Accepting what might be and pushing forward.....need advice on multiple concerns.

[Chopper923]

Well, I thought she was going to pass away this afternoon. She was very lethargic, and she had no interest in food or water. Nothing. I took her down to visit her flock, and when i set her on the ground, she just laid to her side. I brought her back to her quiet area, gave her some docusate sodium, and i massaged her crop. I just came back in to check on her, and she is standing up, pecking at her food! Her crop is even smaller!! She seemed very alert. Now she is sleeping, but she is tipping her head back and opening her beak as she was on my video. I will keep working at this, as i read that it can take a few days to get her crop back on track. I will pick up some plain greek yogurt tomorrow...i only have vanilla greek yogurt on hand. I'm assuming there's a chicken probiotic i need to pick up, too? I have probiotics for people at the moment.

 

[Chopper923]

The honking sound and stretching the neck can be indicators of impacted crop.

You are doing everything right, giving her oil and massaging the crop.

But I wouldn't give her any more food until the crop actually clears and at least most of the mass in there goes down. Anything she eats will just sit on top of the blockage.

That's what i thought, but then i read some people were not completely removing food. So i thought by giving her liquidy foods with the added olive oil, that would help move things along?

 

[TropicalChickies]

Well, I thought she was going to pass away this afternoon. She was very lethargic, and she had no interest in food or water. Nothing. I took her down to visit her flock, and when i set her on the ground, she just laid to her side. I brought her back to her quiet area, gave her some docusate sodium, and i massaged her crop. I just came back in to check on her, and she is standing up, pecking at her food! Her crop is even smaller!! She seemed very alert. Now she is sleeping, but she is tipping her head back and opening her beak as she was on my video. I will keep working at this, as i read that it can take a few days to get her crop back on track. I will pick up some plain greek yogurt tomorrow...i only have vanilla greek yogurt on hand. I'm assuming there's a chicken probiotic i need to pick up, too? I have probiotics for people at the moment.

Human probiotics are fine.

Chickens have similar gut flora to humans. They need acidophilus, bifidus, etc -- the probiotics found in "human" supplements.
Just don't give them anything with added fiber like psyllium.

Yes, an impacted crop can take a few days to go down. Keep working on it. A little oil each day with massage until it's down.

Is she pooping? As long as the crop is going down and she is pooping, she can eat. But SMALL amounts of soft food only. Wet feed or scrambled egg. Don't worry if she doesn't eat a lot for a couple days. She can eat normally when then crop clears. Priority is getting the crop clear.

How do you feed them normally? Dry feed or damp mash? Is there anything in their coop or run they might eat (like wood shavings or sawdust or straw)? Chicks can get into all sorts of things that impact the crop -- when my cockerel was 3 months old he ate a big lizard in one gulp. But it's worth eliminating any potential causes.

 

[TropicalChickies]

That's what i thought, but then i read some people were not completely removing food. So i thought by giving her liquidy foods with the added olive oil, that would help move things along?

Well, that's just my preference -- to not give them food until the crop clears -- or at least mostly. I live in a very warm and humid climate so everything ferments quickly here. It's up to you, but to me it makes sense not to give food if the crop is impacted. At least for the first 24 hours that you are trying to clear it.

 

[Chopper923]

Well, that's just my preference -- to not give them food until the crop clears -- or at least mostly. I live in a very warm and humid climate so everything ferments quickly here. It's up to you, but to me it makes sense not to give food if the crop is impacted. At least for the first 24 hours that you are trying to clear it.

Yes, it makes sense!

 

[Chopper923]

Human probiotics are fine.

Chickens have similar gut flora to humans. They need acidophilus, bifidus, etc -- the probiotics found in "human" supplements.
Just don't give them anything with added fiber like psyllium.

Yes, an impacted crop can take a few days to go down. Keep working on it. A little oil each day with massage until it's down.

Is she pooping? As long as the crop is going down and she is pooping, she can eat. But SMALL amounts of soft food only. Wet feed or scrambled egg. Don't worry if she doesn't eat a lot for a couple days. She can eat normally when then crop clears. Priority is getting the crop clear.

How do you feed them normally? Dry feed or damp mash? Is there anything in their coop or run they might eat (like wood shavings or sawdust or straw)? Chicks can get into all sorts of things that impact the crop -- when my cockerel was 3 months old he ate a big lizard in one gulp. But it's worth eliminating any potential causes.

