2 year old hen. Persistent loose poop and pasty butt. Did not respond to Nyastin. More details and pics in post.

[Wyorp Rock]

Butchie update! For anyone with a chick with vent gleet or crop issues -- my goodness, please be careful what she eats!

So after my last post here in early February, I carefully administered another round of ACS and Butchie improved -- a lot this time! The distension around her vent went down, her butt became firmer, pink, and healthy looking, the funky cheese smell went away, and her comb stood straight up for the first time in months! Hooray.

I followed with probiotics. Her poop was still not quite firm, but the urates were at least separate and visible and it was less yellowish, getting more brown. The flaky skin on her face was really clearing up. Everything was going great. Her appetite and energy were good, not drinking excessive water. She seemed bright eyed and content.

Then wham. Three nights ago, I noticed her crop was a little boggy at bedtime. Weather has been hot, steamy and wet so I made a note to check it in the morning. First thing the next day, she went straight for the water bowl and starting drinking. Then she staggers a few steps with yellow liquid coming out of her beak. I scoop her up and without even thinking about it, pointed her upside down so the slimy liquid could spill out. I never vomited a chicken before. It was pure instinct. I set her down and she shook it off and caught her breath. Her crop was big and I could feel a lot more liquid gurgling inside and she was shaking her head trying to clear it. So I watched a video really quickly on how to "correctly" empty her crop and did it, gently massaging her crop upward and giving her breaks to clear her throat and breathe. It seemed really necessary and an amazing amount of dark yellow goo came out with chunks of some dark green stuff. I put her in a cool shady place to rest and went to investigate.

All the poop in the coop was weird, orange and green... I ran to the compost pile, remembering I had baked a big squash (orange with green skin) the previous day for lunch. Sure enough, the chicks had gotten in and eaten the "guts" and the scooped out shells. Ive read that pumpkin and acorn squash is good for them cooked, but obviously not raw and rotting in the compost. Anyway, after they pooped, Cleo and everybody else was perfectly fine and still is. But poor Butchie didn't look good and her comb and wattles were that dark cherry red color that tells you something is wrong.

I checked on her throughout the day. My husband was in the city and I was on the farm by myself. I gave her a little coconut oil, which is all I had. By the afternoon, she had perked up, but the crop still filled up. When she put her head down to drink water, fluid dribbled out. I made her vomit again at 6pm and put her in the hospital for the night. I didn't want her gurgling to death in the coop where I couldn't hear her. I couldn't sleep from worry so at 1am I checked in on her. She was gurgling and I figured that was it. If she was still alive when it got light out, I would put her down. But I sat with her and massaged her crop and abdomen for awhile, telling her how much we loved her. She seemed to be breathing easier when I went to bed, but I wasn't hopeful.

The next morning (this was Friday) I found her standing up in the hospital, alert, and wanting to get away from the huge mess of grassy slimy poop she made overnight. I let her out and she promptly pecked my at my ankle, asking for food, and started walking around pecking at grass. No liquid came out. Her crop was completely flat and her abdomen a little bloated but not very much. My stars. These chickens do not go gently into that good night.

Ok, I said, you're not giving up, so I won't either. My husband had returned home in the evening with Epsom salts and a tube of Clotrimazol (the easiest thing for him to find.) I gave her a 8ml of saline flush, little by little, massaged the crop and belly and waited. Tem minutes later, she expelled most of it, along with more slimy pumpkin/feed/grass mess and then I started her on Clotrimazol, a morning and evening dose.

Question: I have two new four month old chicks mixing with the flock right now, a rooster and a pullet, and I'm wary of putting ACS in the water. So I'm trying Clotrimazol for Butchie instead of ACS. Is there a way to dose individually with ACS? I can syringe the solution into her beak, but how much?

I gave her half of a boiled egg later in the day (Saturday). She was famished. No more liquid collected in the crop. Her color was red and healthy. She spent the day being active with the flock. The pics I shared are from Saturday, one day after I had to vomit her. She looked great!

On Sunday, (yesterday) I gave her boiled egg for breakfast again, no problem.

The bad news
At lunch time she was so hungry I gave her 2 TBSP of damp chick starter feed. She gobbled it. By the evening her crop was squishy again and her head smelled like vinegar. This morning, she's exactly the same -- squishy crop about the size of a tennis ball and smelly. I guess I rushed feeding her normal food. I have her in the workshop because she's hungry and trying to eat grass, which I don't think will help.

Im feeling frustrated because before this episode, she had a really good six weeks. She was living like a normal chicken. She loves sunbathing and her "spa treatments" for her skin. I was so proud and happy to see her happy.

As long as her quality of life is good and her crop keeps working -- even if it needs some help now and then -- I'll do what I can. At this point, I've accepted that she must have an underlying issue. After all, the other chicks gorged on rotten squash skins, got the runs, and were fine. Only Butchie couldn't handle it, so that tells me she's delicate.

