crop not squishy, not hard, smells like garlic?

[LizaBlue]

Been treating this hen on and off for over a month now with no real results. Her only real symptoms are frequent gawping, occasional sneezing, and her crop never seems completely empty. Although she is the largest breed hen we own - the only Dark Brahma in a sea of Australorps and Barred Rocks - she's always been low on the totem pole, so naturally hangs back, doesn't fight for food, etc. I honestly can't say if she's ever laid an egg even though she's just over a year old, but I do know the 2 weeks I kept her in isolation, she did not. I listened to her body, and there are no odd noises either from lungs or crop. She doesn't seem to have any drainage from nostrils or eyes, nor is her face puffy. I've massaged her crop, it feels just like any other: loose enough to do its job, obviously containing some grit and corn. I went ahead and tried hanging her upside down, just to see if anything would drain out, but nothing did. Her breath isn't sour, but very much like wild onion/garlic. I don't remember it smelling this way until she was in isolation. She also does not appear egg bound, or appear to be in distress in any way. She seems a little slower, disinterested maybe, sometimes losing balance but not often - like she just wasn't paying attention, not like neurological. Her vision seems fine, though, to pick corn out of a mix of feed and mixed scratch in my hand. In isolation, she barely drank or ate, even though she was given hard boiled egg and meal worms, yet her crop never emptied that I saw. She barely pooped, and the first few were tiny, grass green. Our chickens have 24 hour access to feed and water, daylight access to free range (their preferred feed), and a little over a cup of scratch/corn between 13 hens, once or twice a day. I admit, I haven't medicated her yet, except for some Vicks to see if she was congested, simply because I didn't know what to try and hate using drugs when I don't have to.

 

[LizaBlue]

Update: Even though her crop didn't feel completely hard, I read some stuff on here and decided to treat her with some Colace, 100mg. I gave her one whole pill and snipped the other open before giving it, then mixed some vitamins and electrolytes in some water and forced it down her, then spent about 15 minutes massaging her crop. I massaged deeper than I had before, and did find a hard spot which I broke up. Pretty soon after the meds and water, her breath smelled better, which seems odd. She started belching and gurgling, and spewed water once or twice, but never threw up much else. Eventually her crop started feeling squishy instead of normal, and the gurgling sounded like my tummy when I need the bathroom, so I put her in the isolation hutch for the night. A few minutes later, I came back to put some water in there for her, and the whole garage stank like baby diapers: she hadn't pooped much, but dang, it stank to high heaven, and it was mostly liquid. There's only chick grit and crumbles in there for her to eat, so she should be okay. Plan to put her back with others tomorrow if she seems clear.

 

[LizaBlue]

More News: well, her crop still didn't seem empty enough this evening, so I gave her one colace and forced about a tablespoon of olive oil down her and massaged until I couldn't feel her crop. I think she hasn't been able to absorb enough nutrients from her food, with whatever's going on, because she's starting to show signs of wry neck, so I gave her some Rooster Booster and will get some vitamin E tomorrow. Petted on her for about 20 minutes as she was sleeping, then checked her crop again. I could feel it again, so I guess when I massaged it until I couldn't feel it anymore, I'd just moved stuff around. It didn't feel very full, so I put her out to the hutch, and on the way she pooped all over me. Joy. Her last poop had seed in it, this was liquid and lumps. I think it's an improvement.

I'm not getting any responses here, but I'm going to keep posting, just in case someone else has this problem, or if someone can finally help me.

 

[SunnysideSam]

Hi LizaBlue. I am having the same problem with my Australorp. Her crop has be noticeably full for a month or so. She is also bald there too. I have only tried massage and olive oil syringed into her mouth. She seems happy enough although today she started to move her head and gulp a lot. I have isolated her too and will just give her water for 2 days...maybe a few cooked veggies because I feel sorry for her! I wanted to make her vomit but was worried I would hurt her. Do you just massage the food in the crop upwards? Is it a 2 man job. Good luck with your chicken, I will keep a look out for your posts.
Sam

 

[SunnysideSam]

I have just read that nystatin an anti fungal treatment is a good remedy and pro biotic yogurt. I will give that a go tomorrow