Acute fever then death

[speckledhen]

If she had sour crop, she wasn't getting any food through. It was fermenting and staying in the crop, a fungal thing. Crop issues are sometimes hard to deal with, whether sour, impacted, or just static where it quits working period. With sour crop, they'll quit eating but drink and drink and drink till water comes back up.

 

[welasharon]

So, if her crop was full of liquid and no solids...did you notice her not eating? It sounds like something caused her to stop eating maybe?
ETA: THank you speckledhen. We were typing at the same time!

 

[speckledhen]

Thought you might have been typing at the same time as me.

 

[AspiringUrbaniteFarmer]

Wow... unfortunately I didn't notice her not eating b/c my girls free range most of the day... they go up at night & they periodically go in to eat & get water. They all travel together except when the one laying goes to lay her eggs, that's typically a solemn deed. Anyway, they all seemed to be doing their regular thing UNTIL the morning of this whole ordeal... she didn't leave the coop & was just pathetic in my arms.

 

[speckledhen]

It is often not noticed till it's too late to help so don't beat yourself up about it. They tend to hide their ailments quite well. I've lost a couple of birds to sour crop and crop stasis, most of the time it's during a hard molt when their bodies are depleted anyway. Happens even to those of us who are in close touch with our birds on a daily basis.

 

[AspiringUrbaniteFarmer]

Yeah, I'm a pretty meticulous bird keeper............ I have been hand feeding a scissor beaker for about a month now. She turns 3 months soon & is small, but doing pretty well. I have gotten a ton of grief for it, but when a 2-year-old boy tells you that the scissor beaker is his favorite chicken, I think you'd do everything you could to help her survive.

I clean the poop up at least twice a day... the coop, the patio... Pooping birds! It all goes in the compost, so it's all good. I have a weekly rotation of Neem oil & diatomaceous earth for any coop ickies & I even buy them organic food!

I think I can stop beating myself up, I am a pretty good chicken momma.... just learning that these freak things can happen.