She hasn't laid an egg since she first got sick in September 2022 (seven months ago). The last eggs she laid were very white, pebbly and irregularly shaped. It's possible she contracted Infectious Bronchitis when she was younger and became symptomatic later. The original group of hens I got from a (bad) neighbor were all sick and sneezing with rales when we got them over 3 years ago, so she would have been exposed to it. Or she has tumors. But it's interesting that she was actually much much sicker in September and October -- pooping water, not eating, barely moving -- and she's actually improved so much since then. With cancer, I figure she would really decline. But even with the crop issues, she's so much better than she was back then.

So who knows. Without any real diagnosis, I'm just doing what I can to give her a good life in whatever time she has left. Thank you everyone who has followed and helped especially @Wyorp Rock View attachment 3437560View attachment 3437562View attachment 3437564View attachment 3437565

Butchie!
Causing trouble again I see.
I think you are doing everything you can for her. She's bouncing back it seems. So hard to know what the underlying condition may be. It could be cancer or something else all together.
I'm glad she's doing better and you've were able to get her through this last episode.

Is that Cleo in the photos with Butchie! How's she doing now?

 

[TropicalChickies]

Butchie!
Causing trouble again I see.
I think you are doing everything you can for her. She's bouncing back it seems. So hard to know what the underlying condition may be. It could be cancer or something else all together.
I'm glad she's doing better and you've were able to get her through this last episode.

Is that Cleo in the photos with Butchie! How's she doing now?

Thank you for replying. What a roller coaster the past few days were with Butchie. I kept her out if the grass yesterday and only gave her some boiled egg. She slept most of the day, but she was breathing easy and the rest seemed to help. She's drinking water with Acidified copper sulphate -- I'm only offering it to her because I'm wary of the 5 mo chicks drinking it. I don't think the Clotrimazol does much for her. This morning the crop was clear, she was very hungry. I'm going to keep her out of the grass for several days. She was also eating a lot of seeds and little berries and what not. I think she's passed most of it. She is bouncing back, much to my amazement, so I'll help her along as best I can.

Cleo is great. She's almost 4 years old and she's still laying beautiful eggs at least 3x per week. We've been trying a new antibiotic cream especially for staph on her bumble when we clean it out and its really helping. It's called mupirocin.

The other hen in the pic with Butchie is Tina Turner, another carrioca (Turken) with much longer legs, she's about 1.5 years. The little black and white painted fellow is Paco. He hatched here with his sister Lucy about five months ago. The older white hen in the back is Cherie, who goes broody all the time and hatched and mothered all three generations in that photo. Cherie and Cleo are the survivors of the original sickly lot of 5 pullets we got four years ago. Two died of cyanosis from whatever flu or pneumonia they came with, and another from repeated prolapse, poor birds. I've learned so much about chicken care since then, and still am, thank you!

Here's some pics of Cleo and the others.

 

[Wyorp Rock]

They are all Beautiful (especially Cleo)

 

[TropicalChickies]

Yep, Cleo is very special. No matter what, every day at 4:30 pm exactly, she comes by to chat with me.

The Acidified Copper Sulfate seems to be the best remedy for Butchie. Today is day 3 of ACS treatment and the crop has been clear the past two mornings. I'm using the ACS very carefully, diluting 1/4 tsp to 2 liters of water and making sure she's drinking it throughout the day. She's eating a boiled egg in the morning and damp feed mash at midday. Keeping her off the grass. The floor of our patio floor has sand in it, so she's pecking around it getting grit.

In the afternoons, her crop gets big and mushy after eating the mash. She has no problem with the egg. I was reading Two Crows post again about some chickens just not tolerating some feeds. I'm going to start a thread seeing if anyone can recommend some alternative feeds. We don't have a lot of choices here, but maybe I can find something that she can digest more easily.

Anyway, here she is relaxing in the kitchen with the dogs. She seems to prefer their company right now because she doesn't want to appear weak with the other chicks. But Cleo stops by to hang out with her periodically. They really are so sweet.

 

[Wyorp Rock]

Cleo is a mess isn't she!

What a sweet dog you have too

I saw your other thread, interesting suggestions on there. I'm going to follow it as well and see what comes of it.

 

[TropicalChickies]

Cleo is a mess isn't she!

What a sweet dog you have too

I saw your other thread, interesting suggestions on there. I'm going to follow it as well and see what comes of it.

Ha ha, yes, I have 5 dogs and they all know they will be out on the street if they ever hurt one of my chickies.

I posted a video about Butchie in the other thread with some questions. But I thought you might like this pic of Cleo looking after Butchie

 

[Wyorp Rock]

Ha ha, yes, I have 5 dogs and they all know they will be out on the street if they ever hurt one of my chickies.

I posted a video about Butchie in the other thread with some questions. But I thought you might like this pic of Cleo looking after ButchieView attachment 3444461

Love it!