Thank you for the info!! I will check the probiotics we have here to make sure they don't contain added fiber. They are still on a nonmedicated chick starter...our feed mill does not carry chick grower. They get an occasional fruit or veggie treat and daily fresh dandelions. My daughter has given them grass in the past, and we just had a talk about not giving them long blades of grass due to that possibly causing crop issues. So much to learn! We also stopped giving them grit once we moved them to an outdoor coop and run since we had thought that they would find grit on the ground, but now we are wondering if they didn't have enough grit due to the ground being so dry and hard from lack of rain. Tonight, grit was given to all the flocks! They haven't had pine shavings since we moved them to their outdoor coop & run (over a month ago?). Their coop has sand. I cannot think of anything else that they've come into contact with... I've attached a picture of her poop from tonight.

 

[Allsfairinloveandbugs]

@Chopper923 , you mentioned you have gapeworm in your area. The symptoms your Lavender chick is showing in the video could also be gapeworm symptoms. Here is a good article about gapeworms and symptoms.
https://thisnzlife.co.nz/signs-your-chickens-might-have-gapeworm-plus-how-to-treat-it/

Here is a short video of a hen showing gapeworm symptoms.
https://www.google.com/search?clien...#fpstate=ive&vld=cid:a3e0b116,vid:HO6R5o2PwOY

On a positive note, I'm glad to know that Nova has improved!

 

[Chopper923]

@Chopper923 , you mentioned you have gapeworm in your area. The symptoms your Lavender chick is showing in the video could also be gapeworm symptoms. Here is a good article about gapeworms and symptoms.
https://thisnzlife.co.nz/signs-your-chickens-might-have-gapeworm-plus-how-to-treat-it/

Here is a short video of a hen showing gapeworm symptoms.
https://www.google.com/search?client=ms-android-tmus-us-rvc3&q=gapeworm chicken youtube#fpstate=ive&vld=cid:a3e0b116,vid:HO6R5o2PwOY

On a positive note, I'm glad to know that Nova has improved!

Oh, thank you for the article and video!! I am SO GLAD you mentioned the gapeworm! My husband picked up the Safeguard Dewormer for Goats, and I've been debating about using it. We haven't taken a stool sample to the vet (We are new to the area, and apparently vets around here are booked for 6 weeks out?), and even though people told my husband that gapeworm was in the area, i kept wondering if it was a respiratory issue since gapeworm is rare in the US. I was worried about over-treating her with meds and stuff without knowing for sure that these symptoms might possibly be related to gapeworm....just didnt want to add more stress to her little body. We will start treatment tonight. Thank you, thank you, thank you!

 

[Chopper923]

@Chopper923 , you mentioned you have gapeworm in your area. The symptoms your Lavender chick is showing in the video could also be gapeworm symptoms. Here is a good article about gapeworms and symptoms.
https://thisnzlife.co.nz/signs-your-chickens-might-have-gapeworm-plus-how-to-treat-it/

Here is a short video of a hen showing gapeworm symptoms.
https://www.google.com/search?client=ms-android-tmus-us-rvc3&q=gapeworm chicken youtube#fpstate=ive&vld=cid:a3e0b116,vid:HO6R5o2PwOY

On a positive note, I'm glad to know that Nova has improved!

I actually have that article bookmarked, and i had screenshot some of the paragraphs to reference to the other day. Unfortunately, i had done some screenshots of the Safeguard info, too, and now I've realized that i mistook the Flubenol in the article with fenbendazole in Safeguard. We went out to give her the treatment, and she seemed like she had really improved. I was holding her while my husband gave her the dewormer. He misunderstood me when i said .23, and he was going to give her 2.3. I had caught on at about 1.0 ml...and now I'm stressing that we may have OD'd her on dewormer. I just got done reading that fenbendazole shouldn't have harsh reactions at 100x recommended dosage. Although that gives me a slight bit of relief, i doubt I'm going to sleep well tonight.

 

[Allsfairinloveandbugs]

Her symptoms could unfortunately be respiratory disease symptoms too, and that certainly crossed my mind when I watched the video. Especially since someone sold you very sick chicks, and yes, avian respiratory diseases are much more common than gapeworm. Have you seen any typical respiratory disease symptoms in your flock such as bubbles in the corners of eyes, nasal drainage, coughing, sneezing? With the problems the chicks came with, I would be very surprised if they don't have worms too. And though deworming Can be a shock to a bird's system as the worms die off if the bird carries a very high worm load, a high worm load is very detrimental to a bird's health too. If you want a second opinion before you deworm the chick in the video, by all means tag others who have helped you here, and wait for their response. That won't bother me at all; I think multiple opinions are always good.

If another one of your chickens die, I assume you have been encouraged to submit the body to your state lab for a necropsy? If/when you do so, I think it will bring you great peace of mind to know what all you are dealing with. Even if your flock carries several diseases, that's better than playing whack-a-mole as you try to treat their symptoms. Once you know what diseases they may carry, you can develop a plan of action to take it from there.