9 month old hen, Crop Is EMPTY durring the Day!!

[BokBok_lady]

Hello Everyone, Thank you in advance for taking the time to read and respond if possible.
I have a 9 month old buff silkie hen and I usually check for any visual problems in the AM i have noticed yesterday 3-20-19 that she was exstending her neck and opening her beak over and over again so I grabbed her to check her crop and it was empty. That was at 11am which I though was not normal I also felt her sisters crop because they both are in a pen together and her crop was a good size.
Anywho the Buff crop I could almost not find it because it is so empty. I made her scrambled eggs she ate a couple bites and that was it. She also seems to not be interested in her pellets right now either.
Wanted to get opinions and causes of why her crop would be empty during the day.
-All my chickens are on Feather Fixer right now because of over mating and feathers are missing.
-gave V&E to everyone 3-18-19 for 2 days (I do this monthly)
- my silkie hens have never laid eggs yet
- poop looks normal

 

[Shadrach]

Hello Everyone, Thank you in advance for taking the time to read and respond if possible.
I have a 9 month old buff silkie hen and I usually check for any visual problems in the AM i have noticed yesterday 3-20-19 that she was exstending her neck and opening her beak over and over again so I grabbed her to check her crop and it was empty. That was at 11am which I though was not normal I also felt her sisters crop because they both are in a pen together and her crop was a good size.
Anywho the Buff crop I could almost not find it because it is so empty. I made her scrambled eggs she ate a couple bites and that was it. She also seems to not be interested in her pellets right now either.
Wanted to get opinions and causes of why her crop would be empty during the day.
-All my chickens are on Feather Fixer right now because of over mating and feathers are missing.
-gave V&E to everyone 3-18-19 for 2 days (I do this monthly)
- my silkie hens have never laid eggs yet
- poop looks normal

As a starting point it would be worth worming them.

 

[Eggcessive]

Extending the neck and gasping may be signs of a respiratory disease, and more rarely gapeworm. Do you have any Poultry NutriDrench to give her a few drops? Other electrolytes would be good. Offer water and wet chicken food, cooked egg in a small ceral bowl. If you have not wormed recently, I would get some SafeGuard Liquid Goat Wormer, shake very well, and give her 1/2 ml orally for 5 straight days. That will help if gapeworms or capillary worms could be a problem.

 

[BokBok_lady]

Extending the neck and gasping may be signs of a respiratory disease, and more rarely gapeworm. Do you have any Poultry NutriDrench to give her a few drops? Other electrolytes would be good. Offer water and wet chicken food, cooked egg in a small ceral bowl. If you have not wormed recently, I would get some SafeGuard Liquid Goat Wormer, shake very well, and give her 1/2 ml orally for 5 straight days. That will help if gapeworms or capillary worms could be a problem.

This is great, thank you for your response.
- Yes I have NutriDrench I will give her some.
-Also you say give other electrolytes is there a certain product I should be looking for?
- I will grab the safe guard today.
- Is the SafeGuard 1/2ml dose a normal dose?
If so, I think I should just do everyone. they all are in the same run enclosure but in separate sections.

- I will also change her diet as suggested!
This is very helpful and I'm very grateful! Thank You!

 

[BokBok_lady]

As a starting point it would be worth worming them.

Thank you for your suggestion, I will be getting SafeGuard goat wormer today. another member suggested it as well. Also thank you for your prompt response to my concern.

 

[Eggcessive]

NutriDrench has all the electrolytes and vitamins she needs. She can have up to 1 ml per day, then give her water as well.

 

[Eggcessive]

The SafeGuard is given 1/4 ml per pound for 5 straight days. My silkies weighed 2 pounds, so if she is 2 pounds or close, give 1/2 ml.

 

[BokBok_lady]

Hello again, so I started the SafeGuard wormer on Friday morning gave Buff Hen 0.5ml orally then I I got to thinking, "that would be silly if I didn't treat the whole flock"! So I ended up finding a post on Backyard chickens for dosage in gallon jug 2ml

( I did notice with this wormer treatment that I must have a couple chickens that have Cecal Worms, The older birds)
BUT.... My Little Buff Hen her crop is still empty, not sure what my next step would be for another treatment
-Can I now give Ivermectin Drops on everyone's neck?
I mean Im already doing an egg withdrawal. but I'm being cautious and also concerned because of drug interaction between the 2?
- I've seen her take a couple sips of water but I'm wondering if she isn't drinking enough water with wormer meds because of whatever problem she is having and it is actually not curing her issue.

I did notice after the .5ml dose she had a tiny amount of food sitting in her crop but when I changed to the water she hasn't had any food in crop.

- I guess writing and reading what I wrote is kinda telling me to give her the oral dose no matter what!

Does this sound like correct thinking?

 

[Eggcessive]

Safeguard is not very good at mixing with water, so it is not usually given that way. The most accurate way is to give it orally.

Ivermectin is used more for treatment of lice and mites. It may not be the best for worming. Permethrin dust or topical spray is also used for that and fairly safe.

How do you know you have capillary worms?

I would start mixing a small bowl some watery warm chicken feed and add a bit of cooked egg. I sometimes add a teaspoonful of plain yogurt with live cultures for probiotics. Then offer it to her several times a day to see if she will eat. If she is not eating, then she is likely not drinking much. Getting her to eat watery feed will get more fluids into her. Also some vitamins, such as 1/4 tablet of crushed human B complex may help her appetite. They can suffer blockages in the gizzard or intestines that would affect the appetite.

 

[BokBok_lady]

Hello, yes I know Ivermectin is mainly used for lice and mites.
-I will get B-complex tonight and get it in her before morning feeding.
-I switched her back to the oral dose.
- I just went and put everyone to bed and felt her crop and there is a little bit of food in there.( Knowing I switched her back to oral dose this afternoon)
- There was also food in her crop (Tiny Amount) on Friday early evening.(knowing I gave her oral dose)
- - So in other works she has only received oral dose on Friday and Today ( Monday)
- I WILL CONTINUE ORAL DOSE FOR 5 DAYS NOW, without switching to other means!

I feel terrible cause I shouldn't have tried to switch to water intake and the problem could have been almost completely corrected.
- Honestly, I have never encountered worms in all the times I've owned chickens! Therefore I have no idea if I am dealing with crop worms, I'm just using your recommendation and giving it a shot.
- I tried giving her the egg, warm soft food and yogurt and she will not touch it. Haha she takes 1 bite and shakes her head. But I refuse to give up I'm going to keep trying. But she does have pellets in her crop right now as she went to bed tonight.! YAY!
Something must be working and I would guess it's the SafeGuard
- Buff hen is taking a couple pecks of dehydrated fruit and veggies and meal worms but. Not enough to amount to anything but I see it as it's better than nothing. I'm not over doing it on those she has only had that 2 times today
- I was giving everyone Featherfixer for higher protein but I switched that out to regular 16% pellet feed the other day.

- I did notice in other bok bok adult poop little white seed looking things which I'm guessing it's Cecal worms. Didn't see it in everyone's poop but maybe like 3 chickens poops.

I have no idea about worms but I am learning and want to continue to learn and how to help everyone get back to normal
I have asked this question on the FB vet corner thinking Vets on there would completely know what I could do but out of all the post mine is the only one that has no comments. It was very heartbreaking so being able to get your insight on what I can try is greatly appreciated!! Thank You!