I've got a 17-week-old pullet that I noticed on Sunday was standing with her head/neck pulled in..and it was close to 90 out.
I pulled her out to examine her, and found her crop to be enlarged, and not squishy as it should be. I put her in a crate, with no food and water, overnight - in the morning, her crop was still enlarged. GREAT. I've dealt with this before, so began treatments of vigorous crop massages, olive oil administered via syringe, yogurt, etc. (She most definitely did not have sour crop - it just wasn't moving.)
Tuesday around 5 p.m., I was doing a vigorous crop massage and she spit up - some brownish gunk, and in the gunk was a wad of what looked like when a cat coughs up a hairball. I don't know exactly WHAT it was, and it was maybe 1.5" long and about the diameter of a pencil. I put her back in her cage with water/electrolytes/vits. only. By Wednesday morning, her crop was completely empty, except for some shavings she'd eaten...she must have been quite hungry. I gave her about 1/8 c of apricot yogurt, mixed with 1/8 cup starter feed and about 1 T baby bird handfeeding formula. After work yesterday again, her crop was empty, and she'd eaten all her food. I gave her the same mixture, a bit more, and by 9 p.m., again, crop empty and she'd eaten all the food. This morning, crop empty again. I gave her the same mixture, but more starter so it was drier, and increased the quantity.
So - assuming she was just "plugged up" with whatever that wad of gunk was, I have a few questions:
1) how long should I leave her in the crate? She can see her flock mates through the sides of the crate, but I'd like to get her back with them as soon as I can.
2) what are the chances this was a one-time thing and she'll be fine for the rest of her days? I've dealt with this twice, and both times, the hen was fine for a few months, and then went through it again, and I ended up losing them. If that's what typically happens, I may just put her down so she doesn't have to suffer through this again. So, I'm interested in hearing if anyone's dealt with this and had no further issues with it later on.
As always, thanks for ALL feedback!
I pulled her out to examine her, and found her crop to be enlarged, and not squishy as it should be. I put her in a crate, with no food and water, overnight - in the morning, her crop was still enlarged. GREAT. I've dealt with this before, so began treatments of vigorous crop massages, olive oil administered via syringe, yogurt, etc. (She most definitely did not have sour crop - it just wasn't moving.)
Tuesday around 5 p.m., I was doing a vigorous crop massage and she spit up - some brownish gunk, and in the gunk was a wad of what looked like when a cat coughs up a hairball. I don't know exactly WHAT it was, and it was maybe 1.5" long and about the diameter of a pencil. I put her back in her cage with water/electrolytes/vits. only. By Wednesday morning, her crop was completely empty, except for some shavings she'd eaten...she must have been quite hungry. I gave her about 1/8 c of apricot yogurt, mixed with 1/8 cup starter feed and about 1 T baby bird handfeeding formula. After work yesterday again, her crop was empty, and she'd eaten all her food. I gave her the same mixture, a bit more, and by 9 p.m., again, crop empty and she'd eaten all the food. This morning, crop empty again. I gave her the same mixture, but more starter so it was drier, and increased the quantity.
So - assuming she was just "plugged up" with whatever that wad of gunk was, I have a few questions:
1) how long should I leave her in the crate? She can see her flock mates through the sides of the crate, but I'd like to get her back with them as soon as I can.
2) what are the chances this was a one-time thing and she'll be fine for the rest of her days? I've dealt with this twice, and both times, the hen was fine for a few months, and then went through it again, and I ended up losing them. If that's what typically happens, I may just put her down so she doesn't have to suffer through this again. So, I'm interested in hearing if anyone's dealt with this and had no further issues with it later on.
As always, thanks for ALL feedback!