hen w/ruffled feathers,lethargic...advice?

[tjtops]

Yes, the top of the crop (at the bottom of her neck) on mine was soft and mushy too. There was no discharge of any kind from anywhere, and she didn't really have diarrhoea, I only saw one poop and it was green andwhite and watery. She was quite thin tho. I didn't notice anything untoward about her breathing....maybe a little laboured perhaps, but slow, no 'noises'...and her comb had become absolutely tiny (and purplish)....
I just want to know what it was!!! (We don't have any avian vets where I am!)
PS. Further to previous post, it possibly wasn't she who had been laying the really thin shelled eggs.
And of my 7 remaining adult hens, four look great, one looks a bit scruffy and two look smaller; they have either been moulting or are losing feathers for another reason -- apart from my somewhat over-enthusiastic rooster that is, who is none too gentle I fear. Again, any ideas? The rest of the youngsters all look fine. We have had cold weather and torrential rain for several days non-stop as well, which is what made me wonder if my 'death' could have been due to pneumonia maybe?? (She, too, looked as though she had lost feathers....on her back and neck mainly....leaving largish 'quills' behind....???)

 

[corrae]

Sadly, I discovered too late what the problem was: "sour crop." I lost my poor hen last night--she spasmed in my arms and just died. Having had horses, cows, cats, dogs, etc all my life I find it incredibly frustrating to have had an obviously SICK hen and be at a total loss as to what to do to help her..... The message board was very helpful, but still--there are so many conflicting pieces of advice out there: turn her upside down to expell her crop, DON'T turn her upside down, do this do that.... I did what I could, I thought she was feeling a lot better, and then she died. So I'd really like to know why she came down with sour crop, and how to deal with it, should it ever happen in the future.... What did *I* do that caused this? Thanks for all the moral support and help--it is great to know that there are so many caring people out there, willing to drop everything and help if they can. Thank you.

 

[rcentner]

Quote:
ok, wierd....me too. I have one I brought in the house this morning that I fear the worst for. Purple on 3/4 of her comb, not holding head up, just lying down. I fed them bread wednesday eve and she ate some, was a little slow, but seemed to be fine. She too has yellow diarrhea on her fluffy bum. Her crop is empty, I do not feel any eggs or hard masses in her. I have her infront of the woodstove as when I picked her up she did not feel warm like the other chooks. And she doesn't struggle at all. I can only assume that she is dehydrated and hypoglycemic (low blood sugar). I have just given her the 2nd dose of karo syrup (this is what I would do for a mammal, so..?) I just gave her a small amount, the 1st time she didn't even swallow or move her beak and this last time she did chomp her beak like she was eating it. IDK! I am gonna do my best and hope all goes well or atleast she has a peaceful passing. I wonder about dehydration since they aren't drinking much in this cold and that could've started a downward spiral. Oh and most of my hens are not laying right now, only a few.

I thought mine might've had sour crop, but hers is empty. I wondered too about what causes that...hay? lack of grit?

 

[rcentner]

well, better luck to all the sicks hens and their caretakers, poor red passed away about 30 mintues ago. It was very peaceful as I had hoped. You all can take comfort in knowing that they are loved and well cared for and we do all we can.

 

[chickichikitita]

So sorry to hear about your little girl. I have a Buff Orpington with the identical symptoms. She is my sweetest hen and my best layer. I brought her in to the house this afternoon--don't know what to do for her!! I am going to look up "sour crop" now!

 

[rcentner]

Quote:
So, Identify how her crop feels...hard/empty/soft and fluid filled
How is her poo?
I think had I noticed her decline and done somethin sooner I may have been able to wean her back to health. I have learned that wheneer a hen seems sluggish that I will separate and watch her consumption of food and h20. But with my hen all seemed well unitl this mornin, but yesterday was christmas and I was gone all day and only here to feed them in the mornin. They are in enclosed runs when I am not here to supervise so I am sure a predator did not cause harm to her. It will be obvious if your chicken has an impacted crop..hard ball on chest area, but mine was empty and she was pretty thin which makes me think that she was ill long before I saw a problem. I had a nice person email me and suggest sulmet and TLC for the bird, but that was after she had passed. This person said sulmet, tlc and feedin worked for his girl

 

[tjtops]

So if it's not 'sour crop' -- which, having researched it a bit more I don't think mine was -- does anyone have any other ideas??? All the symptoms described in the earlier posts definitely applied to mine: EXCEPT the hard or swollen crop....... I guess I'm just so worried it might have been something contagious/infectious......PLEASE HELP!!!

 

[Miss Kitty]

I have this SAME THING. I lost one Cochin afew weeks ago, with the same problems she lost all her weight, couldn't hold her head up. The eggs were just as you described atfter awhile it was just a membrane she pooped out. Now that's she's passed on my second one (I have 3 hens all Cochins), this one is acting like she's sick by just sitting in one place for a long time. The third hen is pecking her on the head and picking on her so I separated them for fear of the 3rd one killing the 2nd one. Why do chickens pick on their own when they KNOW one of them is ill or sick. That's so cruel. Right now I have to separate the two hens from each other due to the last healthly one has started picking on the second one. Her comb anything that is suppose to be red is not it now a faded ugly purple sick color. I don't know what to do.....someone give us some advice. Maybe this is going around to chickens all over

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[chickichikitita]

My Buff Orp died in the wee hours of the morning. I also wish I had noticed sooner that she was out of sorts. I don't think it was Sour Crop because her crop was very squishy, not hard. I wonder if the winter water situation has anything to do with it because their water kept on freezing, so I know there were thirsty times. I went to the farm store last week to get a heated waterer but they were all out. I'll look on line.

 

[Enchanted Sunrise Farms]

Blue or purple comb means that the chicken is not getting enough air, so that would mean some type of respiratory illness, in all likelihood. Take a look at this chart to see which symptoms best match: http://spreadsheets.google.com/pub?key=pwhjQ6Yng877iz_JNiCN1IQ

If multiple chickens in a flock are experiencing the same thing, it would indicate some infectious bacterial or viral agent. If you have a chicken who has died, you can get a free or low cost necropsy through your state vet or local university system. This thread provides links to those resources: https://www.backyardchickens.com/forum/viewtopic.php?id=40141

Then, bread or milk is not the best thing to feed a chicken. Bread has little to no nutritional content and chickens do not digest milk well (other than a bit of yogurt several times a week, which is good for them). If your chicken is not eating, better to make the food that they do eat count the most. Chopped hard-boiled eggs are good. Or i've heard of people making a warm mash with the lay crumbles mixed with some apple sauce. Polyvisol baby vitamins (without iron) is helpful also, 2-3 drops dripped into the side of the beak once a day.

So sorry for everyone's loss. Sometimes we do everything we can and our kids die anyway. i just lost a buff silkie hen. She had been not well for a while, got her over scaly leg mites, but she still seemed off and all puffed up. Her poo was very watery and light green. When she passed away, i was able to get my vet to do a necropsy for free. Turns out, she had liver cancer. So there really was nothing i could have done. i think the "not knowing" is the hardest, and keeps us beating ourselves up that we made a mistake. But, all you can do is the best you can do, and take comfort that you gave your chickens the best life you could.