HELP! WHAT IS WRONG WITH MY CHICKEN!?

[sabrina11]

Hello I need help please! My chicken is gasping for air and has a giant pouch that is squishy! What's wrong with her? I have made her puke but it's not getting smaller. Please help as soon as possible!!

 

[Teila]

Howdy sabrina11

I am definitely not an expert when it comes to what ails chickens but gasping for air could be a sign of pain, gape worms, crop issues, egg binding, respiratory issues and so much more.

The fact that her crop is “squishy” could indicate impacted or sour crop and I would definitely start here:

https://www.backyardchickens.com/a/impacted-slow-and-sour-crops-prevention-and-treatments

Also, poops can be a good indication of something amiss and what it is; these two charts may be of assistance:

http://chat.allotment-garden.org/index.php?topic=17568.0

http://www.the-chicken-chick.com/2012/02/whats-scoop-on-chicken-poop-digestive.html

Hopefully someone else more experienced than myself will respond and some information that they may find helpful would be her breed, age, weight, is she laying yet, how long has she had the symptoms, is she eating and drinking, is her comb colour good?

Good luck with her, I hope you are able to find the reason and treat her.

 

[sabrina11]

Howdy sabrina11

I am definitely not an expert when it comes to what ails chickens but gasping for air could be a sign of pain, gape worms, crop issues, egg binding, respiratory issues and so much more.

The fact that her crop is “squishy” could indicate impacted or sour crop and I would definitely start here:

https://www.backyardchickens.com/a/impacted-slow-and-sour-crops-prevention-and-treatments

Also, poops can be a good indication of something amiss and what it is; these two charts may be of assistance:

http://chat.allotment-garden.org/index.php?topic=17568.0

http://www.the-chicken-chick.com/2012/02/whats-scoop-on-chicken-poop-digestive.html

Hopefully someone else more experienced than myself will respond and some information that they may find helpful would be her breed, age, weight, is she laying yet, how long has she had the symptoms, is she eating and drinking, is her comb colour good?

Good luck with her, I hope you are able to find the reason and treat her.

She's not gasping for air anymore and now her pouch is big and hard so confusing

 

[chickcrack]

It sounds like your hen may have got fluid in her lungs while you were attempting to empty her crop. This will cause that raspy gasping sound. If she is breathing better now but has a hard crop it is probably blocked. My suggestion is please don't try to make her puke again. It could kill her. I have had luck with blocked crops by massaging crop in a downward motion every few hours - no chicken food or scratch for at least 24 hours and an epsom salt flush asap (1/2 tsp epsom salt to 1/8 cup of water) u will need to give it to her with a syringe. Ensure she has plenty of water available to her and stand back. Because whenthat crop let's go it's messy! Wish u best of luck.

 

[sabrina11]

It sounds like your hen may have got fluid in her lungs while you were attempting to empty her crop. This will cause that raspy gasping sound. If she is breathing better now but has a hard crop it is probably blocked. My suggestion is please don't try to make her puke again. It could kill her. I have had luck with blocked crops by massaging crop in a downward motion every few hours - no chicken food or scratch for at least 24 hours and an epsom salt flush asap (1/2 tsp epsom salt to 1/8 cup of water) u will need to give it to her with a syringe. Ensure she has plenty of water available to her and stand back. Because whenthat crop let's go it's messy! Wish u best of luck.

We have not made her puke for 8 hours now and her crop is normal feeling but still really big and she had this for at least 48 hours now and it has been soft then hard back and forth. She was getting lots of fluid out of her lungs by herself