Best Treatment for Vent Gleet and Sour Crop

[HeatherKellyB]

What do you mean the molt kind of stalled? Is she bald?

No she's not bald but she's barely lost any feathers. It was like 2 to 4 feathers dropping a day and then just stopped. Her feathers don't look nice like she's molted. She has new wing feathers but that's about it as far as noticeable feathers. Maybe that's just her thing but my other birds that are coming up on 2 years old got almost an entire new set of nice & shiny feathers.

 

[Wyorp Rock]

Thank you! How much coconut oil do you suggest? I have to force any solids on her now. She'll drink water. Do you think adding fresh garlic to her water will do anything?

Sounds like a partial molt.

I've never used garlic. I follow the instructions in that article I posted.
Some birds will not drink water very well if it has something new added to it, so I think I would just go with the plain water since she's drinking - you want her drinking.

I would give her 1tsp of coconut oil twice a day. Harden the oil in the fridge and break it into chunks. Mine love it. Once she tastes it, she may eat it on her own.

 

[HeatherKellyB]

She's also had this wierd breathing thing where she breaths funny whenever she's held or if it's humid and hot outside. She makes a noise with some of her breaths. I tried treating her with nebulizing an Oxine mixture but it didn't do anything. I've thought that she may have a mild case aspergilliosis (?sp). Her breathing isn't as loud now. Her comb tips will turn purplish occasionally but I can't find any rhyme or reason to when it'll happen. If I hold her or carry her inside, her comb tips become purple but they go back red. Her comb is super dry and has been since her molt

 

[Wyorp Rock]

Holding her is either stressful, putting pressure on her air sacs or she may have some fluid in the abdomen (could be a combination). If I have a hen that exhibits those symptoms I'm very careful when handling them, I support their abdomen very well and I get them to a table quickly where they can stand on their own while I'm tending to them.

 

[HeatherKellyB]

I'd rather not have to attempt crop surgery but if it's necessary, I'm willing to. I just hate to put her through that if it's unlikely to improve her quality of life for more than a week. That's a pretty huge deal so I really hope it's not necessary. She's just so skinny and getting weak. I'll work on this crop with oil and massage. Any chance that doing the oil and massage more often will harm her?

 

[HeatherKellyB]

Holding her is either stressful, putting pressure on her air sacs or she may have some fluid in the abdomen (could be a combination). If I have a hen that exhibits those symptoms I'm very careful when handling them, I support their abdomen very well and I get them to a table quickly where they can stand on their own while I'm tending to them.

I hope this doesn't sound bad but that makes me feel better that other hens are like this. Not that I want more birds feeling this way but because it makes me feel like it's possibly nothing serious with her breathing. Of course it could be but I'm going with the pressure on their air sacs. That's been going on for about a year now so I worried about that possibly being a root for the current issue. This is definitely helping to ease some stress.

I didn't realize that adult birds that were of age for their first full molt could end up with a partial molt. This is another thing that helps me to feel better. Now I just need to get busy trying to help my sweet Darla to feel better and eat something. I can't imagine how this must feel. She keeps looking down at her abdomen and I bet she's just so hungry and basically starving.

 

[Wyorp Rock]

I hope this doesn't sound bad but that makes me feel better that other hens are like this. Not that I want more birds feeling this way but because it makes me feel like it's possibly nothing serious with her breathing. Of course it could be but I'm going with the pressure on their air sacs. That's been going on for about a year now so I worried about that possibly being a root for the current issue. This is definitely helping to ease some stress.

I didn't realize that adult birds that were of age for their first full molt could end up with a partial molt. This is another thing that helps me to feel better. Now I just need to get busy trying to help my sweet Darla to feel better and eat something. I can't imagine how this must feel. She keeps looking down at her abdomen and I bet she's just so hungry and basically starving.

I'd rather not have to attempt crop surgery but if it's necessary, I'm willing to. I just hate to put her through that if it's unlikely to improve her quality of life for more than a week. That's a pretty huge deal so I really hope it's not necessary. She's just so skinny and getting weak. I'll work on this crop with oil and massage. Any chance that doing the oil and massage more often will harm her?

Crop surgery is a last ditch effort, it's not something I would consider unless there was no other way. Give treatment time to work.

Sadly, crop issues are usually a symptom of something else going on. I may not have conveyed in my post clearly enough, sometimes it could be stress induced panting, but often the difficulty breathing is related to an underlying condition. While I would like to think that all will be well, anytime a bird is having trouble breathing when picked up or from the pressure from being picked up there is cause for concern.
I do treat crop issues, but am always aware that likely there is something else causing the crop to slow.
Hopefully you will be able to resolve the crop problem and she will feel better and continue on for a good while.

Holding her is either stressful, putting pressure on her air sacs or she may have some fluid in the abdomen (could be a combination). If I have a hen that exhibits those symptoms I'm very careful when handling them, I support their abdomen very well and I get them to a table quickly where they can stand on their own while I'm tending to them.

 

[HeatherKellyB]

I am going to give her a 100mg Docusate Sodium now and give oil with crop massage. My daughter and I both have been talking about the possibility of Darla not being well enough to pull through this due to an underlying condition. She's handling it better than I am. She said that she feels like Darla's abdomen is swollen and firm.

 

[Wyorp Rock]

I've had hens live for a good while with reproductive issues. Some not.
I would focus on getting the crop cleared and see how it goes.
I'm sorry you're having a tough time

 

[HeatherKellyB]

Darla isn't very interested in water but my daughter allowed 2 of our cockerels to come in the shop while I was massaging Darla. I had Darla up on the grooming table along with bits of coconut oil and a chick drinker. Whenever they started crowing, she started pecking at the smallest pieces of coconut oil. I was having to open her mouth and drop the bits of oil to the side of her mouth to get it in her. I picked up a new jar of coconut oil and after reading that @azygous uses the unrefined which still has the yummy coconut flavor I thought that'd be far more enjoyable for her. Unfortunately she just feels so bad and is so weak. I'm sure I'll still have to manually open her mouth to get more in her, but it was obvious that she likes it. I felt various sizes of different bits with multiple degrees of firmness in her crop. I was able to easily manipulate the crop contents. This was exciting but in reality Darla has had this breathing thing for about a year. I'm guessing she's been suffering with a reproductive issue for that long. Does this sound reasonable to you or do you feel like I am jumping to a conclusion? I hate seeing her so miserable and I think about euthanasia but I'm so unsure about what's going on and if I'm wrong I don't want to give up on her if there is any hope. I'm going to administer oil and massage again and fix a crop bra for her for now. I know that I've taken up so much of your time but if you don't mind, please share if you think we're probably on track with what we're thinking.

Thank you so much for everything you do. I'm so grateful. If there is ever anything I can do for you, please let me know. There are a few ladies here that I think the world of. I am always in awe of your knowledge, patience and kindness. I can't thank you enough
@Wyorp Rock @azygous