Crop (?) on mostly dead hen looks like a water balloon - ??

[jrobin276]

Friday everyone seemed fine. Sat my neighbor fed the chickens as I was out for the day. She noted a hen with a hurt toe, but nothing else. Today (sun) I found a 6mo old hen hiding in the corner of the coop, more or less already gone (non responsive, eyes closed, barely breathing). Her crop was swollen like a water balloon, and when gentle pressure was applied clear pale yellow-green fluid poured out of her mouth. It smelled sour. Was this likely sour crop rather than impaction? And if so, should I treat the other hens’ preemptively somehow?

(She did not improve at all with being drained and I removed her from the coop. I checked the crops of some of the others and they seem fine. In the winter yard they have layer pellets and water; some of them hop out on warmer days and I’ve found them in the haystack, so impaction is possible, as is a general “ate a weird thing”).

 

[azygous]

So. Is your "mostly dead" hen still alive, if not kicking? What probably has happened is your hen has been starving due to this full yeasty/impacted crop, not being able to put real food in the crop for quite some time.

It is likely a yeasty crop, but impaction could also be at work. You are correct in your line of thinking that this hen will die if not treated. She is going to need an anti-yeast med and if you're in the US, you can find it at Walmart in the women's hygiene products. Get the seven-day miconazole yeast cream.

You will also need to revive her with some glucose which is warm water with sugar in it. This may seem contrary to treating yeast as sugar feeds it, but it will also feed the chicken and get her to regain consciousness.

Read this. https://www.backyardchickens.com/ar...w-to-know-which-one-youre-dealing-with.73607/ It will help you to diagnose if she has compacted crop in addition to a yeasty crop. It will need to be treated, also.

 

[Eggcessive]

It sounds like she has a bad sour crop that has caused her to become emaciated. Sour crop can be a result of a long term impacted crop, and it can become a bacterial or a fungal infection. Can you give her some water and Poultry NutriDrench or electrolytes? Offer some raw egg and chicken feed mixed with a lot of water, but no whole grains, scratch, etc. If a vet is possible, that might be required to save her life, but she may be too far gone. Making her vomit can cause choking and aspiration.

I have only seen sour crop in older hens who had a primary issue, such as internal laying, ascites, or cancer. No treatment helped. The most usual treatment is to give a lot of water, some mushy food, and treat with antifungal cream (Monistat or miconazole) or Nystatin, and give chilled coconut oil to peck. Olive oil or mineral oil are also good. Azygous just posted, and gave you the link I was just going to link.

 

[jrobin276]

I’ve saved chickens from other things - multiple puncture wounds from a fox is fully recovered, and my prolapse is looking good but will be indoors a few more days.

This hen was *really* far gone, and died while I wrote the OP.
There was no way to move her without her vomiting - she was so full of fluid she was sitting there with it dripping out her nose and mouth when I found her.

Like I said - I didn’t notice anyone unwell on Friday. Is this something that might have been picked up Saturday, or something that could have come to a head overnight? I’ll note we have 300 chickens - I don’t know them individually. There’s no way to know if one isn’t “herself” unless she’s obviously unwell.