Chicken acting strange for a couple weeks Please Read Updates

[TwoCrows]

Yes, thank you, at first it was just behavior, then it turned into sickness. I had to coerce her into eating about a teaspoon of yogurt by crumbling up a couple dried mealworms on top. but she ate it and seemed to enjoy it! And she finally had the 5th poop since 5pm yesterday too!
Oh gosh, that always makes me nervous haha.

Thank you, I will read it right away! I wonder where this thread was when I was trying to deworm them LOL. Do you guys think it would be wise to go ahead and deworm her after shes a little better but still in my garage? Or should I wait and be sure this is completely gone before I deworm? Thanks!!

EDIT: forgot to mention that the last time I wormed them was last august.

You can mix the yogurt in eggs or what ever she will eat with gusto for now. Since she is pooping, chances are good this is not an impaction somewhere in the tract.

What did you worm with? Since you wormed in August, chances are this is not related to an overload of worms. Have you had a ton of rain over the winter? Coccidiosis which is common when there is a ton of wet weather, can cause blockages or at least slow everything down, Cocci also upsets the balance of good to bad bacteria. So if in a couple of days we don't see much improvement, you might try some Corid in the water. You can get this at Tractor Supply.

 

[chickengirl2016]

You can mix the yogurt in eggs or what ever she will eat with gusto for now. Since she is pooping, chances are good this is not an impaction somewhere in the tract.

What did you worm with? Since you wormed in August, chances are this is not related to an overload of worms. Have you had a ton of rain over the winter? Coccidiosis which is common when there is a ton of wet weather, can cause blockages or at least slow everything down, Cocci also upsets the balance of good to bad bacteria. So if in a couple of days we don't see much improvement, you might try some Corid in the water. You can get this at Tractor Supply.

Will do! I agree and I doubt it is/was an impaction. Her poops have been normal looking (just watery) nothing is coming out undigested. Plus I can feel the bit of grit in her crop now. Should I offer her any extra grit?
I wormed with equine Safeguard as I saw suggested on here. I'm near Kansas City MO, and we usually get a reasonable amount of rain over the fall and winter but we didn't get an unusual amount this winter. If anything it was less than usual.

The big thing that we had changed right before she started acting odd(laying down alot and stopping laying eggs) was we were putting them out on the spring grass everyday all day in our portable hawk run. I read in a article on here that changing their feed (which would have kinda happened since they went from straight layer feed to mostly grass, bugs, dirt and whatever they could find) can cause the sour crop. I will pick up some Corid though just in case!

 

[TwoCrows]

Will do! I agree and I doubt it is/was an impaction. Her poops have been normal looking (just watery) nothing is coming out undigested. Plus I can feel the bit of grit in her crop now. Should I offer her any extra grit?
I wormed with equine Safeguard as I saw suggested on here. I'm near Kansas City MO, and we usually get a reasonable amount of rain over the fall and winter but we didn't get an unusual amount this winter. If anything it was less than usual.

The big thing that we had changed right before she started acting odd(laying down alot and stopping laying eggs) was we were putting them out on the spring grass everyday all day in our portable hawk run. I read in a article on here that changing their feed (which would have kinda happened since they went from straight layer feed to mostly grass, bugs, dirt and whatever they could find) can cause the sour crop. I will pick up some Corid though just in case!

Great on the Safeguard! For now hold off on it, but maybe once you get all this under control, you can reworm them.all. August was a while ago. And definitely keep Corid on hand, Coccidiosis is common all throughout their lives.

Definitely a change of diet of any kind can upset the crop flora, so its possible it was the grass. Maybe even too much grass slowed things down, or even caused the PH of the crop to change.

So for now, keep her caged much of the time but not completely isolated so they still remember her, keep her warm, soft diet including yogurt, ACV if you have any, Monastat, no treats and see if she improves over the next 3 or 4 days. She can go back to her regular routine once she has an empty crop 2 mornings in a row, but keep up with the yogurt for several days after.

Keep us posted tomorrow!

 

[chickengirl2016]

Great on the Safeguard! For now hold off on it, but maybe once you get all this under control, you can reworm them.all. August was a while ago. And definitely keep Corid on hand, Coccidiosis is common all throughout their lives.

Definitely a change of diet of any kind can upset the crop flora, so its possible it was the grass. Maybe even too much grass slowed things down, or even caused the PH of the crop to change.

So for now, keep her caged much of the time but not completely isolated so they still remember her, keep her warm, soft diet including yogurt, ACV if you have any, Monastat, no treats and see if she improves over the next 3 or 4 days. She can go back to her regular routine once she has an empty crop 2 mornings in a row, but keep up with the yogurt for several days after.

Keep us posted tomorrow!

Okay! I will thank you so much for your guys' help!

