Emergency: Fluid Filled Pouch, Fluid Coming out Beak

[Olive Hill]

I have an ill hen and she has me stumped. I'm hoping someone here might be able to shed some light on this.

The hen has a large lump right about where her breast meets her abdomen and a little to the left. I thought she may be egg bound so caught her to palpate. There is no mass in the lump, it's soft and feels fluid filled -- and what caught me off guard was this, when I applied pressure to the lump and the hen put her head down a cloudy fluid came out of her beak.

She is acting a bit lethargic. She was eating and drinking earlier today. She has not laid in several days.

Any ideas?


ETA: I will cross post this in emergencies, but thought I'd come straight to the turkey people first.

She's an ~9mo Narragansett.

 

[gmendoza]

Seems to me she has sour crop and it can be lethal. I lost my best buddy/hen to it last month.

Here is the remedy: Go buy natural unflavored yogurt.It has good bacteria in it to help

Also see if you can either break the blockage up in her crop by massaging it 3 times a day.

Also see if you can hold her feet over head and see if the fluid comes out by itself.

Last resort will be surgery on her crop. ask a vet.I didnt have the nerve to do that.

If she has something hard in her crop it could be an impacted crop which will require surgery.

CAUTION: do not try to over-induce vomitting or try to massage the mass down.It can cause the chicken to get phnemonia and die!!!!!

 

[Olive Hill]

So getting fluid out and massage is a good thing? I've got her contained and my mom is on her way over here to help me. I can get her head down and get the fluid out manually. She didn't seem resistant to me touching it at all. Is this contagious to my other Turkeys? Thanks so much for replying!

 

[Olive Hill]

Okay just saw your edit. I assume the important thing with the fluid exiting is that the hen is upside down/the head and neck completely down so the fluid cannot go back into the lungs?

 

[gmendoza]

Yes,head down for about 10-20 seconds.Isolate her.then go spring clean your turkey pen just for safe measures.

 

[Olive Hill]

Well, we held her upside down and the fluid just POURED out of her beak. Did it a second time and it came out but not nearly as much. It seemed to give her almost immediate relief. I made her a garlic mash and she's resting in the coop for now. Time will tell I suppose...

 

[boxermom]

Garlic mash? What is that and what is it for?

 

[Olive Hill]

It's just mashed raw garlic. I mashed up 4 or 5 cloves with a little olive oil. Garlic is known for its medicinal uses not the least of which are its anti-bacterial and anti-fungal properties. After reading up on sour crop I felt it certainly wouldn't hurt. It seems both primary and secondary infection are common.

That said, the hen is very droopy this evening and while the crop is bulging less, it's still bulging. I massaged it gently earlier while she was on the roost, we'll see how she's doing in the morning... if she's "doing" at all.

 

[hrmalexandra]

How did this turn out? I have a chicken with the same symptoms right now.