Chicken barely moving and "drooling"

[ENLuby]

I came out this morning to find my 1 year old hen (White Leghorn) hunkered down on her perch and "drooling" (a somewhat opaque liquid was dripping from the tip of her beak). She is very lethargic and seems to be off-balance. She won't eat or drink.

 

[cariboujaguar]

oh my! I don't know a thing but will be anxiously waiting w/ you. I'm so sorry!

 

[tulie13]

Sounds like a sour crop to me - mine is having crop problems, too, and she's off balance and falling down because she is weak from not getting enough nutrition/calories. Plus if there is a fungal problem, there is also the potential that the fermentation might be producing alcohol. I know that can happen in humans, at least... maybe she's DRUNK?!?!

I wonder if that's happening to mine, too - she seems like she's really off-balance. She's been having crop problems for over a week now.

 

[M@M@2four]

sounds like cour crop--look it up on here. It needs to be treated immediately or you will lose her quickly!

 

[ENLuby]

It looks like sour crop occurs when chickens are exposed to grass after not being around it for a while. That is not the case with our chickens...they are let out of the coop every morning and we have been doing this since they were babies. Any other suggestions...she looks terrible.

 

[Glenda L Heywood]

Sour crop can be caused by any thing toxic to chickens
it can be from feed that is spoiled
it can be from botulism
it can be from grass forming a ball in the crop and not able to go thru

also one lady wrote her hen ate a filter tip from the cigarette
of which she had to give it two crop surgery sessions

with that said maybe your hen picked up something when free ranging

so here is the flush if it is grass she may have a wad of grass balled up in the crop that can't go thru the crop hole
you may have to flush her out
CROP FLUSH
first use the flush
1/2 cup of baking soda
1 pint of warm water

Here is what I always did for the crop problem
I took the 1/2 cup of baking soda
and disolved in the pint of warm water and with a
childs ear syringe filled the syringe with the soda water mixture.
Now I held her out from me and slwoly put the syringe to the back of her mouth and squeezed the water solution into the crop.

Then with my fingers came up under the out side of the chest of the bird. Starting below the crop and brought my fingers up so as to expel the impacted sour feed and what ever.

I did this till the water was gone - three times. Then I took and put her in a cage
alone and fasted her from feed for 24 hrs.

Then the next day i mixed the milk and two slices of bread and 1/2 small container of yoguart. and fed her this.

The next morning when I went out to give her the
bread/milk/yoghurt mixture, her crop was completely empty for the first time

So then as I havd put the chicken on a fast
I still feed the bread/milk/yoguart mixture this twice a day for a week
then the bird could be put on crumbles
DO NOT feed it any whole grain for quit a while

Also give the bird
1 tbsp of ACV in pint of water
as the ACV will help the gut restoration for good gut flora

CROP SURGERY???
AT WORST SIDE you may have to do this: A
friend of BYC made this up for impacted crop surrgery
more professional than mine

Items Needed:

Betadine solution
Isopropyl Alcohol
Gauze Pads
Razor blade or Exacto-knife
Tweezers (surgical - if available, find at Vet Supply or Pet)
Hand Towel
Sutures or Heavy weight Thread
Sharpie sewing needle that will accommodate thread
Scissors
Antibiotic ointment
access to warm water, preferably a kitchen sprayer

To perform the surgery, a "surgeon" and "assistant" are needed. The assistant holds the bird, wrapped in a hand towel,from behind being sure to keep the wings secure and unflapping.

1. Approximately 1/3 of the way down the crop, located on the right the breast; push back the feathers and have the assistant hold the feathers away from the site. Place a few drops of betadine solution on a gauze pad and clean the dermis of the crop at the site of the incision.

2. Wipe the area with an alcohol pad. Allow to dry.

3. Holding the skin slightly spread, cut through the outer dermis with the cutting tool. The opening needs to be only 3/4" - 1" in length. (The incision that we made was more horizontal than vertical.) The skin is fairly tough, so you may have to apply several strokes. The tool will pass through the outer dermis and you might encounter adipose (fat) and then flesh before entering the crop.

4. Once the crop has been opened, material may start to be seen through the opening. Place the bird over the sink and massage the crop so that the contents move towards the opening. The surgeon can grab the contents and dispose in the sink. Once the material is removed, rise the site thoroughly with warm water. Additional material may come to the surface, massage the crop to feel if there are any additional contents. (Tweezers may be needed to remove blades of grass or in our case a cigarette filter.)

-Be careful not to tear the skin around the site with the massaging.

5. Rinse the site again. Pat dry with a gauze pad. Take a minimum of a dime size dose of antibiotic ointment and "pack" the site - lightly smearing the cream or ointment into the site.

6. Thread your needle, cutting a 12" section of doubled thread. Knot the end, leaving a 1/2" tail. Place 3-4 stitches through the dermis, catching the lining of the crop. End the stitches with a knot on the opposite end from which you started.

7. Allow the "patient" to recuperate isolated from the flock. Use newspaper for bedding, offer water and withhold grain. Offer plain yogurt 6-8 hours after. Yogurt and mash/grain can be offered on day 2. Water at all times.

8. Keep an eye on the incision, being sure that their is no tearing or redness. The stitches can be removed 7 days after surgery. Apply antibiotic ointment to the site.

We put our girl back with the flock on day 4, watching her closely.

I hope that this helps for future reference.


and the surgery you probably won't need but will include it

 

[ingyann]

I just tried the flush on my hen who has an extremely large (irritated) crop dragging on the ground. I used one pint water and baking soda. Not too much came out and there were very few large pieces...oats from the horse's tack room. I went back to check on her about 2 hours later she is one her side, eyes closed drooling and wheezing and has had diarrhea. What do you recommend I do at this point?

Thank you so much and I do hope to hear from you soon...we are very concerned about her...