constipated chicken

[lauraelbert]

My girl is only about 4 months old and constipated (haven't watched enough to know about the others...) - so going to give her a good soak tonight, pry out what I can and try the molasses?
But what causes that - they're on regular crumbles now, occasional ACV dab in the water, with some
niblets corn, noodles, whatever to liven up the diet. What did I do wrong, and am I wrong to try
prying it after a soak? (It's really crusty yellow/white from what I've seen).
Thanks - Laura

 

[Sunny-Side Up]

Is her vent covered in poop?

 

[lauraelbert]

Is her vent covered in poop?

Decided I couldn't wait as I've watched her - she would have a 1/4" sticking out
and when I felt last night (before I got my nerve) felt that it continued in quite
a ways- so did a 'manual' enema tonight. Lots of
really crystalline stuff! I brought her in sleepy (only way to go!) and threw the back
end into warm water and started digging. REALLY crusty, crystalline and pried it off
as far as a half inch inside or so - fingernail and popsicle stick (yuck) - but got her
cleared as far as I cared to dig then threw in 1mL of mineral oil for good measure.
Gave her a shot of molasses/water. Hope I didn't hurt anything, but she couldn't
be any more clogged!
Just wondering what caused it! Hope I did the right thing!!

 

[Wyorp Rock]

Hi @lauraelbert

Do you have any photos?

Giving her a small amount of molasses in the water will hopefully help.

Does she have a source of poultry grit (crushed granite, small pebbles/stones)?

See that she is staying hydrated - drinking well. After the one time of molasses water, offer her some poultry vitamins. Give her wet feed and some soft food like chopped egg.
I feel that constipation for the most part is from not drinking enough and possibly not having a proper source of grit.

You may need to soak her again. Add some epsom salts to the water, hopefully this will get things moving. Be careful if trying to dig out poop that you don't damage the intestines, cloaca and vent. But getting her unclogged was a good idea.

Has she started laying eggs yet?