Emrosenagel

Songster
Oct 2, 2020
180
89
141
Hello!

I have a problem hen, it seems. She can never just stay normal for more than a couple weeks.
Anyway, my 9 month old bantam Cochin (recent mother of three as of 7 weeks ago) has been behaving odd at night and during moments of rest during the day. I first noticed about 1 1/2 weeks ago she jerked her crop, as if trying to dislodge something. I wrote it off as her just readjusting her crop and went on normally for about a week. I then decided, for whatever reason, to put my camera in the coop that night to watch my big chickens (normally I watch the little ones at night cause they’re so dang cute). That was when I noticed my Cochin jerking her crop around, sometimes mildly, sometimes violently. It looked almost involuntary, kinda like a hyping jerk you get right as you’re falling asleep. She continued doing it throughout the night anytime she woke up. In the morning she acted 100% normal, but her crop still had some stuff in it. Felt like a small (1/3 the size of a full crop) pouch of seeds. She went about her day normal, laid her egg, dust bathed, and so on. But again, at night, she continued this crop/neck jerking. Next day, same seed filled crop. That day she jerked her crop during her mid morning nap. I gave her some oil, massaged her crop, withheld food. Still that night, she jerked. But the next mourning, her crop was empty!
I was relieved, but wasn’t quite out of the woods yet. That day I treated them seeds, because my Cochin loves seeds best. I realize I should have held off for a while, because she still jerked that night, and the next morning her crop was even fuller than before (felt like mostly liquid this time with a few seeds). I withheld food again, gave some coconut oil (she ate that up so greedily!) and massaged. Gave her some scrambled egg, and then she took a massive poop (wet but not liquid, healthy brown and white) I figure something must be going through if she still pooping, right? I let her out in the run again because she was putting up a stink (crowing, of all things) in the house.
she has had minor crop issues before, prior to her broody month and during. When she had her chicks, she never really ate so her crop stayed fairly empty. But after she dumped the chicks, she started eating like a pig (gained almost whole pound). I don’t know if or how long she’s had a blockage, but it might have caused sour crop? Since she was mostly squishy this morning. Her breath doesn’t really smell, though. But I hear gas bubbles inside her crop and she burped a couple times (one may have been smelly, but I’m not 100%)
I’m just confused and concerned, because it isn’t really an impacted crop but also, since her breath doesn’t stink, it doesn’t seem like sour crop either. I’ve dealt with two cases of impacted crops successfully in the past and one case of sour crop, but none of them ever jerked their crops/neck like that. So odd. And on top of that, she’s acting totally normal. Laying eggs everyday, active, pooping pretty normally (I have one case of pure clear liquid, but I may have given her too much coconut oil)


I have some miconazole 2% I used for another case of sour crop, so I went ahead a started treating that just in case.

Has anyone ever dealt with this odd behavior?

PS they free range almost everyday in the yard and have given them access to grit in the run starting yesterday.
 
What is their diet?
They eat purina layer crumbles, but i accidentally got a bag of manapro all flock and have been mixing them. They also sometimes eat the grower feed (also purina). Plus lots of foraging in the yard, some scratch, watermelon on hot days, dried fruit as a treat and meal worms. They had crickets a few days ago, a very popular treat.
 
Well, now for the past two days her crop is hardly emptying at all overnight. The jerking now happens more frequently, so I’m going to take her to the vet.
 
Well, now for the past two days her crop is hardly emptying at all overnight. The jerking now happens more frequently, so I’m going to take her to the vet.
Hi there, what did the vet say? I have a bird with very similar symptoms. Not quite impacted crop but not all the symptoms of sour crop either (no smelly breath). But her crop is won’t fully empty in the morning. She’s also stopped laying eggs. So far I’ve been using coconut oil and massages to help. She poops occasionally - it’s mostly grass. She’s off the grass for now. I bought miconzazole 2%, but haven’t started it yet. Kind of nervous to. This is all new to me - first-timer.
 
Hi there, what did the vet say? I have a bird with very similar symptoms. Not quite impacted crop but not all the symptoms of sour crop either (no smelly breath). But her crop is won’t fully empty in the morning. She’s also stopped laying eggs. So far I’ve been using coconut oil and massages to help. She poops occasionally - it’s mostly grass. She’s off the grass for now. I bought miconzazole 2%, but haven’t started it yet. Kind of nervous to. This is all new to me - first-timer.
Hello! The vet did an xray and couldn’t see any blockages. Her gizzard is packed right with grit, which I think might be the issue. The vet seems to think it may be inflammation lower down, but my hen had a big egg in the way so she couldn’t see. She sent us home with meloxicam for ant inflammatory, just in case that’s the problem. She had no parasites, no tumors, no fluid in her abdomen. The only other thing we could’ve done was bloodwork, so we’re working symptomatically for the moment.
I’m under the suspicion that my little hen ate something too big and it might be stuck in the gizzard, which is not a good prognosis. The jerking has become far worse and her crop is always full. I’m going to keep working at it with oil and miconazole, massaging through the day. I separated her so I can monitor her food intake. Might try a molasses flush if things don’t get better. Hopefully it will work out for the both of us, because I would hate to lose my little bantam.
 
Hi there, what did the vet say? I have a bird with very similar symptoms. Not quite impacted crop but not all the symptoms of sour crop either (no smelly breath). But her crop is won’t fully empty in the morning. She’s also stopped laying eggs. So far I’ve been using coconut oil and massages to help. She poops occasionally - it’s mostly grass. She’s off the grass for now. I bought miconzazole 2%, but haven’t started it yet. Kind of nervous to. This is all new to me - first-timer.
I went to another vet today and they found a mass in her reproductive tract, pushing the gizzard down. It might be a tumor, might be an infection. We will find out after an ultrasound on Monday.
 
I went to another vet today and they found a mass in her reproductive tract, pushing the gizzard down. It might be a tumor, might be an infection. We will find out after an ultrasound on Monday.
I went to another vet today and they found a mass in her reproductive tract, pushing the gizzard down. It might be a tumor, might be an infection. We will find out after an ultrasound on Monday.
Oh your poor Bantam baby! I’m sorry you’re both going through this. Hopefully the ultrasound will tell you what you need to know so you can treat her. That’s what’s hard, not knowing the cause, so any treatments are guesses. That’s where I am. We did take ours to the vet a couple weeks ago when I first noticed the jerking movements and full crop. She gave her a GI motility med that didn’t really do much. We can’t afford to keep going to the vet, so are doing our best with home remedies. Praying your little girl gets what she needs and is better soon! Thanks for your responses.
 
Oh your poor Bantam baby! I’m sorry you’re both going through this. Hopefully the ultrasound will tell you what you need to know so you can treat her. That’s what’s hard, not knowing the cause, so any treatments are guesses. That’s where I am. We did take ours to the vet a couple weeks ago when I first noticed the jerking movements and full crop. She gave her a GI motility med that didn’t really do much. We can’t afford to keep going to the vet, so are doing our best with home remedies. Praying your little girl gets what she needs and is better soon! Thanks for your responses.
Yeah, vet visits for chickens are so pricey when you’ve got like 6 of them. Home remedies can do wonders if you’re persistent, so I wish you best of luck! I’ve had luck clearing two impacted crops in the past, so it is possible :)
 
Update on my bantam! This morning my hen had an almost empty crop, which made me very happy. And almost zero jerking today (once when I gave her a massage and once when she ate). I’ve noticed her poops are very gritty, so maybe things are finally moving along.
 

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