 

[chickengirl2016]

Okay, here is an update from tonight (this is mainly for my sanity, and perhaps it will help someone else in the future):
She pooped again, less watery this time. Slightly less in the crop, however it is still about half full. Gave her a bit more yogurt, she seems to enjoy it now. She probably ate about 1/2 to 3/4 tsp of that. She also took a few bites of soft boiled egg yolk.
Her tummy started making noise, which I assume is a good thing, meaning she is digesting her food(?) Not sure if its possible to hear the crop drain a bit into the stomach, but I thought I may have? I'm probably just paranoid now, LOL.
When she drank some water after I put her back in her pen, she made some sounds (she is a noisy drinker anyways), kinda like when you drink water too fast and it makes that weird sound going down the back of your throat?
Im pretty sure all of this is normal, but I did read about how they make gurgling sounds when the sour crop is bad, and im just not sure if this is that.
Also, just for good measure, I just weighed her, she currently is 3.95 lbs.

 

[TwoCrows]

Okay, here is an update from tonight (this is mainly for my sanity, and perhaps it will help someone else in the future):
She pooped again, less watery this time. Slightly less in the crop, however it is still about half full. Gave her a bit more yogurt, she seems to enjoy it now. She probably ate about 1/2 to 3/4 tsp of that. She also took a few bites of soft boiled egg yolk.
Her tummy started making noise, which I assume is a good thing, meaning she is digesting her food(?) Not sure if its possible to hear the crop drain a bit into the stomach, but I thought I may have? I'm probably just paranoid now, LOL.
When she drank some water after I put her back in her pen, she made some sounds (she is a noisy drinker anyways), kinda like when you drink water too fast and it makes that weird sound going down the back of your throat?
Im pretty sure all of this is normal, but I did read about how they make gurgling sounds when the sour crop is bad, and im just not sure if this is that.
Also, just for good measure, I just weighed her, she currently is 3.95 lbs.

Yes all this is a good sign! Its normal to have a soft sloppy crop during the day and at roosting time as they have been eating and drinking all day long. And they should go to bed with a full crop. It takes anywhere from 4 to 6 hours for a full crop to empty into the intestines, so you can only truly judge if a crop is working properly first thing in the morning only.

How is she this morning?

 

[chickengirl2016]

Yes all this is a good sign! Its normal to have a soft sloppy crop during the day and at roosting time as they have been eating and drinking all day long. And they should go to bed with a full crop. It takes anywhere from 4 to 6 hours for a full crop to empty into the intestines, so you can only truly judge if a crop is working properly first thing in the morning only.

How is she this morning?

She is doing very good today! Crop was completely empty! She had 3 poops in her crate and one on the floor after eating a bit, all watery and normal! She was a bit off balance at first because she had been laying down and was probably pretty hungry, so that panicked me for a second. She straightened up after a few seconds though! Her comb was cool and a bit purple at the top again, until she got up and around. Is that normal? I am kinda worried her blood circulation is getting cut off some when she lays down?

We gave her medicine, she gobbled most of it right down. She ate a tablespoon of yogurt and a little over a half of a scrambled egg. I will give her the rest in a few hours. Depending on the temperature tonight, I may put her back out with her friends to roost (no food will be available). Should I give her some grit?
She still seems tired, which I bet she is. No puffing up and standing there though, like she was before.
Here in a little bit I will post what todays poops look like.

 

[chickengirl2016]

And, yes, of course it had to happen right beside the crack...

 

[TwoCrows]

Great that the crop was empty! Sounds like you are making progress in one area.

As for the purple comb, yes this is usually a circulation/heart thing, high blood pressure, enlarged heart, some sort of heart failure. First, how old is she? Does she breathe heavier when she sits down? Heavier breathing when seated is a sure sign of enlarged heart. The heart sits directly behind the crop and when they sit their crop gets pushed backwards and puts pressure on the larger heart. And this will have them breathing heavy and the less oxygen will turn the comb purple. Standing relieves the heart and the comb then redden again. Is she wheezing at all? Lung infections infections can have them straining to breathe and turn the comb purple.

Listen over her back where the neck meets the back/shoulders. Beneath this point is the air sacs/lungs. Put your ear right on her back there. In a healthy bird you shouldn't hear anything. A bird with heart disease or heart failure, you can hear the valves and sacs fluttering. Sometimes you can hear clicking at the beak as well.

As for the poop, she may have some wet poop for a few days until the yeast infection clears, keep up with the yogurt for a few days. If she is suffering with an enlarged heart, the larger heart can slow the crop down causing yeast to build. Let me know if she breathes differently when seated or if you hear any fluttering or clicking over her back or at the beak.

 

[TwoCrows]

Liver disease can also cause poor circulation and purple combs.

The liver is located between the legs and forward a bit. Feel her body on the outside to see if the liver is distended. You might need to feel others for comparison.