Hen looking dull with a large crop

[XilverAngel]

She's around 2 years, almost 3 years old. Her comb and wattles have been a light pink for a while, and she just looks more dull compared to the other 3 hens we have. She has been molting, and doesn't seem to have fully regrown her feathers out yet. At first I thought it could have been an impacted crop that she has, but after reading other posts I'm worried she might have worms. She and the other 2 hens that live in the same coop have not been laying for several weeks now. Any ideas?

The first picture is a bit blurry, and the flash is not great, but her comb and wattles do have that color to them. what appears to be the crop is in the red circle. Could it be that she hasn't finished molting, and that is causing her slim appearance? She looks awfully thin, and according to my mom, she doesn't eat as much lately.

Any help is appreciated!

 

[Chicken_Pauper]

That doesn't look like her crop to me.. too low and wrong side?

Smell her breath.. check up higher.. look at your other chickens after they eat.. the full crop stands out clearly.. you can massage it, and smell their breath.. to see if it's "sour".. Search here on BYC for "Sour Crop"...

I would take that hen and examine her carefully.. all over.. AFTER you look at the "normal" hens to see what is where and what is normal. The crop is full at night and should be "empty" in the morning before they get up and eat.

Check her over, feel her body all over, see if there is something else going on with her, an injury or "lump" not in her crop... examine her carefully.. but, you might examine a "healthy" hen first.. so you can see any difference between the two.

What are your hens eating? Do you have a rooster? Do you have a light on a timer in the coop to extend the daylight during the shorter days.. ? that improves winter laying.
When was the last time you wormed the flock? Do they free range? Does anyone fight?

The "lump" would not be caused by worms.. but, if you have never wormed the flock and they every eat bugs, they probably have worms, all of them... but, she has something else going on.

Search here... on BYC.. these topics for the flock.. "Worming".. "Giving oral medications".. "Worming with Valbazen".. "How much Valbazen to give".. "Egg withholding with Valbazen", etc.... look for posts by dawg53 on worming..

Post more info when you get it.. good luck.

 

[BamaSilkies]

The first thing I would do is look her over really good check her skin at the back of the saddle near the top of the tail and vent area to see if they have mites or lice. Then what % of protein is the feed you use? If you feed scratch its not enough its only good for treats(high calorie low protein) If it only 16% or less you might want to up to 20%+ needs lots of protein and calcium to make eggs. If you dont find anything or your proteins are good then I might consider Wazine wormer( not sure what area your in Im in the South we have roundworms really bad here) or you could use Safeguard paste( I use the horse bc its cheaper than the goat and the same %).

 

[BamaSilkies]

If shes not been eating much you might want to add some vitamin/electrolyte to the water as well.

 

[marlene]

I would follow chicken_pauper's advice.
I have just treated for sour crop succesfuly. I was not sure if my hen had sour crop so i checked her 1st thing in the morning and her crop has still very enlarged so i knew that was what i was dealing with.
Good luck.

 

[RhodeIslandRedFan]

Quote:
Good morning, XilverAngel. I have a couple of hens going through a molt right now, and their appearance is similar. It is normal for her comb and wattles to shrink and lose some color when she molts and stops laying eggs. Her looking dull could be due to the molt as well if as you say she hasn't fully regrown her feathers yet. My one hen looks to have a lump in front as yours does, but when I picked her up and examined her (more than once), I saw that her new breast feathers were growing in in a funny sort of way, causing them to stick out and have a lump-like appearance. Her crop has felt entirely normal throughout the process. The other hen looks like she has an enlarged crop, but hers has felt normal as well. This hen has lost a lot of feathers and some weight, so when her crop is full and I look at her from a distance, she has the appearance of having an abnormally large crop, but it feels fine on exam. I agree with earlier posts that doing a good physical exam would help you determine whether she has a crop problem or not, and whether she has mites/lice. Here is some information you might find useful. Hope this helps.

Performing a physical exam - http://ohioline.osu.edu/vme-fact/0020.html
Molting - http://www.dpi.qld.gov.au/27_2709.htm
Crop problems - http://www.poultry.allotment.org.uk/Chicken_a/chicken-crop/index.
Checking for lice and mites - http://ohioline.osu.edu/vme-fact/0018.html

 

[XilverAngel]

Wow! Thanks for all the help and replies on what to do. I will check her tomorrow again to make sure, but when I felt the lump yesterday it seemed to be a bit hard, not squishy as the crop would usually be. Then again maybe it isnt the crop, but if it's not then what on earth is it....

Anyways, thanks for all the tips and advice on what to do! When i get more info I will post again. Thanks again!!