Hi everyone,
I am hoping for some diagnosis and treatment help for my 8 week old Easter Egger that is on the brink of death it seems. She is extremely thin (skeletal!), lethargic, puffed up, only pooping in very tiny liquidy amounts, and her crop continues to fill with fluid (it is like a big water balloon). I have been making an effort to treat her over the last 5 days but I am not sure what is wrong other than that is seems to be crop related. All other chicks are acting fine. They all did recently transition from spending their nights in a tub in the garage into a new chick tractor I made (about a week ago) and they started free ranging for a few hours a day as well. Here is the story of what I have done:
I noticed on Thursday that she was puffed and lethargic (first time I noticed anything wrong). I gave her .5ml nutridrech with syringe orally and she seemed to perk up. I also started putting Corid in all the chicks water in case it was Coccidiosis even though no sign of blood in poop. The next morning (Friday) she was looking sick again. I gave her another dose of nutridrench and once again she seemed better. But then by that evening she was weak and I noticed she was extremely thin and light and I could feel all her bones. I decided to treat her with everything I could think of and separated her into a crate with food and probiotic/corid water. I mixed up electrolyte water and used it to water down some yogurt. Then I put in .08cc of Tylan 200 antibiotic, .5ml nutridrench, and mixed it together with a small amount of the yogurt to syringe to her orally. I gave her that Friday night and Saturday morning. She kept getting worse and stopped eating and drinking and then I noticed how big her crop was getting. It was huge. The amount of liquid I gave her could not account for it. She looked extremely uncomfortable and kept moving her neck to the side and up like she was trying to push something down her throat. I watched a video on how to drain the crop. I syringed her more electrolyte water and massaged her crop to break up any obstruction. It was so full then that when I picked her up it started coming out of her mouth before I even turned her upside down. I repeated what the video said and helped her vomit the liquid by turning her upside down multiple times for short amounts and massaging her crop until she was empty. It was all liquid. It did not smell sour. Only slightly like nutridrench. It was clear with a brown tint and only some cloudy thick parts from her crumbles. No sign of the yogurt. She immediately seemed relieved and more comfortable (but still very sick). The next morning (Sunday) she was miraculously still alive and appeared to have more energy than the day before. She was drinking quite a bit and eating a little but her crop was once again filled with fluid. Yesterday evening I drained her crop again. Still clear and no smell. It filled up again with liquid within 30 minutes of me draining it! I continued with her AM/PM dose of yogurt/antibiotic/nutridrench mix but Sunday evening and this morning (Monday) I also added Monostat cream .08cc to the mixture in case sour crop is the issue even though no sour smell. I plan to drain again this evening because it seems to give her some relief.
Any ideas what I could be dealing with? If I have done anything wrong so far please let me know, but please keep in mind I am doing by best with the knowledge that I have! I do not have access to a vet. I live on a small island.
Thank you for your help!
Alice
I am hoping for some diagnosis and treatment help for my 8 week old Easter Egger that is on the brink of death it seems. She is extremely thin (skeletal!), lethargic, puffed up, only pooping in very tiny liquidy amounts, and her crop continues to fill with fluid (it is like a big water balloon). I have been making an effort to treat her over the last 5 days but I am not sure what is wrong other than that is seems to be crop related. All other chicks are acting fine. They all did recently transition from spending their nights in a tub in the garage into a new chick tractor I made (about a week ago) and they started free ranging for a few hours a day as well. Here is the story of what I have done:
I noticed on Thursday that she was puffed and lethargic (first time I noticed anything wrong). I gave her .5ml nutridrech with syringe orally and she seemed to perk up. I also started putting Corid in all the chicks water in case it was Coccidiosis even though no sign of blood in poop. The next morning (Friday) she was looking sick again. I gave her another dose of nutridrench and once again she seemed better. But then by that evening she was weak and I noticed she was extremely thin and light and I could feel all her bones. I decided to treat her with everything I could think of and separated her into a crate with food and probiotic/corid water. I mixed up electrolyte water and used it to water down some yogurt. Then I put in .08cc of Tylan 200 antibiotic, .5ml nutridrench, and mixed it together with a small amount of the yogurt to syringe to her orally. I gave her that Friday night and Saturday morning. She kept getting worse and stopped eating and drinking and then I noticed how big her crop was getting. It was huge. The amount of liquid I gave her could not account for it. She looked extremely uncomfortable and kept moving her neck to the side and up like she was trying to push something down her throat. I watched a video on how to drain the crop. I syringed her more electrolyte water and massaged her crop to break up any obstruction. It was so full then that when I picked her up it started coming out of her mouth before I even turned her upside down. I repeated what the video said and helped her vomit the liquid by turning her upside down multiple times for short amounts and massaging her crop until she was empty. It was all liquid. It did not smell sour. Only slightly like nutridrench. It was clear with a brown tint and only some cloudy thick parts from her crumbles. No sign of the yogurt. She immediately seemed relieved and more comfortable (but still very sick). The next morning (Sunday) she was miraculously still alive and appeared to have more energy than the day before. She was drinking quite a bit and eating a little but her crop was once again filled with fluid. Yesterday evening I drained her crop again. Still clear and no smell. It filled up again with liquid within 30 minutes of me draining it! I continued with her AM/PM dose of yogurt/antibiotic/nutridrench mix but Sunday evening and this morning (Monday) I also added Monostat cream .08cc to the mixture in case sour crop is the issue even though no sour smell. I plan to drain again this evening because it seems to give her some relief.
Any ideas what I could be dealing with? If I have done anything wrong so far please let me know, but please keep in mind I am doing by best with the knowledge that I have! I do not have access to a vet. I live on a small island.
Thank you for your help!
Alice
