HELP: breathing issue, yellow liquid and weakness

[Fowlmamabird]

Hi all, I’m new and somewhat experienced but struggling on how else to treat my hen. Lily started separating herself about 4-5 days ago and I separated her about 3 days ago and began treating her for eggbound. Flushed her with lube to see if an egg broke inside because she had her tail down and has yellow liquid coming from her vent. Nothing came out so I paused on that. Then after feeling her crop and yellow liquid leaked out of her beak, I began treating her for sour crop. A syringe of ACV and water and massaging her crop and more excrement came out of vent and she started looking a little better. The crop seemed to be empty so I mushed up boiled egg yoke and she ate some then had breathing problems and wouldn’t eat any more. She ate maybe a drop worth of egg. I mixed water and egg yoke and ACV and tried dropping into the end of her beak and she doesn’t swallow it. Her eyes are looking hollow and she’s falling when she tries to stand. I tried to get into vet for chickens but that isn’t happening. Please help.

 

[Wyorp Rock]

Do you have photos of her poop and of her?

Any bloat or feeling of fluid in the abdomen below the vent between her legs?

Did she start having trouble breathing after the liquid came out of her beak or after syringing fluids?
She may have aspirated some fluids, but feel of her abdomen for bloat or feeling of fluid below the vent between her legs.

It's sounds like she's in crisis and it's hard to know what's happening with her. Yellow liquid (is it like egg yolk?) coming from the vent is concerning. If you think an egg broke then give her extra Calcium. Do take care trying to "flush" with a lube, the reproductive system is not a closed system and the vent also leads to the intestines a well.

Extra Calcium may help if she has a membrane she's trying to expel. You can find Calcium Citrate with D3 in the vitamin aisle of stores like Walmart, CVS, etc. Give 1 tablet daily, just pull down on her wattles, pop the tablet into the beak and let her swallow.

 

[Fowlmamabird]

Do you have photos of her poop and of her?

Any bloat or feeling of fluid in the abdomen below the vent between her legs?

Did she start having trouble breathing after the liquid came out of her beak or after syringing fluids?
She may have aspirated some fluids, but feel of her abdomen for bloat or feeling of fluid below the vent between her legs.

It's sounds like she's in crisis and it's hard to know what's happening with her. Yellow liquid (is it like egg yolk?) coming from the vent is concerning. If you think an egg broke then give her extra Calcium. Do take care trying to "flush" with a lube, the reproductive system is not a closed system and the vent also leads to the intestines a well.

Extra Calcium may help if she has a membrane she's trying to expel. You can find Calcium Citrate with D3 in the vitamin aisle of stores like Walmart, CVS, etc. Give 1 tablet daily, just pull down on her wattles, pop the tablet into the beak and let her swallow.

Thank you so much for replying. I’ve been successfully keeping her comfortable and alive now for going on 7 days. I did a lot of research in my haze of tears and I think I figured out something. I spoke to a vet about her symptoms and he agreed it sounds like sour crop. He advised baby food. So here’s my update and hopefully this helps others.

I thought she was going to die a few times now and she still might but I am still working on her and she seems stable.

Breathing issues Using Bronchodilator/ albuterol
Solution: nebulizer with albuterol. See pictures
Direction: place the breathing tube over her beak gently and as she pants she will breathe in the treatment. It actually worked for her and she’s breathing through her nose now. I had an old one that I have now put in my triage area. I’m asthmatic so I use one and it helps me so I researched if chickens can benefit from albuterol and it said yes. I’ll site my references if anyone can benefit.

Formula for her that I’m using to attack infection and fungal issues:
20 mg of cephelex (antibiotic) research says this is the dosage. Cephelex
A drop of apple cider vinegar
Two drops of nasal decongestant. See picture
Baby food. See picture
Water from tap

I treat her breathing first so that she doesn’t aspirate the formula. She seems to be able to swallow it and then I massage her crop.

I had a chicken die of water belly so I checked that and she’s not swollen in abdomen. The yellow liquid looks like bile.

I’ve successfully treated a chicken for egg binding with broken egg. I thought that might have been this situation. I’m not seeing that as the issue because she’s not expelling egg or egg content. When I flushed her I used lubricant for internal use and just a little to help move egg or feces. I’ve since paused on that as it seems like sour crop. I called all over my state trying to find veterinarians that see chickens and no one would. Honestly, I’m doing the best I can. I feel like I’m finally seeing a plan that works.

 

[Fowlmamabird]

Also I know not everyone has albuterol or cephelex lying around but if you do these have seemed to help somewhat in my situation. I recommend at least talking to a vet if no one will see your feather baby. Another antibiotic referenced was amoxicillin. I didn’t have that so I researched cephelex as it was given from a vet to one of my other non feathered animals. If we don’t use all our meds we save them as you just never know if you’ll need them.

You can research primatene mist as that is a bronchodilator used for mild breathing issues in humans and is generally over the counter. I’m not a veterinarian just trying to keep my babies alive and well. Love to all flock parents.