Hen drinking a lot, being lethargic, and more

[3chickenfriends]

Hi recently I've realized that one of my hens has not been acting normal. She would not come inside the coop with the rest of the flock until we manually put her in, when she got in she'd just stand in the corner of the coop isolating herself from the other hens,her feces is liquidy and green, she's been drinking a lot of water and sometimes having it spill out of her mouth on her own and when being picked up, her eyes are usually closing and she moves very slowly as if she is sleeping during the day. Not sure if she had any normal chicken food but she had some corn. We also thought she was egg bound from her tiredness and posture but after checking her vent we did not feel an egg but still proceeded to let her sit in an Epsom salt water combo for 15 minutes. She appeared to be fine while in the bath but then continued back to her old ways when it was over. No egg has been laid and I'm not sure what to do. I researched things that could be wrong with her crop and since it is evening I read it was not good to try to massage it to see if anything came up. There isn't a poultry vet nearby and I'm extremely worried about my sweet hen. Please help with possible diagnosis and treatment.

 

[SuperChickRuth]

Check in the morning if her crop's empty. If it's not empty, she might have a crop issue. Just a thought.

If you have Nutri-Drench, I strongly advise you give that to her, just to strengthen her up.

Poor girl, I pray she gets better. -Good idea putting her in the bath.

~SuperChickRuth

 

[3chickenfriends]

Check in the morning if her crop's empty.  If it's not empty, she might have a crop issue.  Just a thought.

If you have Nutri-Drench, I strongly advise you give that to her, just to strengthen her up.  

Poor girl, I pray she gets better.  -Good idea putting her in the bath.  

~SuperChickRuth

Thanks SuperChickRuth! This morning we checked her crop which was full and decided to empty it by massaging, at first our hen, beep beep, was hesitant and trying to hold it down but eventually after massaging and tipping her, she threw up brown liquid and various pieces we recognized from the happy hens treats (I think that's what it's called) party mix. We are no longer planning on giving our hens those and so we isolated beep beep from the other hens, took out their regular feed and gave her plain yogurt and soft bread with no crust soaked in olive oil. I'm not sure her crop is completely empty yet and plan on massaging her downwards in a few hours. We don't think it's sour crop since her breath doesn't seem to smell, maybe just backed up? But I still am unsure when she will be recovered enough to eat regular food again. Also I am going on vacation for a week and is nervous for her well being. Any recommendations we can do before we leave Monday morning? Another Epsom salt bath? (Also I read on some blogs giving them red wine helps which I am opposed to doing, don't want an alcoholic chicken )

Thanks so much for your help!,
-3chickenfriends

 

[3chickenfriends]

UPDATE:

She's been drinking A LOT of water since we tried to empty her crop. I know that should only be done in the morning so I won't do it again until probably tomorrow I read that it was just her trying to get everything flushed out of her which sounds reasonable. I want to make sure she gets everything that remains out because we can tell she's still not 100% cleaned out. Any way that we can make sure she poops whatever she has out between today and Monday?

Thanks,
-3chickenfriends

 

[SuperChickRuth]

Good, is she still lethargic, though?

Yeah, we had a chicken with sour crop, and her breath did smell, and also her... spit up.
I think possibly you just caught sour crop early- which is really good! Sour crop can kill.

You are doing an awesome job taking care of her, just keep her on a simple diet- Apple cider vinegar water, -oh and add water to her regular feed to make a mush. I also gave our chicken plain yogurt, but some people don't think it's as good for a sick chicken as it creates mucus in the crop or something.

Here's a link that talks about all the science and treatment of sour crop.

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

I don't know why, but some chickens always seem to get sick right when you're trying to go somewhere. I agree, don't use red wine.

And I am not sure about the last sentence in your last post- I think a chicken's got to do what a chicken's got to do in their own time-I have never heard of a chicken laxative. She's probably get it out though before then, though.

Sorry for making this so long, and for the "half answers."
I am a little unsure about leaving Beep Beep in her condition, but make sure whoever is taking care of your gals (other chickens) knows about her illness.

~SuperChickRuth

 

[3chickenfriends]

Good, is she still lethargic, though?   

Yeah, we had a chicken with sour crop, and her breath did smell, and also her... spit up.  
I think possibly you just caught sour crop early- which is really good!  Sour crop can kill.  

You are doing an awesome job taking care of her, just keep her on a simple diet- Apple cider vinegar water, -oh and add water to her regular feed to make a mush.  I also gave our chicken plain yogurt, but some people don't think it's as good for a sick chicken as it creates mucus in the crop or something.  

Here's a link that talks about all the science and treatment of sour crop.  

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

I don't know why, but some chickens always seem to get sick right when you're trying to go somewhere.  I agree, don't use red wine.  

And I am not sure about the last sentence in your last post- I think a chicken's got to do what a chicken's got to do in their own time-I have never heard of a chicken laxative.  She's probably get it out though before then, though.  

Sorry for making this so long, and for the "half answers."  
I am a little unsure about leaving Beep Beep in her condition, but make sure whoever is taking care of your gals (other chickens) knows about her illness.  

~SuperChickRuth

Thanks so much SuperChickRuth, we do plan on informing the person taking care of our ladies about her condition. Last night she did not sleep on the roosting bar, but she did get on it tonight! Her crop is much better and I guess it is a full as it would be after drinking water and having some apple sauce. We did empty her crop one more time early in the afternoon and she spit out more party mix. Although she was more alert after that and we gave her an Epsom salt bath right after the second emptying. We continued to massage her crop and made some apple sauce which I read was easy to digest. She had a pretty good amount and some water. When put back into the coop, she did only hang around the applesauce and water and then did go back to her ways of standing in the corner. Later, she took a nap by the food for some time then once she woke up, I massaged her and fed her some plain yogurt. More massaging then we finally put her back in the coop and she is with the other chickens and sleeping on the roosting stick. I assumed from all this she is doing much better than yesterday, although she hasn't pooped that much today maybe only two or three times and it was liquidy. I think the nap and the lethargicness is just because she had a long day from throwing up and being treated. Hopefully tomorrow she is feeling better, has pooped and maybe is able to pass whatever's left of the party mix in her crop. I did read the article which made me a little nervous but I do think we caught it early and truly believe she will be okay by Monday and back to eating soft feed. I will update with her condition tomorrow, praying for a nice empty crop!

