Chicken won't stand, eat, drink... what's wrong?

[Niki716]

I have one banty hen that was mixed in to the 18 chicks I got at Tractor Supply this spring. She's tiny and sweet, about 4 months old. This morning I found her fluffed up on the floor of the coop, her butt covered with poop (not green, bloody, or watery... just poop) I brought her inside, cleaned her up and have her in a basket with a hot water bottle because she seems cold. I dripped some water with Epson salts into her beak. She's sleeping, wakes up if I touch her or fiddle with her basket, but won't move. If I put her on the floor she just sort of collapses, doesn't even try to move. Her breathing is fine, no coughing or discharge from eyes or nose, no obvious signs of injury or wounds, but she's basically unresponsive. Doesn't care about food or water, the only struggling I get out of her is when I'm trying to open her beak. Thoughts?

 

[Niki716]

In addition, her crop seems very full. Soft and squishy, like a water balloon.

 

[realsis]

do you think she might be crop bound? or possibly sour crop ? is her crop draining at all during the night? often sour crop is described as feeling like a water balloon.

 

[Niki716]

That's kind of what I'm thinking. She was fine yesterday, so I'm not sure if this is an ongoing problem. Nothing I've seen has a chicken with sour crop showing these other symptoms, though. I just gave her some olive oil.

 

[Niki716]

So after two days in the chicken infirmary, the little banty is eating and drinking and standing on her own, even chirping when I come to the cage. I need to give her a bath, I suppose, or trim the mess off her hiney, but I'm pretty sure she's on the road to recovery. Must have been a crop issue. I dropper-fed olive oil, water with ACV, plain yogurt, and a little Monistat cream the first day. Yesterday she was standing up on her own again and willing to eat and drink on her own, so I added cooked mashed pumpkin. This morning she got a scrambled egg mixed with yogurt, but she's not really interested in it. May try more pumpkin. She'll probably go back with the rest of the flock tomorrow as long as her improvement continues.

 

[Niki716]

Spoke too soon. She was fine this morning, came home this evening to find her dead in the chicken infirmary. No apparent cause, as she seemed to be all better. I was ready to put her back in with the flock tonight.

 

[wantbantams]

I am so so sorry