Doughy Crop Help

[CandiceR]

I have been following guidelines for treating doughy crop.

I have dewormed with Flubendazole to make sure there is no underlying worm infestation. (I now suspect possibly gapeworm, as I now have another hen showing symptoms. *She is ok & I caught it day 1. Now everyone is being wormed.*)

BUT my calico cochin will not release the doughy crop. Even after wormer & twice daily spice mix & coconut oil/garlic mix (as an antifungal). She has been off feed & is being given electrolyte water. I massage her three times a day. Now I'm reading (on this site) if doughy crop won't release it could be a heavy cocci. infection. Should I now try to treat with Corid? She has not had a proper meal since 4/3 in the afternoon when I isolated her. I mix peas in with her coconut oil.

She is happy & verbal.

I'm just at a loss now as to what to do. Any help is appreciated. This is my daughters favorite chicken & I'm just feeling like a failure.

I do not have access for additional meds. We are quarantined. So I have flubendazole, Corid, my own fiber powder, spices, magnesium, etc.

 

[coach723]

How old is this bird, and do you know when she last laid? What do droppings look like, do you have any pictures? If you used flubendazole as a feed mix then it's possible that the bird did not get a full dose. They have to eat enough to take in enough medication. If they aren't eating well, they can be underdosed. I prefer to worm with a direct dose medication for this reason. Doughy crop can have many causes, so it can take some time to narrow it down. In birds over 2 years it is sometimes the first indication of a reproductive problem that is backing things up. Does she feel bloated in the abdomen at all? Feel between the legs below the vent. Birds with coccidiosis will usually appear lethargic, not eat or drink well, sit fluffed up, and droppings will be abnormal, runny and mucousy, or with some strains of coccida there will be blood in the droppings.
A couple of articles that may help:
https://www.backyardchickens.com/ar...ntion-and-treatments-of-crop-disorders.67194/
https://www.backyardchickens.com/ar...w-to-know-which-one-youre-dealing-with.73607/

 

[CandiceR]

How old is this bird, and do you know when she last laid? What do droppings look like, do you have any pictures? If you used flubendazole as a feed mix then it's possible that the bird did not get a full dose. They have to eat enough to take in enough medication. If they aren't eating well, they can be underdosed. I prefer to worm with a direct dose medication for this reason. Doughy crop can have many causes, so it can take some time to narrow it down. In birds over 2 years it is sometimes the first indication of a reproductive problem that is backing things up. Does she feel bloated in the abdomen at all? Feel between the legs below the vent. Birds with coccidiosis will usually appear lethargic, not eat or drink well, sit fluffed up, and droppings will be abnormal, runny and mucousy, or with some strains of coccida there will be blood in the droppings.
A couple of articles that may help:
https://www.backyardchickens.com/ar...ntion-and-treatments-of-crop-disorders.67194/
https://www.backyardchickens.com/ar...w-to-know-which-one-youre-dealing-with.73607/

I dosed directly into her mouth, not with any kind of medicated feed. I used a pea sized amount of Safeguard equine wormer.

She is about a year old & had just started laying. Abdomen is not distended or bloated. I checked her vent & there is no egg.

Stools appear normal. Maybe one mucousy one per day. Otherwise she has a few darker stools.

I will go out later & take a photo of her stools & post it. I can feel stuff in her crop & it is still doughy, but not as large (was larger than a plumb & like play doh).

 

[CandiceR]

How old is this bird, and do you know when she last laid? What do droppings look like, do you have any pictures? If you used flubendazole as a feed mix then it's possible that the bird did not get a full dose. They have to eat enough to take in enough medication. If they aren't eating well, they can be underdosed. I prefer to worm with a direct dose medication for this reason. Doughy crop can have many causes, so it can take some time to narrow it down. In birds over 2 years it is sometimes the first indication of a reproductive problem that is backing things up. Does she feel bloated in the abdomen at all? Feel between the legs below the vent. Birds with coccidiosis will usually appear lethargic, not eat or drink well, sit fluffed up, and droppings will be abnormal, runny and mucousy, or with some strains of coccida there will be blood in the droppings.
A couple of articles that may help:
https://www.backyardchickens.com/ar...ntion-and-treatments-of-crop-disorders.67194/
https://www.backyardchickens.com/ar...w-to-know-which-one-youre-dealing-with.73607/

I realized I did not say anything about her laying -

She has not laid since this all started. I treated for gapeworm & then realized that her crop was doughy. So it has been quite some time since she laid. But again, she had just started laying.

I'm just really concerned about feeding her & getting her crop to clear.