Thanks for the article and more input!
-3chickenfriends

 

[SuperChickRuth]

Sorry- didn't mean to scare you with that article!

Let me just say, I am impress with how on this you are! Just keep doing what you're doing!

If I come across anything else about this I'll let you know!

And yeah, it seems like she's getting better!

Empty crop tomorrow!

~SuperChickRuth

 

[3chickenfriends]

Sorry- didn't mean to scare you with that article!  

Let me just say, I am impress with how on this you are!  Just keep doing what you're doing!  

If I come across anything else about this I'll let you know!  

And yeah, it seems like she's getting better!  

Empty crop tomorrow!  

~SuperChickRuth

Hey SuperChickRuth,

Great news! This morning I checked Beep Beep's crop which wasn't full at all! It was pretty much empty (because she did have some food before I checked her). We've given her some dampened crumble to eat which she munched on and she also tried some of the regular food. She's still isolated from the other hens so they don't get in her way but we put her in the outside pen which yesterday she was just standing in the corner but today she is pecking around the dirt moving a lot and is more alert. Her breath doesn't smell fermented while I was massaging her (downwards) earlier so I'm 99% sure she does not have sour crop and we got it early enough that this was just something we had to get through. Glad she is feel so much better before we leave. We're still monitoring Beep Beep's poop and we are also watching her comb which is somewhat flopped over and has a touch of dark purple at the end which seems to come and go. I know comb color change can be serious and I can upload a picture later for a better visual but if you have any suggestions of what to do to make sure she's 100%, I'd love to hear back from you. I love your commentary, you've been such a great help throughout these past few stressful days, I appreciate it a lot (and so do my gals ).

Thanks again,
-3chickenfriends

 

[SuperChickRuth]

Alright!!!

I am so happy for you and Beep Beep!

I would just keep giving her "easy to digest" food, and some yogurt to restore good gut flora. (Don't ask me what gut flora is- I have a general idea, but whatever it is, it's good.

I have read (and said) that some people don't agree with giving yogurt to sour crop victims, but when our chicken had sour crop, we gave her yogurt, and she recovered. That has been my personal experience, and I don't think it caused her any harm.

Have you seen any grass in Beep Beep's feces? Like long strands of grass?

I found this definition of sour crop: Sour crop is basically a yeast infection in the chicken’s crop. It occurs most often because of an impacted crop that hasn’t been cleared, and yeast begins to grow and feed on the food that is stuck in the crop.
Based on that, I wouldn't give her applesauce, because sugar feeds the yeast.

Oh, and you could give her probiotics if you have any on hand- just to give her a boost.


Have a great trip, and keep me updated!

~SuperChickRuth

 

[3chickenfriends]

Alright!!!   e I am so happy for you and Beep Beep!  

I would just keep giving her "easy to digest" food, and some [COLOR=222222]yogurt to restore good gut flora.  (Don't ask me what gut flora is- I have a general idea, but whatever it is, it's good.  [/COLOR]

[COLOR=222222]I have read (and said) that some people don't agree with giving yogurt to sour crop victims, but when our chicken had sour crop, we gave her yogurt, and she recovered.  That has been my personal experience, and I don't think it caused her any harm.  [/COLOR]

[COLOR=222222]Have you seen any grass in Beep Beep's feces?  Like long strands of grass?  [/COLOR]

[COLOR=222222]I found this definition of sour crop:  [/COLOR][COLOR=666666]Sour crop is basically a yeast infection in the chicken’s crop. It occurs most often because of an impacted crop that hasn’t been cleared, and yeast begins to grow and feed on the food that is stuck in the crop.[/COLOR]
Based on that, I wouldn't give her applesauce, because sugar feeds the yeast.  

Oh, and y[COLOR=111111]ou could give her p[/COLOR][COLOR=111111]robiotics if you have any on hand- just to give her a boost.  [/COLOR]


Have a great trip, and keep me updated!  

~SuperChickRuth 

Hey SuperChickRuth, here's the latest update:
I haven't been home all day so I wasn't able to monitor Beep Beep but I did see her drink a good amount of water and witnessed her poop(?). I'm not sure if I can even call it that since it was just a little liquid and white stuff. I am somewhat concerned but at the same time I realize that I have to remember that humans don't go back to normal that fast and chickens probably won't either. Although emptying her crop seemed long ago, it was only yesterday and we have to give her time. I know that she's had soft food (but I'm not sure what she ate while I was gone) and what would there be to poop out from all that? Given that, there was no long strands of grass in her feces. I will most likely give her some more yogurt soon or tomorrow morning before leaving and hopefully she will be feeling even better. As for her comb, it is still flopped over and a little bit dark purple at the end. I read dehydration causes a flopped comb on another page on backyard chicken I don't know about the darkness though. Maybe it's from not having the water in her system because of the crop emptying I don't know these things do take time. If you have another good article send away! They're really helpful. I took a picture of her comb but webpage glitched and I couldn't attach it so I'm sorry about that. And thank you! I'm sure our trip will be great and it will be awesome if Beep Beep hangs on while we're away. I will update you tomorrow morning with her condition.

-3chickenfriends