Hen is leaning and breathing funny *Video*

[bhawk-23]

Yes, you hen has a crop issue, but it may be caused by a stuck egg. I bet that surprises you since she just laid an egg. Very often, more so than people think, two eggs in the same cycle are responsible for not only egg binding, but backed up crop as well.

First, give her a calcium citrate tablet right now. Or a Tums if it's all you can find. If you need to go to the store, get this View attachment 2954846and give her one whole tablet directly into her beak. Make her comfortable with access to plenty of water to drink and then leave her to rest in a quiet place.

The calcium should strengthen her contractions so she can expel any other egg or tissue obstructing her oviduct, and once she clears that, the crop should also clear.

There may be something else going on, but this is the most common and most likely.

Keep updating on her condition in case we need to rethink this.

Different hen but same beginning symptoms. No, I could not get hubs on board for a necropsy nor spending the $400 to get one done.

Eggers was molting this fall/winter but her comb has been increasing in redness. I was expecting her to start laying soon but she has not.

Some recent history:
She was attacked by a hawk early-mid November. She was most definitely hurt but I could never find any external wounds. I believe it to be a neck, or thereabouts, injury, because of her stance and the fact the hawk was on top of her until hubs and pups chased it off. Hawk was bigger than her according to hubs. She recovered in time with some quiet warm rest inside and extra care. After recovery she had been hesitant to venture out far but eventually started keeping up with the flock. Definitely not the same social hen she use to be but holding her own in the flock order and eating/drinking well. I was hoping her internal organs were spared since she has mostly gone back to normal though her stance still seems a bit off. She also never spreads her wings, moves fast or fly like she use to.

Today I found her puffed up in the same position as Orpy. I brought her in, gave her cooked egg and mash with 400 IU vitamin E, 1/4 b-complex and 1 calcium tablet (I bought the exact same as your picture). She is a 22 month old EE. Crop feels ok, smaller than I'd like which would seem she did not eat well today. Abdomen doesn't feel off but neither did Orpy's really.

Anything else I can/should do?

I really should have just sucked it up and opened Orpy myself. I just couldn't bring myself to do it. She is still frozen though, I'm waiting for the ground to thaw enough to bury her.

 

[azygous]

Defrost Orpy and bribe "hubs" into opening her up. Wash his car or something. Once open and the organs are exposed, tell him to look for organs much larger than normal, white dots on the organs, excess brown fluid in the abdominal cavity, the presence of strange "hard boiled eggs" tucked into the lower abdomen. Those are the most obvious things a home necropsy can expose.

Then the remains can be either refrozen to wait until the ground thaws or bury now.

 

[bhawk-23]

Defrost Orpy and bribe "hubs" into opening her up. Wash his car or something. Once open and the organs are exposed, tell him to look for organs much larger than normal, white dots on the organs, excess brown fluid in the abdominal cavity, the presence of strange "hard boiled eggs" tucked into the lower abdomen. Those are the most obvious things a home necropsy can expose.

Then the remains can be either refrozen to wait until the ground thaws or bury now.

Ummm......yeah. Nascar is gearing up which means back to work for hubs who just happened to leave yesterday.....for a month

I need to figure this out. Let me get my courage up and watch that video again. Once she is open I think I can look, it's just the actual cutting open part.

 

[bhawk-23]

@azygous

Talked my son into coming over to cut her open for me. I'll start my research now. Do you have any good links so I know more specific things to look for? Thanks!

 

[azygous]

We have several people here who probably know what to look for in necropsies. @casportpony @Eggcessive @ChickenCanoe @coach723

Post pics, lots of pics, and everyone here will view them and see if anything jumps out at them.

 

[Eggcessive]

Here is a good video for vets on doing a necropsy. It is much too in depth for most of us. I usually just open the abdomen and look at the organs for anything unusual, opening the gizzard and crop to look at contents. It is good to take pictures of the intestines, liver, any egg masses, any blood clots, and organs that appear unusual. Look for any yellow fluid that comes out when the abdomen is opened. Post any pictures here for help. Normally, the bodies are never frozen, but only kept cold. Here is the video:

 

[bhawk-23]

Here is a good video for vets on doing a necropsy. It is much too in depth for most of us. I usually just open the abdomen and look at the organs for anything unusual, opening the gizzard and crop to look at contents. It is good to take pictures of the intestines, liver, any egg masses, any blood clots, and organs that appear unusual. Look for any yellow fluid that comes out when the abdomen is opened. Post any pictures here for help. Normally, the bodies are never frozen, but only kept cold. Here is the video:

I started watching that video but was having a hard time keeping up. Plus, he was mostly describing what could be wrong and not a "here this is what it will look like if they have...." I did not take my ADHD med today with the crazy morning and it's too late. My son will be here around 4:30.

 

[bhawk-23]

The necropsy did not go so well. Everything was frozen solid and difficult to make sense of. I tried to get some pictures but they are not very good. When I unwrapped her I noticed a yellow green liquid must have leaked out of her bottom after I wrapped her. Her abdomen, even with everything else frozen solid, was a bit squishy. When we cut it open it was filled with a solid yellow substance. Slightly above the yellow substance in her abdomen area we cut into something putrid. It smelled horrible! Her crop was full.
If you can make sense of any ot the photos you are a chicken necropsy genius!

Crop

Extremely foul smelling substance

First cuts between legs

Cross section of solid yellow substance in abdominal area.

 

[bhawk-23]

I'm sorry about all the repeat pictures and sloppy post. If you could have seen the gears running and smoke coming from my poor brain you would have felt sorry for those little mice. Lord have mercy that was way too difficult for me

 

[bhawk-23]

@azygous
Good morning,
Eggers is in better spirits this morning. Her crop was empty. Her tail is up a bit more. She passed a giant poop with white cap yesterday evening and again this morning with a cecal poops after.

She is eating and drinking and exploring the room now which is more than she was interested in yesterday. Her abdomen still has a firm-ish area and it really bothers her if I put slight pressure to see if it could be an egg.

Should I give another calcium today and keep an eye on her? Maybe her system is just backed up? She is already doing much better than Orpy was so I am hopeful I did the correct treatment right away.

I was really horrible with the necropsy yesterday. My son ended up having to do it with me apologizing to Orpy the whole time while trying to take the pics of what I thought to be out of sorts. He was a sport about it knowing how difficult it was for me. But obviously not very good at it. I think having experienced this first one, and seeing how it was pretty much impossible to do, with no good answers, on a frozen chicken I will have to do one sooner. I can see the benefits it can offer. This first trauma has prepared me for what to expect, though I do hope I never have to do it again. But yesterday was way more difficult than I even imagined. My son felt quite bad and ended it when he could see I was not doing well.