Crop issues

[Pixiejan]

Feeling hopeful. I just got significant movement in her crop. I think I was able to reduce it by almost half! Still have one more dose of the lemon & spices mixture to do later.

 

[Pixiejan]

Well we've definitely hit sour crop again (I had paused the monistat 7 when I started the lemon & spices... trying to reduce her stress with the syringe feeding since she get so worked up).

When I went out around 4pm her crop was very squishy and all the burps I got up were very sour smelling. I did half the lemon & spices and then there was nothing more to break up, so I didn't push on. I think I got a little more shifted though, but not much. She ate a little of the fermented feed, but didn't want egg or yogurt. The tube didn't arrive before her bedtime, but I thought around an hour before bed that usually chickens like snow so I tried that and it worked. So I got some fluids into her, halfway through I tried making snowballs for her and that worked better to not get so much air into her crop. I gave a dose of the monistat 7 cream last and she's in 'bed' for the night.

Didn't love her poops today, but they started increasing in frequency later in the afternoon.

I don't think her crop will be empty tomorrow morning, but it should be a lot smaller as long as the monistat starts kicking in.

Since she doesn't want to eat any of the soft foods, but will eat the fermented food, I might change my plan and just give her 100% fermented food. I'm hoping tomorrow she's feeling a little better and more willing to eat and drink on her own. Her probiotics should arrive early afternoon tomorrow.

 

[Pixiejan]

I think today might be the day we turn the corner!

Saturday I continued with the monistat 7 cream & the lemon and spices (I tried to space them apart). Burps were very sour smelling. There weren't any lumps by the end of the day, it was soft and squishy and I think it was just one big yeast ball. I thought I'd see progress by Sunday morning, but the crop was the same size.

Sunday I'd change tactics a little. I kept going with the monistat but tried syringing in some Pau d'arco tea (1 cc a few times a day) and yogurt. I also changed my 2nd dose of the day to the monistat suppositories from the cream. I read one person say that they found the cream didn't work and my hubby had just picked up the suppositories so I switched a day early and I do think the suppository worked better than the cream (I wonder if for more severe yeast issues it sits in the crop longer than the cream). I also started syringing in some water, I can't tell if she's drinking, but I'm assuming not. I really should tube her, but the tube I bought just looks too big and I don't think I'm ready to add that skill to my list. So I'm trying to go out frequently and get liquid into her. She's still very feisty, but her poops are too watery. She didn't eat as much on Sunday as she had the previous days (and that wasn't much). I also got pretty desperate and tried raw egg to see if she'd eat that and she turned her nose up at it, so I syringed some into her. I also was giving her snow since she'd eat some of that for fluids, I would try and compact it as much as possible so there's less air, but I usually still had to help burp her a little after.

Monday morning (today) her crop felt WAY better. There was still stuff in it, but it felt way less yeasty and more like grain or sand that you can move but not doughy and was able to shift some along before I gave her her morning meds. I let that sit for about an hour and then came out again with food (I tried pretty wet oatmeal with raw egg, so far she's only picked at it) and syringed 1 cc of Pau d'arco tea and some probiotic water. That was about an hour ago and I'm about to head out again and see what fluids I can get into her for 20min and then give her a break, I think I'll try a little more yogurt as well. Her burps yesterday after having the yogurt smelled way better for the rest of the day than Saturday, but today her burps are back to being super sour.

So progress I think, but still lots of work to do. But I'm really hoping that I can get her crop empty or close to empty today.

 

[Laurasb65]

I think today might be the day we turn the corner!

Saturday I continued with the monistat 7 cream & the lemon and spices (I tried to space them apart). Burps were very sour smelling. There weren't any lumps by the end of the day, it was soft and squishy and I think it was just one big yeast ball. I thought I'd see progress by Sunday morning, but the crop was the same size.

Sunday I'd change tactics a little. I kept going with the monistat but tried syringing in some Pau d'arco tea (1 cc a few times a day) and yogurt. I also changed my 2nd dose of the day to the monistat suppositories from the cream. I read one person say that they found the cream didn't work and my hubby had just picked up the suppositories so I switched a day early and I do think the suppository worked better than the cream (I wonder if for more severe yeast issues it sits in the crop longer than the cream). I also started syringing in some water, I can't tell if she's drinking, but I'm assuming not. I really should tube her, but the tube I bought just looks too big and I don't think I'm ready to add that skill to my list. So I'm trying to go out frequently and get liquid into her. She's still very feisty, but her poops are too watery. She didn't eat as much on Sunday as she had the previous days (and that wasn't much). I also got pretty desperate and tried raw egg to see if she'd eat that and she turned her nose up at it, so I syringed some into her. I also was giving her snow since she'd eat some of that for fluids, I would try and compact it as much as possible so there's less air, but I usually still had to help burp her a little after.

