We noticed a Saturday AM that a three yr old Speckled Sussex looks like a balloon and was moving very slowly. A few hours later she was lying down when the other 9 were not.
I did as much research as I could and decided to give her a bath because her butt was dirty and maybe it was vent gleet. During the bath some small white mites? did come off her onto us. (I don't even want to think about that part yet) There was some yellowish stuff below her vent that could be mites, but could have been poop. During the bath she got some keifer and some shelled sunflower seeds-just to get her to eat yogurt. After the bath I held her in a towel and massaged her crop which was mushy, like a water balloon. I did not induce vomiting. After I brought her inside she pooped a clear liquid with some yellowish stuff in it (I hope this was not a broken egg inside her-but could have been). She also seemed to be straining to poop more.
She stayed inside all night and I gave her some tuna in oil which she ate...I hoped the oil would help if she had an impacted crop. She seemed to love it-and ate a lot of it. We made her drink as much water as we could, both dropping in her beak and also just putting her beak into the water (avoiding the nostrils) which worked better-she drank more that way.
Sunday AM the crop was still a bit mushy but clearly less than than the previous night (maybe 1/8 of previous night). I'm assuming things were moving through her, altho I don't really know what a crop should feel like. She did poop a few times during the night but small amounts, some with the clear liquid in them. No blood or anything alarming.
Sunday PM I decided to put her outside with the rest hoping that moving around would get her to poop again, or otherwise help. At night she went in the coop with the rest of them but did not get up on the roost.
In the AM today she was up and came out but is clearly still bloated and slow. It seems her pecking order is now at the bottom, but she did eat some chicken feed mixed with water after the rest of them left it. She is picking up some things to eat and preening a little, but not really scratching for food. Her butt has poop on it again-which is disturbing. But at least she has pooped.
I'm at a loss. My first guesses were impacted crop (but no smell so I'm not assuming sour crop) and vent gleet (altho again there is no smell) She is so bloated that clearly something is wrong.
They all need a bath because 2 or 3 more have dirty butts, but we have yet to have a sunny day when we are home, so we have been putting that off.
Anyone know what I can try next? What do you suspect is happening? Should she quarantined or better to be outside, moving around and being a chicken?
I will post photos if I can figure out how to do so.
Thanks in advance for any help
I did as much research as I could and decided to give her a bath because her butt was dirty and maybe it was vent gleet. During the bath some small white mites? did come off her onto us. (I don't even want to think about that part yet) There was some yellowish stuff below her vent that could be mites, but could have been poop. During the bath she got some keifer and some shelled sunflower seeds-just to get her to eat yogurt. After the bath I held her in a towel and massaged her crop which was mushy, like a water balloon. I did not induce vomiting. After I brought her inside she pooped a clear liquid with some yellowish stuff in it (I hope this was not a broken egg inside her-but could have been). She also seemed to be straining to poop more.
She stayed inside all night and I gave her some tuna in oil which she ate...I hoped the oil would help if she had an impacted crop. She seemed to love it-and ate a lot of it. We made her drink as much water as we could, both dropping in her beak and also just putting her beak into the water (avoiding the nostrils) which worked better-she drank more that way.
Sunday AM the crop was still a bit mushy but clearly less than than the previous night (maybe 1/8 of previous night). I'm assuming things were moving through her, altho I don't really know what a crop should feel like. She did poop a few times during the night but small amounts, some with the clear liquid in them. No blood or anything alarming.
Sunday PM I decided to put her outside with the rest hoping that moving around would get her to poop again, or otherwise help. At night she went in the coop with the rest of them but did not get up on the roost.
In the AM today she was up and came out but is clearly still bloated and slow. It seems her pecking order is now at the bottom, but she did eat some chicken feed mixed with water after the rest of them left it. She is picking up some things to eat and preening a little, but not really scratching for food. Her butt has poop on it again-which is disturbing. But at least she has pooped.
I'm at a loss. My first guesses were impacted crop (but no smell so I'm not assuming sour crop) and vent gleet (altho again there is no smell) She is so bloated that clearly something is wrong.
They all need a bath because 2 or 3 more have dirty butts, but we have yet to have a sunny day when we are home, so we have been putting that off.
Anyone know what I can try next? What do you suspect is happening? Should she quarantined or better to be outside, moving around and being a chicken?
I will post photos if I can figure out how to do so.
Thanks in advance for any help
