HELP chicken doing weird motion with her chest and acting sick

[LaFleche]

well she has always had a sort of swinging front and it wasn’t any different today. I was doing some research and i think that pendulous crop might be it but she is not losing weight at all and i still did not find anything about the thing she does with her chest. but I am still doing research and hopefully we will figure this out.

Your hen seems to be suffering from an impacted crop, and not only just recently.
The movements you can see is her trying to get the obstruction to pass to the gastroesophageal vestibule. She is trying hard to pass the accumulated masses without success.

Feel the crop area, does it feel squishy or does it rather feel like a hard ball?

Isolate the hen in a cage without bedding. No food, only lots of fresh water and grit/sand. Massage the crop 4-5 times a day carefully with slightly rotating movement while holding her upright.

If the next morning the crop is still the same size, administer some lactulose or dulcolax up to 4 times a day and massage gently holding the hen upright.

Edit: The cage should be big enough for her to stand upright and strech her neck upwards.

 

[duckabs]

ok. i separated her with bedding but i will take the bedding out. but again, the dog crate is not massive and I am afraid she will not have enough room. i was also researching a crop bra and tried to make one. would you recommend one?

 

[LaFleche]

And monitor the poop, best to take some pictures for us, so we can see the development.

 

[LaFleche]

ok. i separated her with bedding but i will take the bedding out. but again, the dog crate is not massive and I am afraid she will not have enough room. i was also researching a crop bra and tried to make one. would you recommend one?

At the moment I would not recommend a crop bra, as we want to find out, if the crop will be able to pass whatever obstructs it naturally, just massaging gently several times a day for about 10 minutes each time.

 

[LaFleche]

If you see no improvement after 3 days it is time to see a vet for crop surgery. It is important to do the surgery before the hen is too emaciated or weak to endure the procedure.

Crop surgery is no big deal, but the vet has to be aware of the big blood vessel running in front of the crop and that the sutures have to be independent.

Usually this does not take more than 10-15 minutes including cleaning out the crop, flushing and two sutures. There is no anaesthesia needed, no painkiller, no antibiotics.

 

[duckabs]

ok. I don’t know if the vets in the area take chicken but i will see. and i tried to observe the poop from last night but i think she only pooped maybe once because she was not eating. but i never thought of grit.
Also, thank you everyone for helping me it is great to have real people help me with the exact problem.

 

[LaFleche]

Let us know how the treatment works and if she improves.

 

[duckabs]

ok. i separated her with bedding but i will take the bedding out. but again, the dog crate is not massive and I am afraid she will not have enough room. i was also researching a crop bra and tried to make one. would you recommend one?

what do you think about the space issue?

 

[duckabs]

Let us know how the treatment works and if she improves.

 

[LaFleche]

what do you think about the space issue?

She needs space as described above, so maybe you could separate a part of the coop for her using chicken wire. But it is important that she will not be able to reach for the bedding or feed of the others.

A nice cage would be best:

https://www.ebay.com/itm/Carrier-fo...884522&hash=item5929273569:g:kKkAAOSwBGBc0uaI