Choking chicken what did I do wrong

[Boergoatlover]

I’m sorry in advance for my over emotional post I’m absolutely distraught I think my beautiful ex battery hen died today because of me

yesterday I noticed she was puffed up and quiet, her breathing was laboured and I could hear gurgling. Her crop was rock solid, I therefore isolated her with no food jr water and syringed 0.2ml of olive oil into the side of her beak to ensure she didn’t choke. I then massaged the crop in a downwards motion and did this hourly.

this morning the crop was not hard but instead squishy and gigantic, she had that sour smell from her mouth. I isolated again with access to water with a tiny bit of apple cider vinegar she didn’t touch this. I again massaged the crop in a circular motion and I gave her a small amount of dakol oral gel which I put on the tip of her beak.

a few hours later the crop had doubled in size again when I went to massage it again she started to “vomit” I tipped her slightly forward for a few seconds as I know they can choke and also can choke if held down for too long. I didn’t intend to make her vomit. When things came up they were massive thick chunks of corn and pellets with not much liquid in them. This blocked her mouth and airway she started to go blue and floppy with her eyes rolling in her head. I lay her down and pulled out everything I could I then syringed down incase anything was stuck and I then gently tipped her incase things were stuck. Nothing came out and she started to get her colour back. After a few minutes she started wiggling so I put her down and she walked back into her pen.

I put her into her bed and did hourly checks she wasn’t eating but she was alert lying in her bed. My third check she had fallen on her side i took her out and she started to gently shake then she started to fit with her eyes rolling in her head she fitted for about 2 minutes and she died. Nothing was coming out of her mouth.

im certain that she must have choked and this is why she died. I can’t forgive myself for massaging her crop and wish I hadn’t even touched it. I know making a chicken vomit is incredibly dangerous and can cause asphyxiation. I was not trying to make her vomit but just get things moving as her crop just got bigger and bigger.

did I do the wrong thing ? Should I have left her alone and not touched her crop? Why did she die so many hours after being sick. I’ve been searching and I haven’t seen one person have a bird who brings up near enough totally solid food why was this? I just feel so awful I’m scared I’m such an incompetent chicken owner that when any of my other girls get sick I won’t know what to do

 

[Oncoming Storm]

I’m not very experienced with choking but it doesn’t sound like the actual moment of death was choking. That sounds like what happened to one of my chickens when her heart failed. You did what you thought would help. You had no way of knowing what would happen. Maybe her crop was impacted? Again not familiar with that. Do you feed them whole corn or cracked corn?

 

[Wyorp Rock]

I’m sorry in advance for my over emotional post I’m absolutely distraught I think my beautiful ex battery hen died today because of me

yesterday I noticed she was puffed up and quiet, her breathing was laboured and I could hear gurgling. Her crop was rock solid, I therefore isolated her with no food jr water and syringed 0.2ml of olive oil into the side of her beak to ensure she didn’t choke. I then massaged the crop in a downwards motion and did this hourly.

this morning the crop was not hard but instead squishy and gigantic, she had that sour smell from her mouth. I isolated again with access to water with a tiny bit of apple cider vinegar she didn’t touch this. I again massaged the crop in a circular motion and I gave her a small amount of dakol oral gel which I put on the tip of her beak.

a few hours later the crop had doubled in size again when I went to massage it again she started to “vomit” I tipped her slightly forward for a few seconds as I know they can choke and also can choke if held down for too long. I didn’t intend to make her vomit. When things came up they were massive thick chunks of corn and pellets with not much liquid in them. This blocked her mouth and airway she started to go blue and floppy with her eyes rolling in her head. I lay her down and pulled out everything I could I then syringed down incase anything was stuck and I then gently tipped her incase things were stuck. Nothing came out and she started to get her colour back. After a few minutes she started wiggling so I put her down and she walked back into her pen.

I put her into her bed and did hourly checks she wasn’t eating but she was alert lying in her bed. My third check she had fallen on her side i took her out and she started to gently shake then she started to fit with her eyes rolling in her head she fitted for about 2 minutes and she died. Nothing was coming out of her mouth.

im certain that she must have choked and this is why she died. I can’t forgive myself for massaging her crop and wish I hadn’t even touched it. I know making a chicken vomit is incredibly dangerous and can cause asphyxiation. I was not trying to make her vomit but just get things moving as her crop just got bigger and bigger.

did I do the wrong thing ? Should I have left her alone and not touched her crop? Why did she die so many hours after being sick. I’ve been searching and I haven’t seen one person have a bird who brings up near enough totally solid food why was this? I just feel so awful I’m scared I’m such an incompetent chicken owner that when any of my other girls get sick I won’t know what to do

I'm very sorry for your loss.

It sounds like your hen was very sick.
I'm so, so sorry you experience this, but unless you investigate further, it's speculation on our part.
But...with her being an Ex Batt I would suspect that she had much more going on besides a crop issue. Often a crop issue is a symptom of an underlying condition like a reproductive disorder (which is common in production birds). With her crop filling back up even without you providing food, this tells us she likely had a blockage somewhere or that she had inflammation in the body that was restricting the digestive system.

You did nothing wrong. I'm saying this as gently as I can here, I know it's distressing, but from your description it sounds like she was in bad shape and in state of decline - very likely she would have passed on regardless of what you did. Just from inflammation and the weight of her body could easily press the contents of the crop out and cause her to choke.

Please don't beat yourself up over this. I will suggest this - it's not for everyone...If you are up to it, perform a home necropsy. This may actually help give you closure. Look in her abdomen, her organs and reproductive system. Sometimes you can tell a lot by doing this at home. I understand if it's not something you wish to do as well.