Chicken isn’t digesting things

[Eddie12109]

Well a new poop, it’s somewhat normal color now but still looks pretty bad.

 

[speckledhen]

You're already getting good advice, but just know that when chickens are at the end of their lives, often the crop begins to malfunction. I have no idea why it is, not trying to be doom and gloom here, but your girl is very old now. Things don't always work as well as they used to work, especially with certain ones that have had a lot of issues in the past anyway.

 

[Eddie12109]

I’ve been trying to prepare myself so thank you.

I am still going to do all I can. I have a vet appt on Monday but it’s with a bad vet. I am going to cancel it unless Eddie won’t make it until the next day. Tuesday i have a vet appt with the great vet who will hopefully help.

I am going to give her the cephalexin in a few minutes. Should I do the molasses flush again tomorrow? What about dulcolax? Or fiber?

 

[Eddie12109]

^ oh and should I give the cephalexin in the capsule or should I get it out of the capsule? Like what if it prohibits absorption of it?

 

[azygous]

The gel around the ceph will dissolve quickly as soon as it hits the fluids in her crop. No need to take it out of the capsule.

It won't hurt to try the flush again. Hopefully it will do some good.

 

[Eddie12109]

What about reglan? A friend in California’s chickens crop wouldn’t empty for a few days and her vet prescribed reglan and it fixed it within hours. Is there anything similar to reglan?

 

[speckledhen]

I'm not sure why you're giving her an antibiotic (cephalexin) to be honest. Crop issues generally end up fungal and antibiotics are contraindicated in such things. Antibiotics should almost never be given to chickens anyway, in my opinion. If a crop is impacted, I generally give a stool softener without a stimulant, maybe some lemon juice and a pinch of baking soda in water to try and break it up. The most important thing is to get enough fluids into her and gently massage and push the contents back toward the hole at the back of the crop where it empties. I've never given Reglan to a chicken, not sure why the vet prescribed it, but they do some things that make no sense to me. You've already done a molasses flush. You know what I've said in the past about doing too much and I understand the inclination to do something to remedy the situation, but it may not be helping to keep giving medications.
I found this online years ago and have used it in hard cases of impaction-my Brahmas were prone to crop issues-and it seemed to work, but you have to be careful not to choke them with it, just squirt into the beak so they'll swallow, not jam it down their throat. They don't like the lemon, but it seemed to help. I can't swear to why the certain spices and I didn't always use them all in the mixture. Mind you, this is for impacted crop, not sour crop, though impacted crops which are not fixed quickly become soured.

 

[azygous]

The hen is being treated for an infected keel bone, caused by chronic breast blisters.

 

[coach723]

Found this on Reglan (metoclopramide), I've never used it, and I wouldn't unless under direct care from a vet, don't think you could find anything similar without RX :
http://www.poultrydvm.com/drugs/metoclopramide
I have also used the mix that @speckledhen listed, it has been very helpful in some cases.
I don't know why it works, but sometimes it does.
Also found the comments on brahma's and crops interesting as I've had a few with crop issues also, never considered that the breed could be part of the issue. I've only got one full brahma left, a few of her offspring that are mixes, so haven't had issues in a while. But interesting!
If you do see the vet, let us know what they say.

 

[Eddie12109]

Thanks for the input!

I completely forgot about that mix, I found it on YouTube and used it for a few hens in the past and it did work. I gave Eddie a molasses flush today and will give her a break from it. Her poops are sometimes normal but even when they are disgusting, they are mainly brown now, not the green/teal/yellow color.

She didn’t sleep as much and is eating and drinking fine. Her crop is still bothering her, it seems to be emptying more now but when I massage it she does the neck movement.

Thank you for the link @coach723 !

It will be interesting what the vets say but I am very hopeful we may not need to go. She seems to be improving a little and still has a ton of life in her. Thank you for all the help, should I give that mix of spices tomorrow if her crop is still causing her trouble?