Aracona laying hen has swollen abdomen and hot

[flockraiser]

I would love to know what to do for an egg bound chicken. She is uner the heatlamp and still eating. Breathing a little heavy. I noticed her swelling wednesday. Would love some suggestions. She is about 2 yrs old

 

[beautifulbirds]

Have a look at this site;

http://ultimatefowl.wordpress.com/2008/ … r-poultry/

Crop Impaction – aka – crop binding

This condition affects the crop, the inlet for feed, and thereby affects the entire bird.

You will notice an enlarged, sour smelling crop which is filled with feed and roughage. The bird can become emaciated.

To treat this condition:

Move the affected fowl to a cool, dry place that is slightly darkened and relatively quite. Choose an area of the crop to work on. (usually on the very front of the fowl, right in the middle of the crop) Clip away any feathers that are in the way or that will touch the area that you have chosen. Disinfect the skin of the area with Iodine. Make a small incision in the skin with a very sharp blade. Pull skin aside and make another incision, this time in the crop. Clean out the crop as best you can, removing as much material as possible. Rinse the crop with Pure Water that has been boiled and then cooled. Do not try to stitch or staple the incision in the crop. Pinch the incision in the crop together and then pinch the skin together. Apply a liberal amount of a natural antibiotic such as pure Aloe. Keep the fowl in isolation in a cool, dry place that is slightly darkened and relatively quite. Administer a vitamin and electrolyte solution until a full recovery has been made.

And this also looks like a worthwhile read;

http://www.browneggblueegg.com/Article/ImpactedCrop_OldWay.html

Impacted crops are not caused by your birds needing more grit. Grit is indeed necessary for birds that eat other than commercial feed; they need grit when they eat scratch grains, greens, and when they free range. Birds use grit in their gizzards to grind food; but the gizzard is far "downstream" from the crop. The crop is a kind of foyer into which all the food packs before moving into the digestive system.

Things that cause impacted crops are anything a bird eats that is too big to move into the digestive system. Some of these too big things are whole grain (especially for small birds), grapes, and greens. When free ranging birds eat greens they rip off small pieces and these pieces pass freely out of the crop. One way I caused impacted crops in our flock was letting the flock out on once long, freshly mown grass. They have no problem with long unmown grass because they can rip off little pieces. Long strands of fresh cut grass pile up in the gizzard and can't get out.

You need to flush and empty an impacted crop. You can use an eyedropper, a syringe without a needle, or a child’s ear syringe. Be sure to put the dropper or syringe all the way back in the bird’s mouth. There is a hole at the base of the tongue that leads to the bird’s lungs. You must be way past that or you will damage your bird.


First Treatment

You can start by putting an eyedropper full of vegetable oil into the crop and then massaging the crop. This will soften the impaction. Put the dropper all the way back in the bird's mouth and slowly push out the oil. Any vegetable oil is good: olive oil, corn oil, or canola oil.

Mix

1/2-cup baking soda
1 pint of warm water

Fill the syringe and insert it as far as you can into the mouth of the chicken. Have someone hold the bird upright in front of you. Slowly and very gently fill the crop, do not over fill and get liquid into that hole at the base of the tongue. Gently press up under the chicken’s breast and slide your hand up to the crop. This makes the bird open its mouth and the impacted mess will come out the bird's mouth. Push the contents up and out of the crop and out of the mouth. You can face the bird toward the ground to help empty the crop. Repeat this gentle stroking pressure until nothing comes up.

If there the crop is not empty, flush it again until it is empty.

Once the crop is empty, give another dropper of oil.

Coop the bird away from other birds so it can rest. Provide about a cup of water with 1 teaspoon terramycin dissolved in it. Give no feed.


Second Day

If the bird is droopy on the next day, put molasses in the bird’s water for about four hours (1/4 cup per gallon of water). Remove the molasses water after four hours and give the bird fresh terramycin water. The molasses water will flush soured food from the bird’s digestive system.


Follow Up Treatment

If the crop impacts again, repeat the flush.

Continue the terramycin for 7 days to avoid secondary infection.

