Hen/fluidy unswollen crop/no smell/wont thow up,eat,or drink!

[WiscoChiko]

Quik before I leave She made a Poo!!! It looks decent I guess. The dark part is quite compact looks like a lil puppy poo! The white part is kinda Gooey and it has a slight ummmm well sour smell to it?

Gosh I hope she pulls through! Wisco

 

[tryxichicks]

Apple cider vinegar is WONDERFUL! Just really bad for hens if they have canker or sour crop, it makes it worse, way worse. I give my hens ACV twice month mixed with water in a separate waterer, just not in this case... I apologize for the confusion. And don't squirt water into her throat, if she breathes it in (aspirates it) it could drown her or eventually cause pneumonia. Be very gentle and just drop by drop slowly put tiny amount on the side of her beak, below where it can go into her nostrils, she will drink. Be very patient though. Good luck. Keep us updated, try mixing a small amount of yogurt with egg yolk (from a hard boiled egg). Try to pull her mouth open a tiny bit and wipe a bit of the mix onto her tongue, just a tiny bit at a time so she can't shake it out do it 3 times a day if possible, its stressful and slow, but you have to do something if the vet is out of the question. (which i don't know that it is)
And the stinky poo sounds like sour crop...

 

[embrown]

Okay, I am not an expert but this is what I will add. I was told that if it is sour crop you definitely need to get yogurt into her, and some said to use apple sauce and you can mix in pro-biotic from a human dose pill, if she will not eat yogurt, justg open up the capsul and sprinkle it into her food mash, egg or apple sauce. I too was confused about the ACV but I have always used it, I believe in it as a product, and so I had one day of acv, and one day of electrolytes. My girl's crop was more like puddy than water balloon. it was gulfball sized, not huge, but unchanging. My girl's crop had no smell from it and even when I opened her up there was no smell, just long grass, apple with skin, and scrambled egg. She has had no access to apple or grass in more than a week so it was definitely stuck in there. I think the ACV may have prevented everything from going sour, but that is just a belief not evidence. I just do not know how all that was in there but not disgusting. Mine had completely watery pooh which was definitely a sign of no noutrients being absorbed, yours is a more solid pooh. My pooh did smell sour and strong but her crop was not sour, but impacted. Mine was pretty perky until yesterday and would eat the egg, apple sauce, yogurt and was drinking. Yours is not eating or drinking. After the surgery, mine is not so perky and looks a bit more quiet. I am more worried now than before. I lost a hen to what I believe wasegg bound or something and her bottom was very puffy, swollen, hot, she was sneezing, was not eating and she went pretty fast. I did see in the very long and informative post by ruth about crop surgery, that the crop can be water balloon like because there may be long grass or straw at the bottom, or even down in to the tube leading to the gizzard that is in the way. I guess, what is confusing for me is that you are getting somewhat solid Pooh which means some food is getting through, I imagine. I wonder about the molasis and water treatment that is supposed to flush things, maybe that would get out any infection, I just can not remember when to use this treatment, maybe someone can chime in or you can look it up. I wish you the best in finding out what is wrong and what to do about it. The info is so mixed as to be confusing. Some say cull the sick chicken and do not "play vet", some say do all you can and rest knowing you tried to help and rejoice if it works, and still others say let nature take it's course which seems cruel to me, and still others will suggest an expensive vet trip if you can even find one who will work on chickens. I guess that you might look up what to do for infections, sour crop, impacted crop, and see what helps all these things and just try them all. I wish the best for you and pray you find something to bring peace to your heart and a lack of suffering to your hen,. For me, I could not just kill her, nor could I let her starve to death, so I did the only other option and believe we did the best we could. We are praying she pulls through.

 

[WiscoChiko]

Stopped home for lunch and to check on her she seems ok? I kinda wiggled her crop around and can hear fluid like in my belly when i shake it lol? Wisco

 

[ruth]

Quote:
If it seems like it's just full of fluid you can get her to throw up. I've had to empty a hen or two and it was an awful black foul smelling liquid. You just have to be very careful that they don't get any down their windpipe - so here's what I do:

Hold the hen firmly next to your body using your right elbow. Using your right hand hold her just behind her head. Now tip her totally upside down, stretching out her neck and head. Use your left hand to open her beak and hold it open. If her neck is extended and she's fully upside down, any fluid in the crop will automatically come out.

Now the tricky part - Do NOT let her lift her head while the fluid is coming out. She will try to move and will try to lift her head but if you let her she can get fluid down her windpipe. Just be sure to hold her firmly in place, neck extended, holding her mouth open so she can't close her mouth and swallow or inhale. If stuff isn't coming out right away or seems to stop - use the index finger on your right hand, the hand holding behind her head to hold her mouth open and use your left hand to massage the crop and try and push any remaining fluid out.

Of course, if you have someone else to help hold the hen - well you get the idea. I always have to work alone so I've come up with one person methods. The main point is to hold her completely upside down with neck fully extended, head down, mouth open and be able to massage the crop if necessary. I promise you if there's fluid in there, it will come out.

Best of luck. Keep us posted.

 

[WiscoChiko]

Well Ruth I had already tried this to no success but tried again stretching her neck out more oh it scares me! And this is what we got not sure what it is made up of other than her layer crumbles will do it again tonight, you can see a full size bic lighter beside it for size referance. It smells alil sour but not to bad!! Not sure its over but something happened anyway!

Now What?

 

[ruth]

Quote:
How does the crop feel now? You had said it felt like it was full of liquid or gas. From what I see, it only had a little bit of food in it and did look like her poop was normal. She may not have anything wrong with her crop. She may be sick from something else. When did you last worm her?

If the crop still feels like it's full of liquid, you may need to try again or try massaging it and see if you can break up whatever is in there. Since you just emptied it, it should feel empty and flat. I'm thinking it may not be her crop at this point but I can't offer any other ideas other than to worm her if you haven't and keep her isolated and with nice soft foods.

 

[WiscoChiko]

Well the crop was not empty I could feel that when I finished the last session, So I just did it again, same amount of the same stuff.
It is still not empty so I will do it again later. Her crop shouldve been empty because she hadnt eatn in 2 days prior. Thanks and will keep updating, Wisco
I worm twice a year with wazine and ivermectin horse paste on bread and 7 dust every other monthish and find no lice/mites.

 

[ruth]

It may be blocked/impacted a little farther down. I would try to get as much as possible out and keep massaging, trying to break up anything else, and take her off food for a day. If she's drinking you can add some vitamins/electrolytes to her water - or - crush up some B vitamins and add. If you can get some fluids in the crop you might be able to swish it around enough to break up the blockage.

When you are holding her upside down, sometimes it takes a while for all of it to come out but if she has a large ball of hay or something in there, that won't come out by throwing up.

 

[WiscoChiko]

Well Ive made her throw up 2 more times about the same amount and looks the same, doesnt look to spoiled, like chopped up layer crumbles mash. I can still feel a lil more in there. I have been massaging it and she is getting electrolytes. She still wont eat, will drink just a lil. My uneducated guess is she may be impacted and I caught it soon enouph that the food isnt to spoiled yet. I hope I can loosen it!! Thanks alot and any other ideas are much appreciated! WIsco