I do not have access to miconazold & have been using the same articles to treat her.

 

[CandiceR]

How old is this bird, and do you know when she last laid? What do droppings look like, do you have any pictures? If you used flubendazole as a feed mix then it's possible that the bird did not get a full dose. They have to eat enough to take in enough medication. If they aren't eating well, they can be underdosed. I prefer to worm with a direct dose medication for this reason. Doughy crop can have many causes, so it can take some time to narrow it down. In birds over 2 years it is sometimes the first indication of a reproductive problem that is backing things up. Does she feel bloated in the abdomen at all? Feel between the legs below the vent. Birds with coccidiosis will usually appear lethargic, not eat or drink well, sit fluffed up, and droppings will be abnormal, runny and mucousy, or with some strains of coccida there will be blood in the droppings.
A couple of articles that may help:
https://www.backyardchickens.com/articles/sour zee-crop-impacted-crop-doughy-crop-prevention-and-treatments-of-crop-disorders.67194/
https://www.backyardchickens.com/ar...w-to-know-which-one-youre-dealing-with.73607/

Stools today since 8am

 

[coach723]

Thanks for answering all the questions. For the Safeguard, the correct dose is .23ml per pound of bird weight. You need to weigh her and then draw up the correct amount with an oral syringe. A digital kitchen scale works well for weighing. There is a LOT of confusion about 'pea sized' which often ends up with mis-dosing.
More info on that here:
https://www.backyardchickens.com/th...-horse-paste-de-wormer.1141545/#post-17748655
For round worm you would dose twice, 10 days apart. For gapeworm you would dose 5 days in a row. I recently treated a hen with a very slow crop that was roundworm caused. I used Valbazen to treat as the dosing is a bit smaller amount. The crop did not clear for 5 or 6 days after the first treatment. I fed only her regular feed mixed with water to make a mash, water soluble stuff only, until things started to move. I also gave her some nutridrench the first few days. I tubed or syringed water for several days followed by crop massage each time to help loosen up the stuff in the crop. I did this until the crop was moving enough that it only had a very small amount in the morning. If you syringe rather than tube it takes longer, you have to go slow so that they don't aspirate. There are great instructions on tubing here:
https://www.backyardchickens.com/threads/go-team-tube-feeding-updated-12-29-2019.805728/
The droppings do have some solids in them, so that is a good thing, at least something is going through. They may be a bit mucousy, but hard to tell on the shavings. Corid is very safe, so if you decide to treat her with that it will not do any harm, but she has to be drinking well to get enough in her. You can also dose her orally with corid for up to 3 days in addition to the medicated water in order to get the meds in her. The oral dose is here, again you need the birds weight :
https://www.backyardchickens.com/threads/corid-oral-drench-instructions.1211991/
The dosing for the water is here, use the 'severe" outbreak dosing on the right side of the chart.

 

[CandiceR]

Thanks for answering all the questions. For the Safeguard, the correct dose is .23ml per pound of bird weight. You need to weigh her and then draw up the correct amount with an oral syringe. A digital kitchen scale works well for weighing. There is a LOT of confusion about 'pea sized' which often ends up with mis-dosing.
More info on that here:
https://www.backyardchickens.com/th...-horse-paste-de-wormer.1141545/#post-17748655
For round worm you would dose twice, 10 days apart. For gapeworm you would dose 5 days in a row. I recently treated a hen with a very slow crop that was roundworm caused. I used Valbazen to treat as the dosing is a bit smaller amount. The crop did not clear for 5 or 6 days after the first treatment. I fed only her regular feed mixed with water to make a mash, water soluble stuff only, until things started to move. I also gave her some nutridrench the first few days. I tubed or syringed water for several days followed by crop massage each time to help loosen up the stuff in the crop. I did this until the crop was moving enough that it only had a very small amount in the morning. If you syringe rather than tube it takes longer, you have to go slow so that they don't aspirate. There are great instructions on tubing here:
https://www.backyardchickens.com/threads/go-team-tube-feeding-updated-12-29-2019.805728/
The droppings do have some solids in them, so that is a good thing, at least something is going through. They may be a bit mucousy, but hard to tell on the shavings. Corid is very safe, so if you decide to treat her with that it will not do any harm, but she has to be drinking well to get enough in her. You can also dose her orally with corid for up to 3 days in addition to the medicated water in order to get the meds in her. The oral dose is here, again you need the birds weight :
https://www.backyardchickens.com/threads/corid-oral-drench-instructions.1211991/
The dosing for the water is here, use the 'severe" outbreak dosing on the right side of the chart.
View attachment 2084921

Unfortunately, I do not have any way to weigh her & I'm doing the best with what I have available.

