HELP My Hen has not eaten or drank anything in hours

Noah Porter Md

In the Brooder
Dec 28, 2017
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HELP like in the title she has not eaten or drank anything in hours i thought she has sour crop because she puked on me and it stank and the crop was the size of a baseball, but i emptied the crop and she wont eat or drink. i have spererated her from the flock so there isint much of a change of contamination if its some kind of disease, i have given her apple cidar viniger water and plain yogurt with probiotics but she wont drink or eat either, however she has tried to eat some of the feed i put around the yogurt to try to smooze her way to it. also she is puffed up and he balance is off and she is vary slow the only time she returned to some sort of natural behaviour is when my black lab was barking at her. i have also massaged the crop, Alot, and has alittle of diarrhea
 
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I think this hen is very ill and you need to act. You also need to be very careful when emptying a crop so you don’t aspirate her. Her crop should only be empty when she first wakes up.
Has she ever been wormed? The off-balance thing is troubling. What color is her comb? Has she lost weight? Is she laying, and if so, when was her last egg? Have you looked her over for external parasites? How is her breathing? How does her poop look?
 
I am so sorry about your hen. When was her last poop? Sounds like she is pretty bad off. Generally they don't become despondent until they are too far gone. I would get her under a heat lamp, keep the temp at her level around 85 to 90 degrees. If she starts to perk up, try some hard boiled eggs on her. Number one thing here, get her warm first and foremost.
 
he last poop that i noticed was allitle, runny not to much though really stank but the poops before were quite solid looking. her crop has been emptied and i gave her grit and feed and it has gone though her crop and her crop feels quite empty. she looks like she has lost allittle weight. not much and she is eating feed again. there is a flood light on her 24/7 and silver insulation on her aswell, and is starting to perk back up again. Thank all of you for your replys :) they have been quite helpful i have also tried giving her some plain astro yogurt with probiotics. he comb is not red like a ferrari but it is still quite red i have not seen a egg but i believe she is not egg bound. she is around 4 we originally got the from our neighbour who hed had around say 40 but we got them as pullets we believe she doesint have worms i have seen no external perrisites i have also given her water with acv and oil of oregano. we have also kept a heat lamp in their coop.
 
You are taking wonderful care of her. :)

Its hard to say what she could be suffering from. Usually crop issues are secondary to something else going on. If anything is slowing down the intestines from a Coccidiosis infection, worms, an impaction, being egg bound, enteritis, canker, Vent Gleet (which is a yeast infection in the intestines), tumors from reproductive cancer, internal laying, ascites, the list is endless. I recently lost a bird that had a bad yeasty doughy crop. Turns out she had such an enlarged heart, it was blocking off the exit from the crop to the stomach and gizzard.

Anyway, I would wait to work on her until she feels good enough that too much handling or medications won't stress her.

I usually try the most common things that can cause a slow crop. You can't fix cancer or internal laying, but you can use Corid for Cocci infections, wormer for an overload of round worms, fungal meds like Acidified Copper Sulfate in case she has a bad yeast infection in the crop or futher down like Vent Gleet. If its neither of these a round of Amoxicllin would help with an overload of E.coli or Enteritis in the intestines.

And I would do an internal exam for a stuck egg. Very simple thing to do. Put on a latex glove and gently insert your index finger straight back slowly. If she has a stuck egg, you will feel it with the first inch or inch and a half.
 
@TwoCrows Thank you for your response. I will look for a egg shortly. Although she is acting abit more like a chicken again and is starting to walk around again and her curiosity is returning and is getting her spunk back. aswell as her ferocious appetiet is returning. Thank you all so dearly for your replys it means so much for me as i am a first time backyard chicken farmer ;)
 

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