First case of impacted crop - advice

[Cryss]

 

[vantain]

Sadly, I found her crop full again this morning, so she is back in the house. It doesn’t appear that she pooped at all last night, judging by where she was on the roost last night.

Other than being very thirsty this morning, she was behaving normally.

I put her in a warm quiet place, with plenty of water. She drank quite a lot. Before she drank, her crop was quite hard from all the food she ate before roosting. After drinking, it is now very doughy/liquid like, and she pooped.

Sigh..I wish I knew what was wrong with this girl, but I fear it is something else internally, and this may just be the beginning of her end.

She’s 11 months old, and our sweetest hen.

 

[vantain]

So here is what I have discovered....

Her crop was full this morning. I brought her in, and only gave her water. I massaged her crop a bit, then left her alone for awhile. I checked on her periodically, and she had pooped a watery mess each time I checked on her. It wasn’t just water, but also contained her feed waste. Not unexpected really, since she has been drinking a lot of water. Also, the food I have been giving her during all this has mainly been wet feed, with some yogurt and scrambled eggs, with crushed calcium tablets.

In any case, within the two hours she has been inside, drinking water on her own, her crop has emptied completely.

This is basically a repeat of the other day when I first reported this issue. The only difference the other day, was she also had a few soft shelled eggs to expel.

So, her crop isn’t clearing during the night, but does clear in the morning when she has had water to drink again.

She is not lethargic at all, and acting quite normal.

Maybe I should give her normal feed now, and see how it goes? Let her back out with her flock mates? Keep her inside and continue observing?

I’m confused now.

 

[Eggcessive]

It is great that she laid a normal egg. I don’t know if calcium can be constipating in hens as it is in people, but it could be a problem I suppose. That would explain the crop not emptying or emptying slowly.

I have been treating a sick hen who could not balance, and after she finally got up and able to walk normally after 5 weeks, she started getting an impacted crop. Hers has finally emptied today after I gave 1 tsp of mineral oil and a lot of water via a feeding tube. It took almost 5 days, but I kept feeding her egg with water, water with chick feed, and putting small hard pieces of refrigerated coconut oil for her to peck.

I would probably put her back on layer feed and make sure that she is taking a little calcium. She might take some crushed egg shells if you toss some out.

 

[vantain]

Eating with gusto..!

 

[vantain]

Oxytetracycline is usually put in the water for poultry. You can give it mixed into water 400mg into a gallon of water. If using a quart or liter waterer, you could put 1/2 tablet into a liter. That would be close to 125mg per liter. Then switch to the baytril when it comes in. Baytril dosage is 0.05 ml per pound orally twice a day for 5-6 days.

"Eggcessive"...I posted a new thread regarding the Baytril dosage. The thread "Baytril dosage for sick hen".

She is suffering tonight and back in the house.

 

[Eggcessive]

I answered on your new thread. Here is the other thread for those following along:
https://www.backyardchickens.com/threads/baytril-dosage-for-sick-hen.1297482/