5 month old Bard Rock passed away quickly

[RosaB810]

She was fine today. I last saw her at 4:30, let her out with her three sisters to walk in the garden. They have been in the garden for over a month now. I checked on all of the plants to assure none were poisonous to them.
@ 6:30 found her laying resting in the garden. She seemed fine. I pet her, she responded by raising her tail and making noise like always. She did not get up.(my thought was she was going to lay an egg)
I picked her up and put her back in the coop run. She just stood in one place. I picked her up and put her inside the coop. She layer down on the bed. Seemed to be very slow.
I came back to check her in about 10 minutes. She was standing in the bed, she had pooped in the wood chips. It was reddish brown. She walked away and layer down about 3 ft from the bed. She seems lethargic. Her sister came up to her and laid with her. She tucked her head in the corner. She had pooped again and it was reddish brown and jelly like with pieces in it, looked like inners.
I picked her up and held her for some time. She just laid still and let me pet her. Her breathing seemed to be getting labored. I called the local vet but they were closed. I was debating weather to bring her to the local vet emergency room. ( $180 to walk in the door). I just don't have that kind of money. I then noticed that her comb was losing its color. It was actually pink and parts were becoming white. About one hour passed.
She was getting very droopy, not able to stand. My husband read on your forum that she could have sour crop.
He held her with head facing down and massaged her gut. Lots of liquid came out of her mouth. She started to squawk a bit, and then heave with nothing really coming out. She then started to try and flap her wings so my husband put her down. She looked like she was having a seasure. She flopped on the ground rolling squawking and flapping her wings and died in about 15 seconds.
She is buried in my yard. I do not want her sisters to get sick. Please let me know if anyone else has had this happen.
I am now giong to read about Sour Crop in detail.

We will miss our my Rosie Girl! :0(

 

[BackyardDove]

Heat stroke can cause a sudden death in chickens. What was the temperature outside for you today? Did you check for lice or mites? I recently had an epidemic of lice that claims two of my young chicken's lives, both very suddenly(within a few hours) and without any previous symptoms. Many people play off mites and lice as not a big issue and easily spotted/cured, but they're a powerful force against young birds. I lost all of my under 8 week old chicks from that plague and two five month old hens. None showed symptoms and once the young ones got it, even if I treated them quickly, they were all dead within a couple days anyways.

 

[RosaB810]

Thank you for responding, chillin with my peeps. I found out from a vet that Rosa did no have any illness, parasites or egg binding. We sent a poop sample in.
It was most likley impacted crop.
I just read the following information:

• Impacted Crop where there is a blockage in the crop and the crop is full and feels like dough but has not stretched to become pendulous. There will not be the smell that you get with sour crop.
• Sour Crop which is caused by a yeast in the crop and recognised by a putrid smell coming from the beak.

My husband massaged her crop and she threw up lots of liquid. He turned her head toward the ground, like it states below.

Emptying a chicken’s crop is a two person job, you will need to turn the bird upside down to empty the crop through the beak.
We did not do the following first:
First, pour either Liquid Paraffin, or warm water with a couple of teaspoons of Olive Oil down the throat and massage the crop for 5 minutes.
We did do this:
Whilst holding the bird firmly, turn the bird upside down and massage the contents out through the beak for a short while 5 seconds is usually long enough – before turning the bird back up the right way to breathe.
But might not have waited long enough, read below:

There is a risk of the bird choking so you must allow the bird a chance to catch its breath in between.

This is what happened to Rosa. That is why i am online reading all i can to know my birds,. I did no know there was so much to watch for. I feel so bad we were not prepared. Our poor Rosa, we miss her terribly and feel horrible that we were not prepared.

I had another bird just today start acting sluggish. We introduced an older bird to the group on Monday, and they were all stressing out. I massaged her bottom a few times because she had not laid an egg today. Well, she passed an egg! She is fine now. I felt so releived to be able to notice her behavior and react quickly.

 

[Newmamabear]

[COLOR=EE82EE]Thank you for responding,[/COLOR][COLOR=333333] [/COLOR][COLOR=EE82EE]chillin with my peeps. I found out from a vet that Rosa did no have any illness, parasites or egg binding. We sent a poop sample in.[/COLOR]
[COLOR=EE82EE]It was most likley impacted crop. [/COLOR] [COLOR=EE82EE]I just read the following information:[/COLOR]

• [COLOR=EE82EE]Impacted Crop

• https://poultrykeeper.com/digestive-system-problems/impacted-crop [COLOR=EE82EE] where there is a blockage in the crop and the crop is full and feels like dough but has not stretched to become pendulous. There will not be the smell that you get with sour crop.[/COLOR]
• [COLOR=EE82EE]Sour Crop[/COLOR] [COLOR=EE82EE] which is caused by a yeast in the crop and recognised by a putrid smell coming from the beak.[/COLOR]

[/COLOR]
My husband massaged her crop and she threw up lots of liquid. He turned her head toward the ground, like it states below.

[COLOR=EE82EE]Emptying a chicken’s crop is a two person job, you will need to turn the bird upside down to empty the crop through the beak.[/COLOR]
[COLOR=000000]We did not do the following first[COLOR=EE82EE]:[/COLOR][/COLOR]
[COLOR=EE82EE]First, pour either Liquid Paraffin, or warm water with a couple of teaspoons of Olive Oil down the throat and massage the crop for 5 minutes.[/COLOR]
We did do this:
[COLOR=EE82EE]Whilst holding the bird firmly, turn the bird upside down and massage the contents out through the beak for a short while 5 seconds is usually long enough – before turning the bird back up the right way to breathe.
But might not have waited long enough, read below:[/COLOR] [COLOR=EE82EE]There is a risk of the bird choking so you must allow the bird a chance to catch its breath in between .[/COLOR] [COLOR=EE82EE]This is what happened to Rosa. That is why i am online reading all i can to know my birds,. I did no know there was so much to watch for. I feel so bad we were not prepared. Our poor Rosa, we miss her terribly and feel horrible that we were not prepared.[/COLOR] [COLOR=EE82EE]I had another bird just today start acting sluggish. We introduced an older bird to the group on Monday, and they were all stressing out. I massaged her bottom a few times because she had not laid an egg today. Well, she passed an egg! She is fine now. I felt so releived to be able to notice her behavior and react quickly.[/COLOR] :cd

Sorry to hear about your little Rosa but what a nice recovery on the egg