Gretchen is standing in front of the AC, Panting and holding her wings out. Her crop feels weird!

DarkWater1929

Songster
7 Years
Jan 27, 2015
231
187
181
Redding, California
Hi there!

I went to tuck my chickens in for the night. I am in Redding, CA. It is presently 74 degrees, F. Our high today perhaps reached 80. They free-ranged all day, and had access to plenty of water. All my other chickens look perfectly normal. But, my 3 year old Americauna hen, Gretchen, was looking intently at me, and panting. I did my chores, and when I checked again, she was the same.

I brought her inside, and offered her a share of my dinner. She was delighted to eat, but did not show any interest in drinking. She continued to pant. I took her into the bedroom, and turned on the window unit AC. She is standing, now, facing into the wind of the AC, still panting, and still with her wings open. She still has a frantic look about her, and despite not being in the house before, seems only mildly interested in her surroundings.

She feels fat and strong, and her feathers are beautiful. When she pooped on my clean comforter, (I really do adore my chickens. Sigh.) I found no sign of worms or blood in her stool. Looks pretty normal.

She has an accumulation of poop caked in the down around her butt. It is clearly not keeping her from pooping, and I cannot see that it would interfere with laying, either.

Her crop seems weird. It feels as if it were full of jello. And, it is a weird shape. It is roughly an elongated egg-shape, and it crosses her chest diagonally. I do not know about impacted crop, or similar maladies. I do not know what to look for. I will do more research, but I want to get this query out there, in case one of you knows these symptoms, and what I ought to do.
Thanks ahead of time for any assistance.



Patience
 
Update: I tried massaging her crop, in a downward motion, as suggested in the first impacted crop post I read. At first she seemed to like me touching her crop, but when I began massaging downward, she was clearly more uncomfortable. She is drooling a tiny bit, and her breathing seems more labored. She wants to be close to me, but is now clearly afraid that I will touch her crop again. I think that is clearly the problem area. No medical professional around now to call. Probably could not afford one anyway. I am quite concerned. I really adore my little Gretchen.
 

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