Help please!

[adreilly]

3 days ago I noticed one of my 6 month old hens looking hunched and fluffed up. She was still venturing out with the flock and following me but not with her usual zest. The second day I inspected her and found her entire breast to be hard so I started treatment for impacted crop. This is the third day and I have continued olive oil and message with no luck. She is pulling her head down to her chest, stretching her neck and it sounds as if she is hissing or gasping. I gave her a warm bath today and separated her. I haven't seen her eating,or passing any stool or eggs for the last 2 days. She was dipping into the water dish but I think it was for show. Tonight I opened her mouth wide and cant find her tongue! Her throat is all crudy and when I stuck a q tip down it came back with a yellow sludge. Her throat looked very small. Im afraid she is suffering and will likely put her out of her misery tomorrow if you dont think there aren't any other attempts that can be made. Sadly she is my daughters favorite and was an excellent layer of beautiful blue eggs

 

[CochinLover1]

That is very sad. This does sound pretty severe. When bird is showing this many symptoms and not pulling out of it, it's not a good sign. I am sorry, I do not have a lot of advice for this. I've seen crazy things, but I'm afraid I haven't had this.

 

[chickens really]

3 days ago I noticed one of my 6 month old hens looking hunched and fluffed up. She was still venturing out with the flock and following me but not with her usual zest. The second day I inspected her and found her entire breast to be hard so I started treatment for impacted crop. This is the third day and I have continued olive oil and message with no luck. She is pulling her head down to her chest, stretching her neck and it sounds as if she is hissing or gasping. I gave her a warm bath today and separated her. I haven't seen her eating,or passing any stool or eggs for the last 2 days. She was dipping into the water dish but I think it was for show. Tonight I opened her mouth wide and cant find her tongue! Her throat is all crudy and when I stuck a q tip down it came back with a yellow sludge. Her throat looked very small. Im afraid she is suffering and will likely put her out of her misery tomorrow if you dont think there aren't any other attempts that can be made. Sadly she is my daughters favorite and was an excellent layer of beautiful blue eggs

@TwoCrows

She could help you........



Cheers!

 

[Eggcessive]

Two Crows is indeed a good source for crop problems. Can you take her to a vet this AM? I worry about a foreign body, crop impaction, even an infection such as wet pox, canker, or others blocking her airway or esophagus. Some of those require quick response. Try to get fluids into her with a dropper very slowly, and bring her inside for warmth. Good luck.

 

[TwoCrows]

I am so sorry about your hen! Stop with the oil. It will only make things even gummier. Water water and more water is what a crop needs. Sometimes an over oiled crop never moves. So no more oil.

Is the crop stuffed with grass and stiff vegetation? (you can tell by the poop if there is grass in it) and such or is it doughy like, spongy and you can squeeze it and it holds it's shape? The first description would be an impaction. You will need to use some sort softener to break down the stiff vegetation in the crop. Many times they have a gizzard impaction as well. I use plain Dulculax Stool softener. (Docusate Sodium 100mg. Never use anything with stimulants)

If the crop is doughy she has a yeast infection. These are very difficult to treat. I have had luck with my yeast buster recipe however if the yeast is really rip roaring, you will need to use Copper Sulfate. See this article I wrote on crops and what ails them... https://www.backyardchickens.com/a/impacted-slow-and-sour-crops-prevention-and-treatments

Right now as we speak, I have a hen that I nearly put down because of a VERY bad yeast infection her her crop. Felt like she had a tennis ball in her crop full of dough. I tried everything I could think of and lastly used the Copper Sulfate. 2 weeks later, the yeast finally evacuated her crop. No doubt she still has yeast in her system, but at least the crop is empty.

Crops can back up and become impacted or yeasty for a lot of reasons. Some of them are simple because maybe they ate too much grass or too many sweet berries or something. But many times crops have issues because the bird has worms and at the age your hen is, Coccidiosis will slow down a crop. When worms or any internal parasites multiply to the point of filling the intestines, the crop is going to become slow and yes, it can impact if the bird can't move the food through the system.

So I would suggest reading the article carefully and try and determine exactly what and why, treat what you can and see if the bird responds. And definitely, if you have an avian vet, take her there. They can help you with meds should the bird have Enteritis or something along this line.

Good luck and I hope you can get her healed!!

 

[adreilly]

Unfortunately the nearest vet is a 2 hour drive and the cost estimate exceeds what I can spend. We are going to put her out of her misery today

 

[TwoCrows]

The loss of the tongue and the yellow crud sounds like possibly canker. Cankers can invade the opening to the stomach from the crop and up the esophagus.

I am so sorry. She sounds like she is in pretty bad shape.

 

[TwoCrows]

Canker is contagious. You might get all your birds on either Copper Sulfate or Metronidazole. Either of these will help with Canker. It's a protazoa and is normally brought in by wild birds.

 

[Eggcessive]

Sorry about your hen if you had to put her down today. Acidified copper sulfate dosage is 1/4 tsp. per gallon of water for 3 days every minth to help in prevention of canker in a flock positive for canker. It is found easily online at Jefferspet.com for just a few dollars if you want to treat your flock preventatively. Metronidazole (fishzole, Flagyl) is also available online presently through pigeon and fish med companies to treat an active infection. Most people recommend removing the canker tissue if possible. There are many threads on BYC about canker. Thanks to Two Crows for getting back to you.

 

[adreilly]

Thank you to everyone for the replies. I had some hope yesterday after she had a small liquid stool and was standing but this morning she is down again and I'm torn. I will try to get some copper and flagyl and see if there's any hope. I just worry she is suffering needlessly.