Buff Brahma losing weight and crop not emptying

[LeighHo]

We moved from PA to ME in July. We set up the 3 chickens in a building on the property until we got their coop set up. The girls are all just under 3 years old. We moved them to their coop on October 19 and that's when I noticed our Chickira had gotten thin. I assumed it was stress. On 11/10 I picked her up and found her crop to be really full and she was even thinner. We brought her in for quarantine, thinking it was impacted crop. We withheld food for a day and gave her water through a syringe. Her crop started to empty but never did fully. We started her back on chicken food in a mash, made with water and also put some ACV water in addition to plain water in her bin. On 11/12, we took her to the vet. I'm not convinced vet has a lot of experience with chickens. They did x-rays where the vet saw some areas of opacity on the scans. They were sent to a radiologist who said it could be bits of egg shell, cancer, or something else. They found no obstruction in her crop. We started her on antibiotics and an anti inflammatory - she's been on it for about 6 days. Every morning we check her crop and there's been about a golf-ball sized left in there. It's just not emptying. Since she's been on the antibiotics, we started giving her pellet food, mealworms, cooked egg, etc. We've tried crop massage once a day and coconut oil, trying to get her crop to empty. Since yesterday, she's been eating less. Today she wouldn't even finish her cooked egg. We don't know what else to do for her.

 

[Debbie292d]

Hi again! Sorry about your hen. Crop issues can be so frustrating.

They did x-rays where the vet saw some areas of opacity on the scans. They were sent to a radiologist who said it could be bits of egg shell, cancer, or something else.

Where did they see the opacity at? Not her crop, I assume.

Since she's been on antibiotics, I'd get her on probiotics for a couple of weeks. That can be powders for water, yogurt, or crumbles that I know Kalmbach's for one makes.

Has she been laying eggs? If so, when's her last one? What's her poop look like? Crops can sometimes have issues due to a different underlying problem.

Increasingly losing weight can also be indicative of worms. Did they do a float test on her poop to check?

If not, you may want to consider deworming them.

Here is info about deworming from one of our educators, @Wyorp Rock:

To treat most worms that poultry can have except for Tapeworm you can use Safeguard (Fenbendazole) or Valbazen (Albendazole). Both are given orally by weight; they do not mix well with water.​

​

Safeguard 10% Liquid Goat Dewormer or 10% Equine Paste dose is 0.23ml per pound of weight given orally once a day for 5 days in a row.​

---OR---​

Valbazen dose is 0.08ml per pound of weight given orally once, then repeated in 10 days.​

Here are two of the best articles about crop issues. Perhaps reading one or both will give you more ideas or insight into what's going on with her.

https://www.backyardchickens.com/ar...w-to-know-which-one-youre-dealing-with.73607/

https://www.backyardchickens.com/ar...ntion-and-treatments-of-crop-disorders.67194/

Keep us posted how she's doing.

 

[LeighHo]

Hi again! Sorry about your hen. Crop issues can be so frustrating.


Where did they see the opacity at? Not her crop, I assume.

Since she's been on antibiotics, I'd get her on probiotics for a couple of weeks. That can be powders for water, yogurt, or crumbles that I know Kalmbach's for one makes.

Has she been laying eggs? If so, when's her last one? What's her poop look like? Crops can sometimes have issues due to a different underlying problem.

Increasingly losing weight can also be indicative of worms. Did they do a float test on her poop to check?

If not, you may want to consider deworming them.

Here is info about deworming from one of our educators, @Wyorp Rock:

To treat most worms that poultry can have except for Tapeworm you can use Safeguard (Fenbendazole) or Valbazen (Albendazole). Both are given orally by weight; they do not mix well with water.​

​

Safeguard 10% Liquid Goat Dewormer or 10% Equine Paste dose is 0.23ml per pound of weight given orally once a day for 5 days in a row.​

---OR---​

Valbazen dose is 0.08ml per pound of weight given orally once, then repeated in 10 days.​

Here are two of the best articles about crop issues. Perhaps reading one or both will give you more ideas or insight into what's going on with her.

https://www.backyardchickens.com/ar...w-to-know-which-one-youre-dealing-with.73607/

https://www.backyardchickens.com/ar...ntion-and-treatments-of-crop-disorders.67194/

Keep us posted how she's doing.

Thank you! The spots on the x-ray were in her stomach.

We've tried yogurt but she's not interested in eating it. We can try to find a probiotic powder for her water.

Sometimes her poop is normal, sometimes it's watery, and occasionally it's been diarrhea.

They didn't do a fecal test. If she doesn't have worms, will the de-wormer be harmful?

Should we continue to keep her isolated? It's cold here and because she's so thin, we haven't wanted to try putting her outside.

I've read so many articles and feel at a loss. She has symptoms of several different crop issues.

I've thought about doing a yeast treatment from one of the articles in case it's sour crop but am not sure on that either.

 

[Debbie292d]

They didn't do a fecal test. If she doesn't have worms, will the de-wormer be harmful?

No. It won't hurt her or any of them to treat for worms.

I've thought about doing a yeast treatment from one of the articles in case it's sour crop but am not sure on that either.

The probiotics I suggested for post-antibiotic will also help sour crop.

If she doesn't eat, you might have to try hand-feeding her.

If you live by a pet store, there's a baby parrot feed, plus fat, by Kaytee we have.

In a small bowl, mix chick crumbles or all-flock crumbles with a raw egg yolk, some Kaytee powder, a few drops of vitamins, and water. Make balls out of this a little smaller than a marble, but bigger than a pea. Open her beak and put one in. Keep doing that a few times, then offer her water. Give her and you a break, and try give her a few more a bit later.

If you thought putting her outside would make her graze or eat, then I'd try it.