Help! She's not eating!

[bmayer]

I have run into some trouble this week with my absolute FAVORITES girl, Mindy. She developed quite the impacted crop at the beginning of the week. We gave her small amounts of watered down mushy pellets and massaged her crop at least twice a day all week. She has lost a ton of weight, you can see her breast bone protruding under her feathers and she is tiny now when she used to be one of my fatter ones a few weeks ago. The crop is finally almost empty, except for a large marble sized lump. She has been eating well and drinking like a fiend through the whole thing until yesterday. She only picked at her mash in the morning and wasn't interested in any of it by the evening. She has been pecking at every tiny speck on the floor of my kitchen and always tries to steal whatever it is that I'm eating, especially potato chips! (She tried stealing one out of my mouth last night

). So she is definitely hungry but just not eating what she should be and she basically only eats if I hand feed it to her. I got her to eat a slice of bread, with water so it was mushy since we still seem to have a crop problem, about a teaspoon of peanut butter, about a tablespoon of banana, and a teaspoon of leftover beef roast from last night. She's still at least drinking really really well. She is disinterested in peanut butter now and won't eat raw eggs. I'm going no to try cooking some eggs to see if she will eat that, though I'm not terribly hopeful to be honest

. Any ideas about what the heck is going on with my baby and different things I should try would be amazing! I'm so scared I'm going to lose her.

 

[Wyorp Rock]

I have run into some trouble this week with my absolute FAVORITES girl, Mindy. She developed quite the impacted crop at the beginning of the week. We gave her small amounts of watered down mushy pellets and massaged her crop at least twice a day all week. She has lost a ton of weight, you can see her breast bone protruding under her feathers and she is tiny now when she used to be one of my fatter ones a few weeks ago. The crop is finally almost empty, except for a large marble sized lump. She has been eating well and drinking like a fiend through the whole thing until yesterday. She only picked at her mash in the morning and wasn't interested in any of it by the evening. She has been pecking at every tiny speck on the floor of my kitchen and always tries to steal whatever it is that I'm eating, especially potato chips! (She tried stealing one out of my mouth last night

). So she is definitely hungry but just not eating what she should be and she basically only eats if I hand feed it to her. I got her to eat a slice of bread, with water so it was mushy since we still seem to have a crop problem, about a teaspoon of peanut butter, about a tablespoon of banana, and a teaspoon of leftover beef roast from last night. She's still at least drinking really really well. She is disinterested in peanut butter now and won't eat raw eggs. I'm going no to try cooking some eggs to see if she will eat that, though I'm not terribly hopeful to be honest

. Any ideas about what the heck is going on with my baby and different things I should try would be amazing! I'm so scared I'm going to lose her.

I'm sorry you are having trouble.

Look up threads and articles by @casportpony you may have to try to tube feed her, she has great info on that or if you pm her she may be able to give you some insight.

To be honest I would stop the peanut butter, chips and raw eggs at the moment. Focus on keeping her hydrated. You could give her some scrambled or hard boiled egg or tuna for some protein or try the wet pellets again.

Any idea what caused the impact? Long grass, straw, hay, foreign object? Did she have access to grit?

Here is another link that could possibly help.
https://www.backyardchickens.com/t/948002/impacted-crop

 

[bmayer]

Does this answer your question? Haha she pooped this out last night. She's been passing grass slowly, but this is this first time she's passed something this huge. She did pass one similar to this the other day but not nearly as big. Shes been drinking right along, she's a drinking fiend. They get grit thrown into their run daily, though she's not one to go crazy for it. I will try the tuna and cooked egg this morning. Fingers crossed!

 

[bmayer]

She LOVES the tuna! Currently boiling an egg to try that as well.

 

[bmayer]

Egg was a miserable failure, she won't even look at it

still drinking very well, ate about a half oz of tuna then drank a bunch

 

[Wyorp Rock]

Does this answer your question? Haha she pooped this out last night. She's been passing grass slowly, but this is this first time she's passed something this huge. She did pass one similar to this the other day but not nearly as big. Shes been drinking right along, she's a drinking fiend. They get grit thrown into their run daily, though she's not one to go crazy for it. I will try the tuna and cooked egg this morning. Fingers crossed!

She LOVES the tuna! Currently boiling an egg to try that as well.

Egg was a miserable failure, she won't even look at it

still drinking very well, ate about a half oz of tuna then drank a bunch

Yep! That answered the question LOL hope she felt better after that!
Drinking is good, she is trying to hydrate herself and move that stuff on out.
The only other thing I have read that may help with a slow crop is give her just a couple SMALL pieces of bread soaked in olive oil. Maybe will help break it up and get things moving.
Some don't like egg, but it's worth a try. Tuna is a good source of protein. Hopefully she will get the rest out so she can start gaining weight back.

 

[bmayer]

She passed another chunk similar to that one inside a normal ball of poop later this morning but that one was only about an inch long. I'm just glad things seem to be passing larger things more frequently. She ate a slice of bread soaked in water yesterday, I will try the oil today.

 

[Wyorp Rock]

How is your girl doing?

 

[bmayer]

How is your girl doing?

Not so good. She's still fairly perky but not as perky as she's been and now she won't eat anything on her own. She nibbled at some wet pellets this morning but that was about it. She pooped out a little bit of hay this afternoon and is still passing small amounts of poop. She's still drinking well at least. I am still able to get meal worms into her without protest. I soaked them in olive oil until they were soft and she gobbled those right up. She loved the tuna yesterday but hates it today. Still no luck with cooked eggs. She mother at some mushed up blackberry today but that was about it. To top it all off one of our (seemingly) healthy chickens was found dead in the coop this afternoon. She had been fine at lunchtime. It's hard to be optimistic with Mindy when a healthy one died. Very discouraged tonight.

 

[Wyorp Rock]

I'm sorry you are having trouble.

Look up threads and articles by @casportpony you may have to try to tube feed her, she has great info on that or if you pm her she may be able to give you some insight.

To be honest I would stop the peanut butter, chips and raw eggs at the moment. Focus on keeping her hydrated. You could give her some scrambled or hard boiled egg or tuna for some protein or try the wet pellets again.

Any idea what caused the impact? Long grass, straw, hay, foreign object? Did she have access to grit?

Here is another link that could possibly help.
https://www.backyardchickens.com/t/948002/impacted-crop

Did you by any chance have time to look at any threads by @casportpony or pm her? She has info on tube feeding, if she has still not passed whatever it is an is losing weight you may have to try to tube her. Kathy may have some other suggestions, she is quite experienced and knowledgeable.

Hope she takes a turn for the better soon.

I am sorry you lost a different chicken today