Crop empty, chicken can't swallow food

[chickenInTrouble]

My Nancy has been having trouble swallowing for about a week now. I first noticed that she would start to eat less than the other 3 chickens we have so I checked her crop, and at the time, it was full. So I massaged it a couple times a day for 2 days thinking she will be able to start swallowing better. However, it has not helped her swallow better. I started to watch her more closely and noticed that sometimes she would dribble and struggle to eat her pellets, they would just fall out together with her dribble. She has had microplasma problems from birth (the dodgy breeder we got the chickens from didn't tell us about this and so we have been dealing with microplasma for 2 years now. They were in good hands so we didn't mind the potential struggles). So I decided to try antibiotics to clear up her microplasma symptoms. On day 3 I tried to give her wet bread with antibiotics inside which she loves and normally would gobble it up. However, after eating several chunks of the bread she would start frantically sneezing until all the bread she just ate came out. So I looked in her throat (which was smelly) and saw that she has some built up food at the back of her tongue (including some wet bread and not yet digested pellet or two. So I ruled out microplasma. By then her crop was emptying and other than food I could not see any odd objects in her throat (the food was obscuring it). So I think there might be a different problem from a full crop and microplasma. Her crop is completely empty by now and I am not sure which avenue to take. Potentially there is something deeper in her throat but I am not sure how to check. I could also try to make her throw up to maybe dislodge anything in her throat but that could be dangerous if she does have something stuck. I could try and take the food out perhaps but I also don't know how to do it safely. Maybe I could also try to give her oil or yogurt, but her throat seems blocked off too close to the mouth for the oil or yogurt to go down the throat. What should I do? All advice is welcome and thank you in advance!

 

[Kiki]

Welcome to BYC.
I am so sorry you were sold sick birds.


Can you open her mouth and get a picture of it?

The stuff you saw in her throat...is it yellow?

 

[Wyorp Rock]

Hi @chickenInTrouble Welcome To BYC
If you can take some photos of the inside of her beak that would be good.

Is her crop completely empty in the mornings?
It may be food that you are seeing stuck inside the beak or it could be patches/lesions from canker, mycoplasma or some other bacterial/fungal infection.

 

[Eggcessive]

To me, I agree with WR that it might be canker, a protozoan infection that causes foul smelling plaques that block the throat and may potentially block off an airway. Get another pair of hands and a flashlight, and look inside her beak and throat, and take a quick picture.

If you think you are seeing evidence of canker, also called trichmoniasis, then get some metronidazole (called FishZole) and available online, and start treatment. Dosage is 250 mg daily for 5 days. Canker is spread by pigeons. Disinfect your waterers and feeders, and separate your sick bird to help control the disease. Here is some reading about canker:
http://www.poultrydvm.com/condition/canker

Edited to change trichmoniasis from my error

 

[chickenInTrouble]

Thank you all for the replies. I managed to get some help to take a picture of Nancy's throat. Here is a picture of her. We also gave her a bit of water, couple drops of olive oil and a yogurt/pellet smoothie through a pipette to give her a bit more energy. She doesn't seem to be drinking on her own although she bends down to try. So we will keep doing that for her until it's cleared up. From the picture I took, I think it is indeed canker she's got. I live in London, UK so I could not find "FishZole" medicine nor could I find an equivalent which is okay for chickens. I found "Harkers" but this medicine is for pigeons only. I will ask a couple local vets if they have something in stock for chickens. It looks like she will be fine, as long as we keep feeding her through a pipette while we wait for medicine as she has been losing weight. But it's looking up Thank you all for the advice and help. Let me know if you agree with the treatment plan and if it is indeed canker.

 

[chickenInTrouble]

Also we managed to clear up the food blockage by giving her water through a pipette which made Nancy sneeze. After a couple of turns, we could begin to see the real problem underneath the food.

 

[Kiki]

Can you post a picture of what a pippette is?
Are you tubing the stuff into her crop it just the mouth?

 

[chickenInTrouble]

A dropper I think it's called in some places as well. I just loaded the pipette (it can hold 3ml of liquid) and my friend held Nancy's mouth open and I poured it in her mouth towards the throat. Doing it little by little allowed her to swallow some food (yogurt/pellet smoothie). If I gave her too much liquid she would begin to sneeze so just a little at a time worked.

 

[Eggcessive]

Oh my, that does appear to be canker. Those yellow plaques are sometimes seen in other infections (fungal, bacterial, and viral,) but since canker smells rotten, and since there is a lot there, I would say it is canker.
I would contact a vet tomorrow to get some metronidazole or another anti-protozoal medication. I think ronitazole is also one use in pigeons. The Harkers Coxoid is only for coccidiosis, so it won’t work. Here is another article written in the UK that you may want to read:
https://www.bhwt.org.uk/oral-cankers/

 

[chickenInTrouble]

I will visit the vets tomorrow, hopefully they have the medicine in stock. Often chicken medicine needs to be ordered in as our local vets don't normally get chicken patients. I will keep everyone updated. Nancy does not look too bad at the moment, so I am sure now knowing what she is suffering from I can help her get back to normal. Thank you all again for all the advice and quick responses!