Cinnaminute
Songster
Hi, my 7.5 month old Crevecoeur girl (Helga) suddenly came down with a strange problem. She just started showing signs that she might lay soon.
Every morning I interact with all my chickens, one by one and again in the evening. They had been let out into our grassy yard to forage for a few days prior to all this (and they get to several days a week anyway). They do have grit on hand. They are only fed Purina Flock Raiser crumbles. On rare occasion, a treat. She did get a little leftover bread three days in a row that I broke into small pieces and scattered for all 15 chickens to have a go at. She got very little of it, since the cresteds are lower in the pecking order. Maybe 3 or 4 dime sized bits a day.
Symptoms: Saturday morning (Sep. 2) I noticed her crop was full. I feed them before bed and I left more food than usual in the enclosure that night so I assumed maybe she had a meal in the morning before I let them out. However, I was still suspicious. The Crevecoeurs usually never have noticeable crops after eating.
Sunday morning, sure enough her crop was still full after not having access to food for 12 hours. I brought her inside and she was passing these pencil thin poops as well as a lot of water since she's been drinking a ton. She also gobbled down a ton of grit and oyster shell, which made me give her the side-eye considering they have grit available all the time. Perhaps the bigger girls scared her away from it and she wasn't getting enough?
Gave her massages periodically. Gave some scrambled egg with olive oil and hours later she pooped out the olive oil as well as some little gelatinous bits (the egg I assume). I even saw her poop out little bits of oyster shell. So things are definitely moving, albeit very very slowly.
Note: there's straw under the potty pads and she kept digging it out. There wasn't any in her stool.
Monday morning her crop was still full. I did see a small poop with grass bits. Might've been hers but I wasn't sure. I kept her inside, massaged her, gave her egg and olive oil for breakfast. Soon she started panicking a lot so I put her out in the run (it's just sandy dirt) and she went into the nesting boxes. Sure enough, she laid her first egg! Big relief. She's not egg bound. I left her outside so she could be with her flock and dust bathe. I even let her out into the sandy yard (the access to plants and such is very minimal - mostly a lot of dead leaves, pine needles, etc).
Helga laid her first egg, so all seems good there:
Tuesday morning she seemed to be doing better. Her crop was only about the size of a golf ball. I gave her the egg and olive oil, massaged her, and let her out into the run again before letting her out once more into the sandy yard.
This morning, she's back to square one. Crop is huge and ballooned. I'm worrying she might end up with sour crop at this point. I've begun to offer ACV in the water for now but I do have Medistat on hand if needed. However, I'm worried that she's got a blockage lower down. She drinks a ton and is still eating so she has an appetite. Her behavior is normal and she's as talkative and spunky as ever.
All day today, her poops have been just like this:
I'm just grateful she is passing stuff. She is eating her feed and of course, drinking a ton.
I'm about to try a warm Epsom salt bath for her. I feel at a bit of a loss. Trying to massage where her intestines are. Is there anything else I might be able to do for her? I've had to deal with my own intestinal issues and my ferret Gumby had a really bad blockage this year. So I'm going to hope warmth would be just as helpful for Helga's intestines as it is for my ferret and me but I'm not sure. Any advice? I might go get a stool softener that I read about but I can't seem to understand how much to give her. Thanks so much for any help! I sure hope this isn't something reproductive. The timing is very suspicious.
Every morning I interact with all my chickens, one by one and again in the evening. They had been let out into our grassy yard to forage for a few days prior to all this (and they get to several days a week anyway). They do have grit on hand. They are only fed Purina Flock Raiser crumbles. On rare occasion, a treat. She did get a little leftover bread three days in a row that I broke into small pieces and scattered for all 15 chickens to have a go at. She got very little of it, since the cresteds are lower in the pecking order. Maybe 3 or 4 dime sized bits a day.
Symptoms: Saturday morning (Sep. 2) I noticed her crop was full. I feed them before bed and I left more food than usual in the enclosure that night so I assumed maybe she had a meal in the morning before I let them out. However, I was still suspicious. The Crevecoeurs usually never have noticeable crops after eating.
Sunday morning, sure enough her crop was still full after not having access to food for 12 hours. I brought her inside and she was passing these pencil thin poops as well as a lot of water since she's been drinking a ton. She also gobbled down a ton of grit and oyster shell, which made me give her the side-eye considering they have grit available all the time. Perhaps the bigger girls scared her away from it and she wasn't getting enough?
Gave her massages periodically. Gave some scrambled egg with olive oil and hours later she pooped out the olive oil as well as some little gelatinous bits (the egg I assume). I even saw her poop out little bits of oyster shell. So things are definitely moving, albeit very very slowly.
Note: there's straw under the potty pads and she kept digging it out. There wasn't any in her stool.
Monday morning her crop was still full. I did see a small poop with grass bits. Might've been hers but I wasn't sure. I kept her inside, massaged her, gave her egg and olive oil for breakfast. Soon she started panicking a lot so I put her out in the run (it's just sandy dirt) and she went into the nesting boxes. Sure enough, she laid her first egg! Big relief. She's not egg bound. I left her outside so she could be with her flock and dust bathe. I even let her out into the sandy yard (the access to plants and such is very minimal - mostly a lot of dead leaves, pine needles, etc).
Helga laid her first egg, so all seems good there:
Tuesday morning she seemed to be doing better. Her crop was only about the size of a golf ball. I gave her the egg and olive oil, massaged her, and let her out into the run again before letting her out once more into the sandy yard.
This morning, she's back to square one. Crop is huge and ballooned. I'm worrying she might end up with sour crop at this point. I've begun to offer ACV in the water for now but I do have Medistat on hand if needed. However, I'm worried that she's got a blockage lower down. She drinks a ton and is still eating so she has an appetite. Her behavior is normal and she's as talkative and spunky as ever.
All day today, her poops have been just like this:
I'm just grateful she is passing stuff. She is eating her feed and of course, drinking a ton.
I'm about to try a warm Epsom salt bath for her. I feel at a bit of a loss. Trying to massage where her intestines are. Is there anything else I might be able to do for her? I've had to deal with my own intestinal issues and my ferret Gumby had a really bad blockage this year. So I'm going to hope warmth would be just as helpful for Helga's intestines as it is for my ferret and me but I'm not sure. Any advice? I might go get a stool softener that I read about but I can't seem to understand how much to give her. Thanks so much for any help! I sure hope this isn't something reproductive. The timing is very suspicious.
