Hen Dying!! Sour crop/reproductive issue? UPDATED

[SonnyPon]

(Pic from Friday)
Hi all! I have a hen named Daisy and she is very very deathly ill. She is 7 years old and grew Rooster plumage, spurs, and comb over this summer.
Then a few days ago she began acting sick. She wasn’t walking much, acted sleepy and when she tipped her head down she would yank it back up and act like she was drinking. (Starting from Sept 7 as far as I know). We determined on Sept 8 that she had sour crop and have been treating her twice a day with Miconazole since. She was drinking some before but today she has no interest at all.
Some other notes: I put a small dog harness with a push-up as a makeshift crop bra on her last night and it seems to work when she’s laying down at least. It doesn’t fit right. Also, I felt her abdomen (for signs of reproductive cancer since she has male plumage) and I didn’t feel anything abnormal. She’s just very skinny now.
Her poo is very runny and slightly green.
Possible causes:
We recently put straw down to grow grass. Maybe she ate some? Also, they like to dump their food out of their bowl and onto the ground. It’s possible they’re eating old moldy food on the ground? I give them fresh every day but it does collect on the ground.

9-11-23 Update: Woke up this morning and found her bright-eyed and bushy-tailed?! We gave her Nutridrench yesterday and I think it worked overnight. Yesterday she only slept and hardly moved, now she's up (shakily) walking and is drinking on her own again! Her crop is still full though so after her Miconazole and more Nutridrench I'm worried about overflowing her. I even skipped her treatment last night b/c I thought she wouldn't make it...

 

[Tookie]

Welcome to BYC!
So sorry to hear about Daisy.

How does her crop feel? How full is it? Have you checked her crop early in the morning to make sure it's empty?
What's her diet?
Does she still lay eggs?

Her time may have come, sadly. She is an old girl. Hopefully that's not the case though.
What I would do, is try giving her high protein things like meat, fish, and eggs right away.
I'd also mix 1tspn of sugar with 1 cup of warm water and a pinch of baking soda and salt and give her a 1/4 cup or so of it.

 

[SonnyPon]

Welcome to BYC!
So sorry to hear about Daisy.

How does her crop feel? How full is it? Have you checked her crop early in the morning to make sure it's empty?
What's her diet?
Does she still lay eggs?

Her time may have come, sadly. She is an old girl. Hopefully that's not the case though.
What I would do, is try giving her high protein things like meat, fish, and eggs right away.
I'd also mix 1tspn of sugar with 1 cup of warm water and a pinch of baking soda and salt and give her a 1/4 cup or so of it.

Woah thank you so much for the quick reply! Her crop is very squishy, nothing lumpy or hard. I checked her around 8am yesterday and 9am today and both times her crop was not empty. Doubt she’s eating on her own though.
I don’t assume she’s been laying eggs for a while since she grew rooster features. Admittedly, we’ve been having trouble finding where our chickens are laying eggs
I cooked up some oatmeal to give her this morning but I wasn’t able to get her to eat it. I’ll try some eggs. She’s so full that I’m worried she’ll overflow if I give her more, like she has the past couple days ),:

I would be willing to accept that her old age is the cause but all these other factors make me wonder…

 

[Tookie]

Woah thank you so much for the quick reply!

My pleasure! It sounded urgent so I thought I'd help!

Her crop is very squishy, nothing lumpy or hard. I checked her around 8am yesterday and 9am today and both times her crop was not empty.

It does sound like sour crop, so keep treating her for that.
Here's a good article on crop issues.->
https://www.backyardchickens.com/ar...w-to-know-which-one-youre-dealing-with.73607/
Apologies if you already found it.

I cooked up some oatmeal to give her this morning but I wasn’t able to get her to eat it. I’ll try some eggs.

Ok, well try as much as you can to get some food into her.
You could also try wetting feed and syringing it into her if she won't eat.

She’s so full that I’m worried she’ll overflow if I give her more, like she has the past couple days ),:

Aw, poor girl.
Previous hens I've had in the past with sour crop, I emptied it a bit. What I did was have her elevated off the ground some, with her head hanging over the side of whatever she's standing on. All I really did was lower her head until the crop contents started coming out of her mouth, I also massaged the crop a bit. So that worked for me and I didn't have any issues with doing it. Still be cautious though!

I would be willing to accept that her old age is the cause but all these other factors make me wonder…

 

[LaFleche]

Hello and welcome to the BYC community!

At already 7 years old and having changed to rooster feathering, I suspect her to suffer from ovarian cancer that seems to have grown to such size that it is obstructing her digestive tract.

Feel her lower abdomen. Is it enlarged, hard or rather squishy like a water filled balloon?

 

[SonnyPon]

My pleasure! It sounded urgent so I thought I'd help!

It does sound like sour crop, so keep treating her for that.
Here's a good article on crop issues.->
https://www.backyardchickens.com/ar...w-to-know-which-one-youre-dealing-with.73607/
Apologies if you already found it.

Ok, well try as much as you can to get some food into her.
You could also try wetting feed and syringing it into her if she won't eat.

Aw, poor girl.
Previous hens I've had in the past with sour crop, I emptied it a bit. What I did was have her elevated off the ground some, with her head hanging over the side of whatever she's standing on. All I really did was lower her head until the crop contents started coming out of her mouth, I also massaged the crop a bit. So that worked for me and I didn't have any issues with doing it. Still be cautious though!

I’ll try to syringe feed her because she definitely needs some food. Might have to empty her crop some even though I’ve read mixed things about doing that.
Thank you so much for your advice I really appreciate it! <3 I’ll update this post with any changes (good or bad) as me and Daisy keep trudging through.

 

[SonnyPon]

Hello and welcome to the BYC community!

At already 7 years old and having changed to rooster feathering, I suspect her to suffer from ovarian cancer that seems to have grown to such size that it is obstructing her digestive tract.

Feel her lower abdomen. Is it enlarged, hard or rather squishy like a water filled balloon?

I suspect the same I’ll compare what I felt on her with another of my chickens just to be sure but I don’t think I felt anything different. Hard to tell if it’s “hard” because she’s lost weight and could just be skinny, right? Even if it’s cancer, I’m trying my best for what I know I guess. Hope she’s not too uncomfortable if these are her last moments.

 

[SonnyPon]

@azygous I apologize for bothering you but do you have any ideas?
@Tookie I updated my post for what she’s like today! She’s still very lethargic ofc but seems better!

 

[Tookie]

@azygous I apologize for bothering you but do you have any ideas?
@Tookie I updated my post for what she’s like today! She’s still very lethargic ofc but seems better!

Glad she's improved a bit!
I would just keep doing what you're doing, I would give the Nutri-Drench too everyday.

 

[azygous]

I lost three chickens this summer. One was an older hen with sour crop that refused to respond to any treatment. I tried them all, Epsom salts, copper sulfate and of course miconazole. Because of her age, I suspected a reproductive tumor. She died just hours before I had planned to euthanize her. I did a quick necropsy but couldn't see anything definitive, but it did look like some small tumors in the upper oviduct.

I'm afraid your girl is in this category. Syringe feeding probably won't get enough food into her to make a difference, but tube feeding might. It allows a lot more food to get into the chicken very quickly, reducing stress for you both. If you haven't tried copper sulfate yet, I would give it a try. It's the strongest treatment for yeast infections there is. If that fails, as it did with my hen, then you need to accept she isn't going to get better and perhaps consider ending it for her.