Crop or respiratory problems?!

[lydiamwelch]

Help!

So all day today my Bantam Cochin was in a little ball. I chalked it up to a windy day. I ended up posting a picture on my local poultry facebook page (I'll attach it here as well.) And people told me I definitely had reason to be concerned.

I got home around 11pm, set up my brooder box and went to grab Pip from the coop. For 2 hours I sat with him. I force fed him olive oil and electrolytes while I massaged his swollen crop. It was obvious he was dying as he cuddled up against my leg. I'm sure he'll be gone by morning, but I did my best and couldn't watch him sway back and fourth and longer.


My question is, what caused this? The people on facebook said a respiratory issue. What do you all think? Should I be worried about the rest of my flock? Or was it a crop issue?

 

[Pyxis]

Were there signs of respiratory issues like nasal discharge, eye bubbles, sneezing, wheezing gasping?

What made you think it was a crop issue? What the crop a hard, impacted solid ball with nothing passing through? Was it soft and squishy with a bad smell coming from the mouth? It's totally normal for the crop to be full before the bird sleeps for the night, since they fill it up during the day and it empties at night while they're sleeping, so it might not even be crop issues if you're not seeing any of the above signs.

 

[theoldchick]

How sad. A swollen crop can be caused by several things-bacterial, fungal or an actual blockage. There are all kinds of home remedies for this but my favorite it to empty the crop and carefully tube feed a product called toxiban available online. I also use Pedialyte to improve hydration. I like to use the suspension type Toxiban but folks who are not familiar force feeding liquids my prefer the granules. The problem with a sour crop is the longer it is untreated the more toxic the bird becomes. In the veterinary situation the patient's crop is emptied, fluids are supplied via intraosseous or IV. Once the electrolytes are balanced, Toxiban is given orally along with a product called Bene-bac. Then the patient is supplied a warm quiet oxygen cage to help recovery.

In your situation you can try giving your chicken unflavored pedialyte and Toxiban. But remember if your chicken is so toxic she my not recover.

 

[lydiamwelch]

He's still alive this morning with very little movement. My local store to get anything doesn't open for another hour.

It's definitely possible that it isn't the crop. I've never dealt with this before so I'm panicking.

There definitely was some wheezing and hard breathing when I brought him inside last night, I didn't notice that though in the past few days. He has been totally normal up until about 11:30am yesterday when I noticed him in that hunched up little ball.

Someone on my facebook said to get Terramycin? I'm looking to head to the store and I'm just wondering if this is the correct thing to get? I know, it's hard to tell because I don't really know what's happening.

 

[Pyxis]

I'm glad he made it through the night! Terramycin is an eye ointment so that's really not going to do anything for you. If you want to try an antibiotic in case it is respiratory, although from your description I'm not sure it is, pick up some tetracycline and start him on that.

Check out this article on crop issues to see if it's what you might be dealing with.

Is it possible he has a large load of worms or mites or lice? If so that could be causing this too, they can literally sap the life out of them in high enough parasite loads. I'd dust him for lice and mites with Sevin dust and worm him just to be safe. Can't hurt and can only help. Even if that's not the main cause of the trouble if he is suffering from parasites that will at least take that strain off him while you try to treat what he does have.

 

[lydiamwelch]

I'm glad he made it through the night! Terramycin is an eye ointment so that's really not going to do anything for you. If you want to try an antibiotic in case it is respiratory, although from your description I'm not sure it is, pick up some tetracycline and start him on that.

Check out this article on crop issues to see if it's what you might be dealing with.

Is it possible he has a large load of worms or mites or lice? If so that could be causing this too, they can literally sap the life out of them in high enough parasite loads. I'd dust him for lice and mites with Sevin dust and worm him just to be safe. Can't hurt and can only help. Even if that's not the main cause of the trouble if he is suffering from parasites that will at least take that strain off him while you try to treat what he does have.

What should I get for mites or worms? And how do I check for that? And how do I prevent my other girls from getting it?

I'm sorry I have so many questions I'm just at a total loss.

 

[Pyxis]

Check the feathers around the neck for lice eggs on the base of the feather, they are white and are laid in clumps. You may also see live lice. Check the vent as mites like to congregate there. You can see these bugs with the naked eye so you should be able to tell if you have them. Worms you can't really tell unless you have a fecal done or he passes a worm in his poop.

For mites and lice you can get Sevin dust and dust him with that. For worms Safeguard is good, it's a goat wormer but works well for chickens. Ivermectin is good too and as a bonus it'll kill blood sucking mites too and scaly leg mites if that's a concern.

If this little one has parasites then your others likely do too, so you'd just want to dust and worm them too.