Hi everyone, My Big Red (Rhode Island Red) has had crop issues for more than a year, off and on. I could only manage it with fluconazole. I dosed her once day for a while, then stopped, and her crop would slow down again and be full in the mornings, in addition to runny and white/watery poop.
She's been xrayed three times, the first last February. The vet said it looked like reproductive cancer, as her ovary/reproductive tract was enlarged. So I have just been managing her since then. Again, her the only thing that seemed to help with poop/appetite/etc. was Fluconazole.
About two months ago, she stopped eating again (she was off Fluconazole), and I took her to an avian certified vet, who xrayed her, and concurred that it looked like ovarian cancer. Her reproductive tract looked larger than in February. She sent us home with antibiotics/antiinflammatory and doubled the antifungal dose (Fluconazole). Taking these, she started eating again, but her crop stayed huge even in the morning and her poops got much runnier, even with taking the Fluconazole. I think she had doughy crop, because it would be hard first thing in the morning, then soften when I massaged it. I was massaging her crop 4-5 times a day.
I contacted a holistic vet in Washington State (Dr. Anna Wolf of PetSynergy), who suggested herbal remedies in addition to the above. Nothing helped her poops firm up though or empty her crop.
Finally, I remembered that when my cat had thickened small intestinal lining Dr. Wolf had suggested something with clay in it. Clay has adsorptive properties and adsorbs bacteria and fungus. So I added a pinch of bentonite clay to Big Red's herbal remedies, and within 45 minutes, her poop firmed up. So I tried a little more clay later that day and the next morning. It seemed like she might be getting stopped up, and I remembered that activated charcoal has the same adsorptive qualities as clay, but might be less likely to stop her digestive tract up.
So I mixed a little activated charcoal with water and gave her about .5 ml. This has been helping tremendously! Her crop has been empty every morning for more than a week now, and her overnight poops are formed and normal as opposed to watery white splats on the henhouse floor. I give her .5 mls about 3-4 times a day in addition to the herbal supplements.
Red still is lethargic and lays around a lot, but she eats greens, shredded broccoli stalks, cabbage, kale, spinach and lettuce, etc. I add a little ground meat to this mixture, just a pinch. I also feed her and my other two hens sprouted grains, recipe adapted from Backyard Betty's grain recipe. I add a very small amount of Fertrell's Nutribalancer.
Anyway, I wanted to share this information with you all in case anyone is dealing with a similar issue. Good luck, and please feel free to share successes, issues. Y'all have always been there for me, and I want to give back. I cannot guarantee this will work for your hen, but if you think she is near death as Red seemed to be, I don't think it could hurt much. Good luck!
She's been xrayed three times, the first last February. The vet said it looked like reproductive cancer, as her ovary/reproductive tract was enlarged. So I have just been managing her since then. Again, her the only thing that seemed to help with poop/appetite/etc. was Fluconazole.
About two months ago, she stopped eating again (she was off Fluconazole), and I took her to an avian certified vet, who xrayed her, and concurred that it looked like ovarian cancer. Her reproductive tract looked larger than in February. She sent us home with antibiotics/antiinflammatory and doubled the antifungal dose (Fluconazole). Taking these, she started eating again, but her crop stayed huge even in the morning and her poops got much runnier, even with taking the Fluconazole. I think she had doughy crop, because it would be hard first thing in the morning, then soften when I massaged it. I was massaging her crop 4-5 times a day.
I contacted a holistic vet in Washington State (Dr. Anna Wolf of PetSynergy), who suggested herbal remedies in addition to the above. Nothing helped her poops firm up though or empty her crop.
Finally, I remembered that when my cat had thickened small intestinal lining Dr. Wolf had suggested something with clay in it. Clay has adsorptive properties and adsorbs bacteria and fungus. So I added a pinch of bentonite clay to Big Red's herbal remedies, and within 45 minutes, her poop firmed up. So I tried a little more clay later that day and the next morning. It seemed like she might be getting stopped up, and I remembered that activated charcoal has the same adsorptive qualities as clay, but might be less likely to stop her digestive tract up.
So I mixed a little activated charcoal with water and gave her about .5 ml. This has been helping tremendously! Her crop has been empty every morning for more than a week now, and her overnight poops are formed and normal as opposed to watery white splats on the henhouse floor. I give her .5 mls about 3-4 times a day in addition to the herbal supplements.
Red still is lethargic and lays around a lot, but she eats greens, shredded broccoli stalks, cabbage, kale, spinach and lettuce, etc. I add a little ground meat to this mixture, just a pinch. I also feed her and my other two hens sprouted grains, recipe adapted from Backyard Betty's grain recipe. I add a very small amount of Fertrell's Nutribalancer.
Anyway, I wanted to share this information with you all in case anyone is dealing with a similar issue. Good luck, and please feel free to share successes, issues. Y'all have always been there for me, and I want to give back. I cannot guarantee this will work for your hen, but if you think she is near death as Red seemed to be, I don't think it could hurt much. Good luck!
