Combination of symptoms: Neck twitching, sour crop and bloody clots in poop

[LollieBubbles]

Hi all, I am very new here and also a newbie in keeping backyard chickens. Sadly, I had a hen that just passed away in the early morning hours but I really want to prevent my flock to go through the same suffering.

First thing I noticed was that she was standing alone, all puffed up. She was however twitching her neck which I thought was odd. Unable to catch her I thought I'd give the entire flock plain yogurt. She still had her appetite. Next morning I noticed she was still on the roosting bar so I picked her up and in doing so she vomited a lot. Her crop was very ' swollen'. I took her in and gave her some garlic water - thinking this was a case of sour crop.
The following day her crop was empty and her appetite was back. I continued to give her a bit of yogurt with a probiotic powder of which she ate a bit. Not soon after that I noticed that she had blood in her poop, chunks of blood. She would not eat or drink after that and I watched her going downhill from here. :'( Needless to say that I felt helpless and absolutely could not bring myself to put her out of her suffering.
Please no judgement. I sat with her all day.

My flock is so loved and I consider them as pets with the benefits of enjoying the eggs. How can I prevent this from every happening again? Could this be sour crop and coccidiosis?

 

[Wyorp Rock]

Welcome To BYC

I'm sorry for your loss.

How old was your hen?
Did she lay eggs, if she did, was she having any reproductive problems - soft shelled egg, hard time laying, etc.?
What do you feed, including treats?

It can be hard to know why she died unless a necropsy is performed.

You do report a few symptoms/clues - it sounds like the crop was not emptying. The crop problem often is a symptom of something else like worms, coccidiosis, infection and/or reproductive disorders.

The blood in the poop - chunks - hard to know what was going on there. Could have been Coccidiosis, Infection, Enteritis, Worms or ???

I'm sorry there's no concrete answers for you. If possible, collect some fresh droppings from your hens and take them to your vet for a fecal float, this will let you know if your flock needs deworming. Sometimes it's hard to find a vet willing to see poultry or do testing, so if that's the case and your hens are older and they have never been dewormed, you can think about whether you just want to go ahead and do that on your own.

Here's some information about treating crop problems.

https://www.backyardchickens.com/ar...w-to-know-which-one-youre-dealing-with.73607/

 

[LollieBubbles]

Thank you for your reply. My hen was one of many rescues so she could have been around 3 years or so. I couldn't tell if she was still laying honestly because I have 20 hens of which now are 9 ISA Brown rescues, Australorps and Rhode Island cross breeds. I feed them a layer mash predominantly and then I spoil them every second day or so with chopped up broccoli/parsley/carrots and they do get treats like dried meal worms, or boiled egg with the crushed shell or sardines in water brine - but only like once a month. I do add to their feed powdered ginger and garlic and sometimes cayenne pepper.
I hope I'm not overfeeding them. The closest vet that have knowledge of poultry is about 45minutes from us.

I have never dewormed but did mix DE into their feed until two months ago. ( In my opinion it causes respiratory issues because since I stopped that they are healthier.)

They were moved into a new coop which has no floor and ventilation on the top a month ago with a huge secure run. I also have a small patch of new turf which from which they peck - wintergreen couch. I plan to lay some Sir Walter too so I can rotate the greens for them.

I have purchased Ivermectin but unsure about the protocol I need to use. Thank you once again for your answer. Much blessings!

 

[Wyorp Rock]

Sounds like they are spoiled

Ivermectin is a good drug for various things, especially for mites, but it's not as effective a poultry dewormer as it once was.

Safeguard (Fenbendazole) or Valbazen (Albendazole) are both very good dewormers that will treat for most worms that poultry can have, except for Tapeworms. For Tapeworms you would use Praziquantel.

You can find Safeguard at stores like TSC. Valbazen would need to be ordered online.