Glad she's improving a little.
Keep working on the crop, hopefully it will start to improve as well.
Ok, just wanted to update about Opal and her treatment.
A bit more backstory: I found her lethargic in the coop with her sisters. These girls are crazy and full of energy so when she only came up, looked at me, and when back to a corner and stayed there, I knew something was wrong. Thankfully I'm someone who physically handles all my birds daily to check their health out.
I brought her inside to quarantine and try to figure out what was wrong and treat. Her crop was enlarged and soft/watery. She gobbled up food once when I offered it, but after that first time she would only nibble slightly. Then she would only focus on drinking so much water until it spilled out when she bent over to drink more. She wanted to eat, but would only actually nibble, and often water got spit up into her food.
I looked up and figured she had the beginnings of sour crop and did my research. Got Corid and started treating. I asked here what extra I should do, that's when I made the thread.
During/After making this thread:
During that time her crop would not go down, even with half an hour messages. (She wasn't a fan either) And her poops became mostly watery/ diarrhea. She was not improving and only getting more lethargic and not eating, and even began barely drinking. I got the ok to give both medicines together and so I started her doses of lotrimin.
My dad would hold her while I put the cream in her mouth. (Wow for a sick bird she can clamp her mouth shut like a clam!)
I finally came to the realization that I likely needed to take her to a vet. Being so stressed and worried for her I didn't take notice that I was on a Friday evening. And when I located an avian vet that also specializes in some livestock, they had already closed and wouldn't be opened except part of Saturday. Oh I felt sick, feeling like I made the mistake of trying to treat her myself instead of immediately taking her to a vet. What if they were fully booked for the shorter Saturday hours? Could she make it to Monday? Could she even survive the night? I really doubted. I put feed in a lot of water, mixed well and used a syringe to feed her at least something and keep her hydrated. But it wasn't a lot. She was weak and didn't like it either. Her crop was big, not going down even with long messages through the days.
I had hope the first 2/3 days of her sickness, but that 3rd/4th day I was preparing myself to lose her. I know these things happen, it's inevitable. It's life and nature. But I was determined to do my best to fix my girl.
I looked over the articles on here again to see if there was anything else I could do, anything I missed. That's when I read about forcing a chicken to throw up if the crop doesn't go down because that can make them toxic and die. I also read it can be very dangerous as they can aspirate. But her crop refused to go down, the vet was closed, she was suffering and I had to do something before making the possible decision to humanly euthanize her.
I looked up videos about emptying crops, and listened to their rules to make aspiration less of a possibility.
I took my poor baby outside to the chicken coop dumpster, got a good grip around her body flipped her upside down (tail straight up, head straight down) and massaged her crop. (Being careful to follow the 2 second per vomit and give a rest rule) Nearly everything came out by the time she started fighting me about it. She even shook her head, got vomit all over herself and me, leaped out of my arms and walked away not happy what I had done. But that was more sass and movement than I had seen her do in days.
After cleaning us up, I gave her an extra good dose of lotrimin as it could now more effectively reach all her crop (and because she threw up the last dose).
Apparently getting the heavy, uncomfortable weight off her chest helped a bit. She ate mash and drank water. Then proceeded to spend the next 2 days being picky "oh I want mash. Oh it's wet, ew get it away from me. Oh it's too dry." BUT she was eating. Finally she started happily eating just the dry feed. She was not a fan of eggs or yogurt.
I let her wander outside (in view of, but not with her sisters) she was so happy, ate some grass, sunbathed, and even caught a big cricket.
I gave her amprolium as packaging describes and in correct dosage. And gave her lotrimin f
Tor a week. But after making her throw up she rapidly improved from that moment on. Ended up not going to the vet as her crop never enlarged again, and after eating enough food her poops eventually became fully normal!
We also found out she loves blueberries when my mom was making breakfast one time and now that's one of Opal's favorite treats.
She lost a lot of weight, I was so afraid I would pick her up and break her, I felt so many bones.
But I'm now informing everyone, OPAL HAS MADE A FULL RECOVERY!!! And even though she's still thin, her weight is coming back!
She is successfully reintroduced with her sisters whom she really missed and her crop works normally and her poops are normal.
Thank you so much for everyone's help and knowledge, we could not have done this without the BYC flock! Opal thanks you all very much!