Monday morning (today) her crop felt WAY better. There was still stuff in it, but it felt way less yeasty and more like grain or sand that you can move but not doughy and was able to shift some along before I gave her her morning meds. I let that sit for about an hour and then came out again with food (I tried pretty wet oatmeal with raw egg, so far she's only picked at it) and syringed 1 cc of Pau d'arco tea and some probiotic water. That was about an hour ago and I'm about to head out again and see what fluids I can get into her for 20min and then give her a break, I think I'll try a little more yogurt as well. Her burps yesterday after having the yogurt smelled way better for the rest of the day than Saturday, but today her burps are back to being super sour.

So progress I think, but still lots of work to do. But I'm really hoping that I can get her crop empty or close to empty

Sounds like she coming along.

 

[Justagalwithchicks]

Have you tried scrambled eggs? That is always a hit with my hens. I torpedo fed one of my hens who didn't want to eat and that worked well.. Just shape moist food into a small torpedo shape, pull down on her wattles and put in he mouth holding beak closed.

 

[Pixiejan]

Have you tried scrambled eggs? That is always a hit with my hens. I torpedo fed one of my hens who didn't want to eat and that worked well.. Just shape moist food into a small torpedo shape, pull down on her wattles and put in he mouth holding beak closed.

I did try scrambled eggs, and chia seeds, and oatmeal, and yogurt, and even raw egg yesterday etc. The only thing she picks at is the fermented feed. She actually ate quite a bit (compared to the day before and yesterday morning) in the afternoon yesterday and even was eating some eggshell ground up and oyster shell which she hasn't touched in a couple weeks. So I thought we were on the upturn.

The yeast issues were slightly better this morning, but she took a turn for the worse overnight. It was a cold night (-26c), and even though I am heating the room she's in, I think it got a lot colder than it had been in that room before plus the not getting enough food and fluids. So I tubed her (my biggest worry before was her fighting when I was trying to get the tube in and hurting herself) and got 20cc of warm water with 1cc of poultry cell into her. I tried again 1 hr later and got 13cc of water into her. I'm going to give her a bit of a longer break and try again.

I'm kicking myself for not trying to tube fluids into her yesterday.

She's not looking great, but after the last time I put her back in the kennel she stayed on the roosting bar instead of lying down on the floor of the kennel, so I'm hoping that means she's perking up. I'm going to continue to give her water (and a little more poultry cell) until she poops and then I'm thinking I'll try giving some raw egg via the tube. If she keeps perking up, I'll try torpedo feeding some scrambled eggs later today or tomorrow.

I'm definitely going to order a better tube for future (and hopefully it sits in my first aid box never needing to be used), this one is clear and I've been running warm water through it to soften it up before I use it, but by the time I'm done because its so cold today, its stiffer than I'd like at the end. I'm putting it in my shirt to keep it warm until I use it and that's helping keep it softer.

I'm glad I'm learning all these skills, but I wish I didn't need to!

 

[Pixiejan]

I got another 24cc's of fluid into her. She had pooped, so I did 5cc raw scrambled egg, 1cc poultry cell & 18 cc water. She's not looking great though. She does stand up when I come in the room, but she's lying on the floor of the coop instead of on the roost like usual.

Total fluids so far today 57cc. Going to give her a few hours break to rest before doing anymore fluids. I think I'm going to try and heat up that room more though. I wonder if she looks so miserable because she's cold (likely wishful thinking on my part... but it won't hurt to add more heat).

 

[Pixiejan]

So when do you know it's time to euthanize? With my last chicken that I had to euthanize, she had been attacked by a dog and after two months there was very likely an internal infection and she wasn't able to walk (possible vit b deficiency that wasn't improving with supplementing) and when she stopped eating and drinking and started panting, I knew it was past time.

I don't want to give up on Aly too early, but at the same time I don't want her to suffer more than she already has.

I was able to get another 15cc of fluids (water with a little honey & yogurt). So we're up to 72cc for the total of the day. But she seems to be getting worse, rather than better, though she did seem to improve slightly for a little bit... she was steadier on her legs a few hours ago compared to early morning. She's not opening her eyes as much as before, though she moves her head when I talk to her. She was all puffed up before, but I was able to increase the temp of the room a lot and she's not longer puffed up so at least she's no longer as cold. I've put her in a box with some towels to keep her propped up.

After the fluids this morning her crop became very water balloon feeling and it didn't improve after her noon anti fungal meds like I'd hoped.

She's 'pooped' twice today, both times with green watery fluid (before it was clear watery, or slightly yellow with green solids).

 

[Pixiejan]

She didn’t make it, I was holding her went she passed.