Sorry to hear this, Shad. I know you prefer not to medicate unless you are pretty sure what you are treating for, but I have had great success with clotrimazole (antifungal) with slow/doughy crop. I have also administered lemon juice with a mix of spices (cinnamon, cayenne pepper and I forget what else), which seemed to help, along with offering some non-starchy foods (chopped kale and meat). Does she eat feathers when others are molting? A couple of mine have done this and it slows the crop way down). I have also mixed baby bird formula with hot water and coconut oil to make sure the bird is getting nutrients while also lubricating the GI tract. I know you are an excellent chickeneer, but just throwing out some ideas that have helped in my flock. By the time I catch up, I may learn that you have already resolved this!
I'm on it.
The problem atm is I'm giving her coccivex and Flubenvet. I have to wait for the course to finish before I pour anything else down her.
I've got ducolax stool softner on it's way. and I have another anti fungal treatment coming.
I may try the cayenne pepper, ginger powder cinnamon and lemon juice, or even a day or two on garlic water. But, not until the current meds are finished.
The main thing now is to have her eating. Today was much better. Two days of live yogurt at 10cl dose have helped.
This was a poop sample from this morning. Compared to what she has been pooping this is almost normal.
This morning when I did her crop check her crop was almost empty; just this one squidgy ball about half the size it was still there but moving so not obstructing the crop drain all the time.
However, underlying the crop problem is bound to be another problem. The favorite is egg yolk peritonitis. If this is the case, then she is goinng to die, probably by my hand when the time comes.
Meanwhile I will go through one treatment after another in the hope that it is a less serious problem.
She looked and acted more like herself today and doesn't seem to be in pain. Her demeanor is no worse than it was when she was moulting.
She ate well this evening and has gone to roost with her tribe with a full crop.
Four more days to go and then, if her crop is still not draining I'll move on to the anti yeast/ anti fungal and maybe a molasses treatment.
I can't feel anything abnormal in her lower abdomen but I have no way of knowing if she can lay eggs because hse, like the others, has stopped for their winter break.
