crop concern 12 week speckled sussex

[nickie]

12 week old speckled sussex, very active forager, almost never visits the feed hopper. She mostly picks and scratches in the run so I started throwing crumbled and grit around for her to give her a bit of nutrition. Had an issue with my birds seeming "down" with a few other symptoms over the weekend so I wormed them with safeguard and everyone is back to what they really should be except she still seems a shade off. I don't know, not having previous experience with chickens before, but her face seems pale to me and she feels thinner than the other girls. Combs and waddles are pink, face and behind her eat are white. Her crop was easily felt and visible this morning and she has had soft green poops with water for a few days. My natural instinct this morning was to pick her up and feel her crop, lightly massaging it in a cross friction method (I'm a massage therapist) working from top to bottom. It wasn't hard, mostly like firm playdoh with small bits in it. I have done this twice now. Just checking on her she seems to be ballooning now. It is puffed up and feels airy. What do I do now? Should I have left her be or dis she need early intervention before something extreme went wrong. A full crop first thing in the morning isn't right, so I jumped in, but... Her crop feels wrong still.

Ideas?

 

[jenni22776rn]

I lost a Silkie to a sour crop..so it is good you are keeping a close eye on it. There are alot of post on here regarding impacted crops and I found them to be so helpful after my other Silkie Roo got impacted crop...I gave him some mineral oil apprx 1 tsp..twice daily as well as massage of his crop that at times produced a burp I took him off solid food for 48 hours as advised from another member and provided water with electrolyte's as well as yogurt. I also heard to give them bread soaked in veg oil although I never tried this.
I did this for a couple of days and his crop got smaller and 3 weeks later he is doing great!! I would do a search of the post and you will get so much informaiton that will help you! Best of luck!

 

[nickie]

I did some searching, but I was looking for a quick answer about it for a quick resolution. Isolation for monitoring will happen after naptime when I can lug the giant dog crate out back and make all the noise I need to make. That sucker is heavy!

 

[nickie]

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An example of her loose watery green poo.

 

[nickie]

She is isolated with grit, icv water (strong) and crumbled floating in oil. What next?

 

[tclegg]

It is not going to be a quick fix--sounds like may be sour crop...bread with olive oil...water with Sav A Chick..plain sugar free yogart.. Keep up the good work..

 

[nickie]

If it is sour crop I know its not a quick fix, but I'm looking for suggestions on how to speed up the process in hopes I saw it early.