness, and a crop which feels like a water balloon.
If you feel your chicken’s crop and you feel a ‘water balloon’ crop, don’t panic right away. She may have just drank a
ton of water.What I suggest if you have a few other symptoms which coorelate with sour crop is to:
1. Isolate your bird alone
2. Pull food and water for at least 12-18 hours
3. Give subcutaneous fluids if possible (NOTHING BYMOUTH!)
4. Check crop after 12-18 hours with no food
If at the end of this process the crop is still large and feels like a balloon, you are most likely dealing with sour crop.
Treatment:
The only form of treatment is with therapeutic agents. Fluconazole is the best medication in my opinion to treating
sour crop and I try to always keep some on hand, but must be prescribed by a Veterinarian. Nystatin is also a good
drug. It tends to coat the intestinal lining including crop and proventriculous, but does not absorb into the body and
distribute as does fluconazole. You may order Nystatin with a prescription at www.firststatevetsupply.com . You
should always have Nystatin on hand! After you have given 2-3 doses of meds, slowly start back on a bland diet of rice
and scrambled eggs… Very small amounts, and pulling food and water at night making sure the crop is emptying
correctly. It is very easy to get overly excited as they will show improvement quickly, but it is crucial to carry out and
finish all medication for at least 14 days.
THE DO NOTS:
1. DO NOT TURN YOUR BIRD UPSIDE DOWN AND ATTEMPT TO MAKE HER VOMIT! While this may empty her
crop a bit, you are not doing anything about the overflux of yeast or bacteria. You seriously run the risk of
aspirating your chicken while doing this as well.
2. DO NOT ADD ACV TO THE DIET: Cider vinegar will only add to the acidic burden. If anything, you may do a
baking soda flush once the crop is ½ to ¼ empty. 1tsp baking soda to a cup of warm water and tube and
massage.
3. DO NOT ATTEMPT TO SOLVE THISWITH OLIVE OIL: If you tube your bird with oil, and it aspirates on a drop,
there is not coming back from that. So never tube with oil.
4. NO DAIRY: Birds do not digest dairy well and we want to make things as easy to digest as possible.

 

[SCarolina Chick]

Good news! Yesterday I tried to find a local vet that was well versed in chickens or birds. The ones I found on internet and were still opened stated they worked on barnyard animals, but when I spoke to them they didn't. I ran across a website that was a local auction and chickens were typically available. I rushed over to the auction site with chicken wrapped up and under my sweatshirt hoping to run into an individual that was very experienced in dealing with chickens. As it turned out they looked at her eyes and comb- I was told she looked good. I sat her on the floor and she began searching around for something to peck/eat. After the inspection I was told to let her be a chicken- place to scratch, sunshine, & dirt bath area.

Bottomline- Darcy slept with me in warm bed and this morning was wanting to eat & drink. I let her scratch and flop around in dirt under a watchful eye. She is now pooping with some signs of normal greenish poop. What I didn't mention in my forum question was that I had just got back from the Fl. Keys with Darcy, she had been use to warmer weather for the past 3 months. The local chicken guys said that may be part of the issue.... she is in a new environment and I had just started her on wearing chicken diapers. I appreciate everyone's helpful support. I have a lot to learn about keeping a pet (rescued chicken). I also have 2 rescued pigeons and a Quaker parrot. Boy there is a lot of difference in the three breeds!

 

[artsyrobin]

Fantastic!!! Keep us posted, rescues are so special!

 

[BayBay Peepers]

Great news!

 

[SCarolina Chick]

I have learned a lesson the hard way

and I am so ashamed of myself for not knowing better! After dragging Darcy to a local auction place & having good o'l farmers and chicken raiser look at her.."She looks good- eyes clear and pecking around on floor, just let her be a chicken." Then force feeding KT hand feeding food without the tube. Rubbing her crop and holding her upside down to get her to purge what I thought was a foreign object... To taking her to a vet that works on cats, dogs, birds...I now know that everything was my fault. Even though I don't really have the funds to pay for a vet visit, especially for someone else's chicken I went this morning and had an exam with x-ray to see if my hunch was right. Well it was! This sweet loving chicken had eaten what looks to be; paper clip, safety pin

, small metal ball, and who knows what else is now in her gizzard. This morning before I took her to the vet, I collected the poop that she did from the hand feeding, and it contained a small staple and plastic applicator tip.. I am sick to my stomach cause it is all my fault and I was supposed to be rescuing her.
Well now I have the French tube and when I got home I did what the vet said, "flush her with warm water with small amount of salt using the tube, while holding her upside down to get her crop flushed." Then give her something that would help push what it could out of her system. I use small bread balls as I was told by a wildlife rescuer that is what they use to push out objects from birds.
She is now sleeping after so many things I have put her through. Please put the word out, Always be very careful when you have a chicken in your house, they will peck and eat things you would never believe they would. Heck I didn't know those things were where she could access them.
By the way if the objects in her gizzard do not pass will she live a normal life with them inside her? The only other way to get them out is to have her operated on and I definitely cannot afford that.