Buttercup has a problem

[SonoranChick]

It may be that she has an impacted crop. I would try gently but firmly massaging her crop. If she is impacted she will probably enjoy it or at least tolerate it. The crop is a pouch where food that has been eaten through the day is stored to be slowly released into the digestive system at night whilst the chicken is sleeping. The outlet can get clogged or silted up with fibrous material or a large object (some chickens will catch and eat a whole mouse) That can plug the system up preventing any food and sometimes water getting through effectively starving and or dehydrating the chicken which then becomes week but is sometimes also ravenously hungry, eating more which makes the crop more impacted. Eventually, if the blockage is not cleared they will die. Isolating and preventing access to straw, hay, grass and shavings and giving only very sloppy watery feed perhaps with a bit of olive oil to help lubricate things and then gentle massage from the bottom of the crop upwards several times a day for 5-10 mins.... chickens make surprisingly good stress balls . If you are not making any progress after a few days it's time to try something else.

I must confess I had the thought about Marek's too just because she appears twisted. The vaccine doesn't always prevent Marek's but lets not get into that right now and just hope it is an impaction that you can clear.
If you fail to shift it with massage after several days, some people have had success with using Dulcolax and the final options would be vomiting by holding the bird almost upside down and massaging the crop to try to get the bird to regurgitate the blockage or crop surgery, which I have done twice and is not as complicated as you might expect. It involves cutting a small incision through the skin and into the crop, teasing out the fibrous material, flushing with saline solution once you have it empty and then sticking it back together with super glue. I appreciate it is not something everyone can manage to do though, but a veterinary should be able to do it if you cannot. There are You Tube video tutorials on it if you are interested.

Good luck fixing her.

Regards

Barbara

Agreed.

 

[Janj76]

Agreed.

Okay...I watched several videos and read several articles and got all of my stuff together this morning to treat Queen B with. I set up a dog crate and went out to get her. Lo and behold her crop was not extended. Not even full really. I was massaging the area and she spit up some liquid. It did not smell so no sour crop or impacted crop. Her neck bone feels like it is an S shape. It's all crooked. From what I've read it isn't wry neck because she is upright and eats and drinks. So will she just be this way from now on?

 

[Janj76]

I brought QB in and gave her some vitamins and electrolytes. I have her in a dog kennel inside. I put some mashed up boiled egg in with her. I want to see what her poop looks like. And it's SO hot in Alabama this week that I wanted her in a cool environment. I plan on putting her in the coop tonight at bedtime. Any other suggestions??

 

[SonoranChick]

Hmmm...I'm not sure what it could be. Good idea to give her some TLC. If she's still eating, drinking and pooping that is a good sign!

 

[Janj76]

Hmmm...I'm not sure what it could be. Good idea to give her some TLC. If she's still eating, drinking and pooping that is a good sign!

QB ate and pooped while in the crate today. I guess we will never know what her problem is. I put her back outside tonight.

 

[SonoranChick]

Best of luck to Queen B! You may want to repost again at a later date if she doesn't improve, although it sounds like her internal organs are okay if she's eating and pooping like normal. Maybe she will just be a special lop-sided gal

 

[rebrascora]

Pleased to read that she is looking better but unfortunately that twisted neck brings me back to thinking it is Marek's again. Hope I am wrong. Since she has been vaccinated, that may protect her from it becoming fatal and I've had birds with it that were quite severely affected for a few days and then suddenly be fine again like nothing had happened, so she may just suddenly come right. Keeping her stress free (heat can cause stress... but so can isolation) with good nutrition and vitamin supplements can help if it is Marek's.
Keeping fingers crossed for her. Please keep us posted.

 

[Janj76]

Pleased to read that she is looking better but unfortunately that twisted neck brings me back to thinking it is Marek's again. Hope I am wrong. Since she has been vaccinated, that may protect her from it becoming fatal and I've had birds with it that were quite severely affected for a few days and then suddenly be fine again like nothing had happened, so she may just suddenly come right. Keeping her stress free (heat can cause stress... but so can isolation) with good nutrition and vitamin supplements can help if it is Marek's.
Keeping fingers crossed for her. Please keep us posted.

QB has been like this for a couple of weeks now. She runs to the feeder when I let them out in the mornings and still coos at me. I have been putting electrolytes & vitamins in their water since receiving them at 3 days old from McMurray. I was putting ACV in too put read where it isn't wise to do in the heat of summer.
If she had head trauma could that cause this? I will keep you posted. She is one of my prettiest hens and I only have the one Buttercup. She is much smaller than the rest of the hens. Is that the breed or is she just stunted?

 

[rebrascora]

Marek's birds are usually undersized but it depends what you are comparing her too. From the quick research I have done, Buttercups are around the same size or slightly bigger than leghorns, so if you are comparing her to an australorp or RIR she is going to look small but should not be half their size. How does her keel bone feel? Is she reasonably well covered or does it feel sharp under the skin with very little breast meat on her?
It might be worth giving her extra quality treats every day.... scrambled egg or a bit of cat food or some liver.... things that will build her up a bit.

I've also had birds that were severely disabled with Marek's that took months to make progress and eventually got back to free ranging with the flock.... and others that deteriorated quite rapidly. There are no hard and fast rules with it. As long as they are interested in food and eating well, there is hope. Once they refuse to eat and drink, I now euthanize because they go downhill very quickly after that.

I really just mentioned the recovery after a few days to give you hope that even if it is Marek's, it isn't always a death sentence. Miraculous recoveries from paralysis do occur with it, even though they are always carriers.