After 24 hours, give only soft food for a week or so. This lets the inflamed and irritated crop recover and prevents another impaction.

The soft diet can include crumbles and chopped hard-boiled or microwaved eggs. You can feed bread if it is soaked in milk or buttermilk. Buttermilk is especially good because active culture buttermilk has good bacteria in it that help the bird’s digestion.

Be sure to also give the bird some beneficial bacteria. They keep digestion going correctly and fight disease by crowding out disease bacteria. You can just mix 1-2 teaspoons per bird of ACTIVE culture yogurt with a small amount of food and give this as the only food until they eat it. You can also buy lactobacillus at health food stores, pharmacies, Wal-Mart, and Lake's Unlimited 800-634-2473.

Give no grains, no large pellets, no not soaked bread, and no grass or greens because these can cause another impaction. Feed only things that almost fall apart when wet.

Glenda Heywood likes to feed this for the week

1 slice wheat bread
1/2-cup buttermilk
3 tablespoons active culture yogurt with no artificial sweetener
Babyfood (or unsweetened) `apple sauce (as Barb recommends below).

Adding oil to the food will help avoid another impaction. Cod liver or wheat germ oil are good because they provide vitamins A, D, and E. Only add about 2% of the feed’s weight.

Adding oil to the food will help avoid another impaction. Cod liver or wheat germ oil are good because they provide vitamins A, D, and E. Only add about 2% of the feed’s weight.

Barb Silcott's Preventative and Followup Treatment
"If you have a bird that continually comes up with an impacted crop, once you've emptied the crop and start making your soft feed for it, add some baby food type applesauce. (Unsweetened regular applesauce should be as good.) The applesauce helps get the crop emptied a little quicker and is also acidic which helps with the bacteria problem."

"This works for sour crop, too. In fact, when we're hand-feeding parrots, we always add some baby food applesauce to the formula to prevent sour crop. Works great! With all the parrots I've hand-fed over the years, I've never had a case of sour crop. I specify baby food applesauce because it doesn't have any added sugar which just aggravates the problems."

 

[flockraiser]

My chicken is swollen in the abdoman area. I dont think it has to do with her crop. I think she has an egg in there or something going on. why do you think it has to do with her crop? Thanks for the help.

 

[ruth]

Have you tried the warm soak baths? I've heard they help relax the hen and the muscles so the egg can pass. Let her soak in a warm bath, water covering her rear end, for about 15 minutes, then dry her off and put her back under the warm heat lamp. Repeat after a few hours if she still has not passed the egg.

Can you see or feel the egg near the vent?

 

[flockraiser]

it feels swollen hard and very warm. I feel so bad for her. Do you know what the symtoms are for egg impaction. Shes eating and just breathing a little hard. The swelling starts after the legs and go towards her vent

 

[flockraiser]

Well I soaked her for 15 minutes and brought her in the house to get her really warm. She stands like a pengiun poor thing. She seems to look like she is breathing harder than normal. I will leave her alone this evening then maybe try again. thanks

 

[ruth]

She does sound like she's egg bound. Try another warm soak. You can also try feeling inside the vent to see if you can feel an egg and "help" slip it out. But you have to be very careful. You can lubricate your finger and give it a try, being gentle, or I have done it while the hen is in the soak because the water acted as a lubricant and helped open things up. In my hen's case there was a broken egg that couldn't come out so I had to remove it. It's best to try the soaks first and see if she can pass it on her own but you don't want too much time to go by because you can see she's in distress by the heavy/fast breathing. I've read threads where people's hens passed the egg after a second or third soak.

Good luck.

 

[flockraiser]

I will try this morning and see what happens. I sure hope it will come out. I will try to feel for an egg. I will keep you posted. thanks so much for your time.

 

[flockraiser]

Well I have soaked her twice. I notice that she has quite a bit of swollen around that area below the duct.I tryed to go in the duct but cant get in even with lubricant. I think if I cant get it out I will take her to my vet and let him show me how to deal with this..for future egg bounders. Do you know at what point we cant help? thanks again

 

[FrontPorchIndiana]

I don't know how to help, but I can get this to the top of the list for you.