I just syringe fed 45mL of electrolyte water over about a one hour time period with massage in between. I can hear gastric juices gurgling.

So I can offer her feed? What consistency is "mash" considered?

She got Safeguard for 7 days. & then retreated once 7 days after that.

 

[CandiceR]

Thanks for answering all the questions. For the Safeguard, the correct dose is .23ml per pound of bird weight. You need to weigh her and then draw up the correct amount with an oral syringe. A digital kitchen scale works well for weighing. There is a LOT of confusion about 'pea sized' which often ends up with mis-dosing.
More info on that here:
https://www.backyardchickens.com/th...-horse-paste-de-wormer.1141545/#post-17748655
For round worm you would dose twice, 10 days apart. For gapeworm you would dose 5 days in a row. I recently treated a hen with a very slow crop that was roundworm caused. I used Valbazen to treat as the dosing is a bit smaller amount. The crop did not clear for 5 or 6 days after the first treatment. I fed only her regular feed mixed with water to make a mash, water soluble stuff only, until things started to move. I also gave her some nutridrench the first few days. I tubed or syringed water for several days followed by crop massage each time to help loosen up the stuff in the crop. I did this until the crop was moving enough that it only had a very small amount in the morning. If you syringe rather than tube it takes longer, you have to go slow so that they don't aspirate. There are great instructions on tubing here:
https://www.backyardchickens.com/threads/go-team-tube-feeding-updated-12-29-2019.805728/
The droppings do have some solids in them, so that is a good thing, at least something is going through. They may be a bit mucousy, but hard to tell on the shavings. Corid is very safe, so if you decide to treat her with that it will not do any harm, but she has to be drinking well to get enough in her. You can also dose her orally with corid for up to 3 days in addition to the medicated water in order to get the meds in her. The oral dose is here, again you need the birds weight :
https://www.backyardchickens.com/threads/corid-oral-drench-instructions.1211991/
The dosing for the water is here, use the 'severe" outbreak dosing on the right side of the chart.
View attachment 2084921

Would you recommend stopping the spice mix & the coconut oil since I'm not seeing any improvement?

I apologize for all the questions. I'm totally at a loss.

 

[coach723]

I have used the spice mix also, sometimes it helps. That's kind of hard to answer, go with results, if it's helping at all then I'd continue, if not then stop. Most importantly make sure she gets lots of fluids, being dehydrated will just make things worse. Coconut oil may help, I often give it also, helps things move along, so I see no harm in continuing that. And they usually like it anyway. No apology necessary, crop problems are one of the most frustrating things to deal with, since we can't see what's going on in there. And it can take some time. I've had some that I didn't ultimately know what was the problem until necropsy, and that told me that nothing I did was going to fix it, like reproductive problems and impacted gizzard. And others, like my hen with worms, recovered and went on to be fine. I forgot to ask before, does she have access to grit all the time? Lack of adequate grit can cause problems too.

 

[CandiceR]

I have used the spice mix also, sometimes it helps. That's kind of hard to answer, go with results, if it's helping at all then I'd continue, if not then stop. Most importantly make sure she gets lots of fluids, being dehydrated will just make things worse. Coconut oil may help, I often give it also, helps things move along, so I see no harm in continuing that. And they usually like it anyway. No apology necessary, crop problems are one of the most frustrating things to deal with, since we can't see what's going on in there. And it can take some time. I've had some that I didn't ultimately know what was the problem until necropsy, and that told me that nothing I did was going to fix it, like reproductive problems and impacted gizzard. And others, like my hen with worms, recovered and went on to be fine. I forgot to ask before, does she have access to grit all the time? Lack of adequate grit can cause problems too.

The entire under area of the coop is sand, pebbles, etc that I keep clean & raked. I don't offer bagged grit, if that's what you mean? Then they have another enclosure that is sand, dirt, rocks (we live on what used to be a quarry so our soil is obnoxiously rocky). I had weeded my garden & given them grass right before this all happened & I feel like that's what exacerbated this.

I hate keeping her separate from everyone & I'm really unsure how to proceed. Should I just keep doing what I'm doing & let her back out with everyone & hope she improves with spice mix & coconut oil & extra water? & offer regular feed & fresh produce like usual? They are fed Purina Layena Crumbles & I offer fresh produce scraps, peas, sunflower seeds, lentil sprouts, lettuce, etc. Water has added electrolytes & B vitamins.

I sincerely appreciate your help.