Hard Belly/Lethargic/Impacted Crop

[daisychickiemama]

This poor girl is having the week from hell. Smokey is a Sapphire Gem that’s about 18 months old. She feels bonier/thinner than she should I believe.
The first thing I noticed earlier in the week, Monday, was her limping. I checked her feet and she seemed to have bumblefoot, a small black piece between her toes. I bought some epsom salt and soaked it and removed it. There didn’t seem to be any skin broken but I treated it anyway with Neosporin and a band-aid for a couple of days. At this point the limp went away but I was still keeping her separated because she didn’t seem back to 100%. Then I noticed she was moving her head back and forth in a strange way. She was still eating but I noticed she was getting impacted crop. So I took her dry food away and squirted some oil in her mouth and massaged her crop a few different times . The next day I gave her bread soaked in olive oil and she was receptive to it but seemed to start to slow down even more. By Friday she was getting pretty lethargic, not walking around too much and then I realized her butt was very poopy and it seemed she had fly strike. It was awful. I picked maggots off her backside for over an hour. I washed her bottom and after a blow dry I put neosporin on it. I administered some antibiotics. The next morning she had a few more so I picked those off and washed her again. Then I went to Southern States and bought some Wonder Dust and used that on her bum and made sure she was in a spot where no flies could get to her. She pooed out some of the maggots. I should’ve taken a picture. At this point she wasn’t drinking or eating much but her impacted crop seemed better. I got her to eat some tomatoes with garlic on it. I also noticed her underside was pretty hard. Sunday I checked to see if she was egg bound and at first I thought I felt something but on second check I’m not sure I actually did. I gave her an epsom salt bath anyway because I figured either way it couldn’t hurt since she had all the maggots on her before. I blew her dry and kept her warm. She accepted some yogurt after her bath which felt positive. I didn’t have any tums, it was the best source of calcium I had available. I’ve been giving her water with a mini syringe. I’ve also been giving her nutri-drench and some B-12.
Thankfully no other birds have been experiencing any of this. They’re on a well-balanced non-gmo layer feed. They have straw bedding.

Any help or advice would be greatly appreciated.

 

[daisychickiemama]

I failed to mention I also added some electrolytes and probiotics to her water

 

[daisychickiemama]

I failed to mention I also added some electrolytes and probiotics to her water

Another thing maybe I should mention is that her comb is red/pinkish. And most of the birds have slowed down their laying. So egg bound wasn’t my first thought but her belly feels pretty hard, especially on the right side.

 

[Eggcessive]

It sounds like she has ascites (water belly) or an enlargement of her lower belly. Poop can stick to the vent area, and attract flies. Flystrike is deadly. Make sure that sll of the maggots are gone. Consider treating the flies around your coop and run, and clean up fresh droppings. I would offer some scrambled egg, and put some chicken feed in a bowl with a lot of water. She may have some sort of reproductive problem or cancer causing the ascites and enlargement of her belly. You can try to remove some fluid with an 18 gauge needle and syringe to relive pressure. Do you have a picture of her vent now?

 

[daisychickiemama]

Graphic picture warning.
I am very sad to say that I took Smokey to the vet this morning and she took an x-ray. The vet said there were large masses inside of her and it could be cancer. She wouldn’t have thought so being a younger chicken but that basically there’s nothing they could do. She recommended I take her to the state lab to have them do a necropsy. I chose to cull her at home and do my own. Here is the photo of what was going on inside my sweet girl. Her intestines and her entire stomach looked engorged with packed scrambled eggs. The little yellow piece on the left hand side of the photo on her tail feathers seems to be a soft preformed egg shell.