Emergency!!! Fluid coming from beak, gurgling, need treatment

[Chicken❤️er]

Ok I checked her area and don’t see any signs of poop. I’m afraid to pick her up because it puts pressure on her crop and makes the fluid come out. Also I’m curious how severe this case is- she started to show problems over a week ago and for a while was still eating food and grass and treats.

 

[Chicken❤️er]

My mother is a doctor and can call in the Nystatin prescription, but in case that takes too long, we got a miconazole anti fungal cream. It’s a little different than what was suggested in the article, but it looks similar enough (same active ingredient) to be used like the vaginal cream. I assume we administer it to her orally, not exactly sure how, though. Syringe?

 

[Wyorp Rock]

Honestly, I don’t know; I haven’t seen her poop anytime recently. We don’t have access to a vet to safely extract anything. I will follow this treatment but I’m still not sure about how to feed and water her right now. Should she have any access to layer feed, water, or grit right now? Thank you so much for your help

Ok I checked her area and don’t see any signs of poop. I’m afraid to pick her up because it puts pressure on her crop and makes the fluid come out. Also I’m curious how severe this case is- she started to show problems over a week ago and for a while was still eating food and grass and treats.

My mother is a doctor and can call in the Nystatin prescription, but in case that takes too long, we got a miconazole anti fungal cream. It’s a little different than what was suggested in the article, but it looks similar enough (same active ingredient) to be used like the vaginal cream. I assume we administer it to her orally, not exactly sure how, though. Syringe?

The Miconazole is fine if you can't get Nystatin. Yes, I would draw it up into a needleless syringe. The article linked below shows you where to put the syringe in the beak. I suggest that you put her on a table to administer care since holding her is causing her to spill liquids. Let her stand on the table, drape your arm over her and gently pull her to your body. Use your elbow to sort of wedge her. Sounds like your Mom may help, so having extra hands to administer meds will be great. https://www.backyardchickens.com/ar...dications-to-all-poultry-and-waterfowl.73335/

It can be a challenge to pick up a hen that has a lot of fluid in their crop, so do the best you can. By supporting her along her abdomen between her legs, hopefully you won't press the crop so much.

As for how severe the case it - that's really hard to know. It's possible that she may have developed a sour crop due to partial blockage somewhere else in the digestive system. Inflammation/swelling from reproductive disorders can also slow the process.
Basically - there is generally an underlying condition/cause that makes the crop slow/not empty and it sours. Some other causes are worms and infection.

A crop issue can take days to weeks to resolve, so just keep working at it.
As for food - it would be good to know what's coming out - photos of poop when you see it would be good.
I would be inclined to withhold food for a day, but do make water available during waking hours. Next day, offer a bit of wet feed.

Keep us informed on how it's going. I'll tag in Carol (@azygous ) so she can give input as well.

 

[azygous]

@Wyorp Rock has been giving you very useful advice. Not much left for me to add.

Just last week I had to treat a two-year old hen for sour crop. Fluids would gush out of her beak when she would even just lean over to pick up grit. Her appetite was off and she was obviously miserable.

Don't try to empty the crop. It's just too risky, and besides, it will only quickly fill up again. I treated my hen with miconazole vaginal yeast cream. She was a very ungrateful and uncooperative patient, so I would just wrap my arm over her and hold her close while prying open her beak and squeezing about an inch of cream directly into her beak, like filling her mouth with whipped cream. Not that Pearl was under any illusion it was a treat, but it really has no icky taste and some hens will take it right off my finger.

I actually like the miconazole better that Nystatin. I think it does a better job from my experience, but it wasn't really anything close to a scientific drug trial. It's cheap, easy to get, and easy to administer. You can adjust the dosage up or down according to how well your patient responds and be confident you aren't overdosing her with something toxic. If my patient doesn't start to show improvement by day two, I increase the dosage. But do try to dose your hen twice a day minimum and do it for seven full days.

By the seventh day, Pearl no longer thought I was a BFD in her life and she quit speaking to me, but she was cured. It's taking a bit of time for her to get her full appetite back and to gain her weight back, but she's acting more and more her old busy-body self again.

 

[Chicken❤️er]

Hi,
Thank you for your help! We did have to vomit Rosie a little bit because the miconazole would not stay down with all the fluid coming out, but we did it for a max of 5 secs at a time, allowing her to catch her breath in between so as not to aspirate. I mixed the half-inch miconazole ribbon in some water and drew it up with a syringe and that seemed to work. Rosie is already looking a lot perkier. She was showing signs of distress in our “hospital” yesterday, as it is isolated outside of the actual run, so we put her by herself in one of the coops without food. My mom let her out this morning and gave her food and treats since twelve hours had passed but I can isolate her again with only water if you think that’s a good idea- I am not able to keep track of her poops when mixed with the other hens, so that’s what I’ll do. I’m about to give her the second treatment.

 

[azygous]

I have never recommended withholding food, and certainly never water. Hens with crop disorders will self regulate their food intake.

I also never bother to isolate a crop disorder patient. I see no need for this as it's not contagious and being with the flock presents no harmful issues.

Be sure to dose this patient a minimum of twice a day. You can do it three times a day, if you wish, and it can't hurt. Also, do not stop treatment before seven full days.

I find it pretty easy and simple to simply squeeze out a mouthful of miconazole right from the tube directly into the chicken's mouth. But care should be given to get it all inside the beak or the hen will shake her head and you may get a fair amount in your face and hair. Good times.

 

[Chicken❤️er]

Okay, I let her roam free in the run with everyone else, and she has been running when excited, squawking when I talk to her (she is very chatty in general) and dust bathing. The only thing is that since she isn’t by herself in the coop I can’t see her poop. I will let her free range this afternoon unless you advise other wise (I’m not sure if she’ll get super excited and gorge on grass or continue to self-regulate).
Thanks

 

[Chicken❤️er]

Update: Rosie is looking weaker and her crop is still filling up every morning with brown fluid. Since she isn’t isolated, I can’t see if she is pooping. There definitely seems to be some sort of blockage or problem that isn’t allowing food to pass through. We don’t have access to a vet so I don’t know if that limits the ability to make a diagnosis, but any suggestions/treatments/advice you have would be great. I am continuing to treat her with miconazole twice a day.

 

[Wyorp Rock]

You may want to crate her overnight just so you can take a look at her poop. If you have puppy pads, those are great to soak up poop, plus it's easy to see.

Carol (@azygous ) hopefully will chime in, but it may be time to give her a flush just to see if that will help if she's got a blockage.

Sometimes a hen has something else going on and that is the cause of the crop slowing down.

 

[Chicken❤️er]

Okay, how would I do a flush? Also, what are the possible causes of a slowed down crop?
thanks