not sure the best way to edit but i hope this is ok....hi there,, i just took my hen pepper to the vet . she was listless..apparently dehydrated and had lost a little weight...had not been eating or drinking very much
......well she had an impacted crop. i took her to the vet this morning and he asked me....how long has her crop been swollen like this? and i said swollen?? well i had noticed it felt weird...soft and squishy yet there were some wiry things in there too. well he flushed her crop out 3 times (massaging it after the the water went in ) i think the first and second time only a little stuff came out and it was mushy stuff and it smelled bad...and the third time he got out what he called a "ton of stuff" hay, grass, straw, corn and assorted food...he said that it smelled horrible. really bad. well he put 25 cc's of mineral oil in her crop when he was done flushing ( he had flushed her with 50 cc's of water each flush and said that he did not get all of it out ...so some of it stayed in there so that will help with her dehydration because some of it went in her tummy. he also gave her antibiotics just in case some of it went into her trachea...just as a precaution. he had she was breathing good though. i have to give her antibiotics for the next several days.
so hopefully this will be the cure for her. she has to be in the house for the weekend to be monitored and i have to feed her baby food and pedialyte. so hopefully she will perk up soon. oh and by te way she had lost weight over this before i realized it was happening...she only weighed 3 pounds and some change.....cant recall the number....and she is a plymouth barred rock...and is 6 years old...so she was definitely not eating well....i'm just sorry i didnt catch it a little sooner.
i wonder why she got the blockage in the first place though.
so i am thinking there was a reason for the sour crop and in this case it was a blockage. ....we love our hen "pepper" amd would hate to lose her. my dog vet also sees exotics... he has also seen other chickens of mine. i drove an hour to bring her there. and the visit cost me 137 dollars....including the antibiotics. so it wasnt as bad as it could have been. he did say that he thinks he got the problem out,.....but there could be additional blockage that he cant get to...causing the sour crop.....but our fingers are crossed that the problem was a lll of the hay and straw in there causing the problem. we have to watch her over the weekend to see how she does. she is resting comfortably in a big bunny hutch in the dining room so hopefully she will sleep good.
veronica
this is the original post below
hi everyone
i posted this in another post but i have added more this time, and i wasnt sure how to edit my previous post. anyhow here is some new info and i am needing some advice.
she is still not roosting, my mom said she tried to get up in the lowest rung and she couldnt do it. this was a sudden thing. the other day she was running around. then her comb flopped over. and now she is sick. i felt her abdomen today and it feels about the same as the others..maybe a little bit bigger but i may be imagining it. she isnt very skinny....but i dont think she is eating very well now that i have paid attention and watched her. i brought her in tonight and made her some oatmeal with yogurt and i added a teeny bit of mineral oil to the oatmeal, just in case she had a blockage of some sort. she ate the oatmeal like it was going out of style. so at least she got some carbs in her and a little protein. i did give them vitamins and electrolytes and i have seen her drink.
I;m going to call the vet tomorrow and see what he thinks. i thnk i am going to bring her in if he can see her. i have taken other hens over the years to the vet but they all passed despite the treatment they received. so i am hoping that pepper is not very sick and he will be able to help her.
can anyone else think of anything else i could do for her?
veronica
......well she had an impacted crop. i took her to the vet this morning and he asked me....how long has her crop been swollen like this? and i said swollen?? well i had noticed it felt weird...soft and squishy yet there were some wiry things in there too. well he flushed her crop out 3 times (massaging it after the the water went in ) i think the first and second time only a little stuff came out and it was mushy stuff and it smelled bad...and the third time he got out what he called a "ton of stuff" hay, grass, straw, corn and assorted food...he said that it smelled horrible. really bad. well he put 25 cc's of mineral oil in her crop when he was done flushing ( he had flushed her with 50 cc's of water each flush and said that he did not get all of it out ...so some of it stayed in there so that will help with her dehydration because some of it went in her tummy. he also gave her antibiotics just in case some of it went into her trachea...just as a precaution. he had she was breathing good though. i have to give her antibiotics for the next several days.
so hopefully this will be the cure for her. she has to be in the house for the weekend to be monitored and i have to feed her baby food and pedialyte. so hopefully she will perk up soon. oh and by te way she had lost weight over this before i realized it was happening...she only weighed 3 pounds and some change.....cant recall the number....and she is a plymouth barred rock...and is 6 years old...so she was definitely not eating well....i'm just sorry i didnt catch it a little sooner.
i wonder why she got the blockage in the first place though.
so i am thinking there was a reason for the sour crop and in this case it was a blockage. ....we love our hen "pepper" amd would hate to lose her. my dog vet also sees exotics... he has also seen other chickens of mine. i drove an hour to bring her there. and the visit cost me 137 dollars....including the antibiotics. so it wasnt as bad as it could have been. he did say that he thinks he got the problem out,.....but there could be additional blockage that he cant get to...causing the sour crop.....but our fingers are crossed that the problem was a lll of the hay and straw in there causing the problem. we have to watch her over the weekend to see how she does. she is resting comfortably in a big bunny hutch in the dining room so hopefully she will sleep good.
veronica
this is the original post below
hi everyone
i posted this in another post but i have added more this time, and i wasnt sure how to edit my previous post. anyhow here is some new info and i am needing some advice.
she is still not roosting, my mom said she tried to get up in the lowest rung and she couldnt do it. this was a sudden thing. the other day she was running around. then her comb flopped over. and now she is sick. i felt her abdomen today and it feels about the same as the others..maybe a little bit bigger but i may be imagining it. she isnt very skinny....but i dont think she is eating very well now that i have paid attention and watched her. i brought her in tonight and made her some oatmeal with yogurt and i added a teeny bit of mineral oil to the oatmeal, just in case she had a blockage of some sort. she ate the oatmeal like it was going out of style. so at least she got some carbs in her and a little protein. i did give them vitamins and electrolytes and i have seen her drink.
I;m going to call the vet tomorrow and see what he thinks. i thnk i am going to bring her in if he can see her. i have taken other hens over the years to the vet but they all passed despite the treatment they received. so i am hoping that pepper is not very sick and he will be able to help her.
can anyone else think of anything else i could do for her?
veronica
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