Hen with Lash Eggs & Doughy Crop Not Improving

[Serotonin]

Hey everyone. About a month and a half ago, I noticed my favorite hen, Bloom, a 3 year old Rhode Island Red, was acting lethargic and having unusually green colored and loose stool. I couldn't find anything obviously wrong, but I brought her inside and monitored her. She laid a large lash egg and her comb began drooping and turning pale, so I immediately worried about infection. I took her to my vet, who ran a fecal test and prescribed Clavamox antibiotic for a few days. The only thing he found was signs of an e. coli infection and he was fairly confident the antibiotic would work.

The antibiotic did seem to help give her some of her energy back, but she kept passing lash eggs from time to time - albeit smaller, kidney bean sized ones. She'd also somehow developed an impacted/doughy crop despite only being on layer feed. When I went back to the vet, he didn't seem worried and suggested that the antibiotic probably slowed down her digestive system and suggested giving probiotics. He also didn't think continuing the antibiotic was necessary.

I've tried everything - sprinkling probios powder on her food, greek yogurt, kefir - but she doesn't seem to be improving. If anything, it feels like she's just wasting away. I've successfully treated multiple chickens for compacted and/or sour crop before, but I can't get her crop to stay drained either. I give her mineral oil and coconut oil multiple times a day, Monistat twice a day, massage her crop... But nothing seems to help. Sometimes I can get her crop completely drained for a morning or two, but it always comes back. It's not typical sour crop either. Like I mentioned before, it's doughy. When I massage it, I can physically move it around and tamp it down a bit.

Bloom has had quite a long history of egg laying problems, so I'm wondering if this is related. She has not laid a proper egg in over a year. When she does lay (which she hasn't done at all besides lash eggs since she got sick), her eggs were shell-less, thin shelled, or otherwise deformed. I've taken her to the vet before for suspected infections, and the antibiotics seemed to get her back to normal. But this is the worst I've seen her.

Her appetite is decent and her poops are pretty solid, if a bit eggy. So I know food is passing through. But she's lost a lot of weight and is still passing lash eggs. Her spark hasn't returned either. I'm worried she may be slowly dying, but I'm at a loss for what to do. Do I try deworming her? Do I try to find a different vet and get a second opinion? Do I just accept that this is probably her time and make her as comfortable as possible?

All of that is to say... if anyone has any treatment ideas, I'd really appreciate it. I love Bloom so much, and am desperate to help her, but I feel so at a loss.

 

[azygous]

I'm sorry, I can't deliver to you good news. You are lucky to have a vet that would see your chicken and prescribe meds, but while the vet recognized that she has a reproductive infection, they likely don't realize that once the lash material begins to show up in large amounts, the infection has established itself so completely that even giving antibiotics long term may not heal her.

Yes, the antibiotic does destroy good microbes in the digestive tract, but the infection also contributes to the crop disorder. Probiotics every day can definitely help. Keep that up.

She also should be on an all flock feed, not layer feed, due to her no longer laying. Layer feed can put a strain on the kidneys of a hen that no longer needs the extra calcium for laying eggs. We chicken keepers with mixed flocks feed an all flock feed and provide oyster shell for the layers. That way you don't need to juggle feed for some chickens and keep it from the others.

Your hen can live a comfortable life for a while longer, but her days are definitely numbered. And yes, your guess that her past laying issues probably contributed to this present problem. It's rough being a girl.

 

[Serotonin]

I'm sorry, I can't deliver to you good news. You are lucky to have a vet that would see your chicken and prescribe meds, but while the vet recognized that she has a reproductive infection, they likely don't realize that once the lash material begins to show up in large amounts, the infection has established itself so completely that even giving antibiotics long term may not heal her.

Yes, the antibiotic does destroy good microbes in the digestive tract, but the infection also contributes to the crop disorder. Probiotics every day can definitely help. Keep that up.

She also should be on an all flock feed, not layer feed, due to her no longer laying. Layer feed can put a strain on the kidneys of a hen that no longer needs the extra calcium for laying eggs. We chicken keepers with mixed flocks feed an all flock feed and provide oyster shell for the layers. That way you don't need to juggle feed for some chickens and keep it from the others.

Your hen can live a comfortable life for a while longer, but her days are definitely numbered. And yes, your guess that her past laying issues probably contributed to this present problem. It's rough being a girl.

Yeah, I know I should be grateful I have a vet to take my chickens to at all, but it annoyed me how dismissive he was about her continuing to lay lash eggs. I don't think he puts much value in chickens, unfortunately.

I'm not sure if the probios powder is very effective. Has anyone tried the paste? My vet said there's a type they make specifically for birds, but I can't find it anywhere. Would the paste they make for horses and the like be just as good?

Thanks for the suggestion about the all flock feed! I didn't think about her still being on a calcium heavy feed despite not laying anymore. I only have laying hens, so I've never considered anything but layer feed. I'm not sure if switching will help at this point, but I'm willing to try anything. She's still inside (it's still 100+ right now and I figured she didn't need the heat stress in addition to everything else), so I can feed her separately.

I figure this will probably kill her eventually, unfortunately. But if there's anything I can do to try and prolong her life and make her feel a bit better, I want to do it. She's an amazing little chicken and I wish she didn't have to go through this.

 

[azygous]

Any probiotics will work. I use the tablets you can buy in the digestive aids in the pharmacy section of the store. I just pop a tablet into the beak each day.

 

[RedHillChicken]

You mentioned her poops look eggy. Is there a yellow thick mucous looking discharge. Take and post as many pictures as you can of her poop. I'll alert some eggsperts. Is her tummy bloated between her legs back to her vent?

@Wyorp Rock @Eggcessive @coach723

I'm not vet or expert, but this sounds like Salpingitis, for which there is no cure. We've lost two hens, so I understand the frustration. Here's some info I found:

https://nexusacademicpublishers.com/table_contents_detail/4/428/html#google_vignette

 

[lagrange chicks]

I had a hen who just went through the exact problems yours is, mine did not see a vet. I did mineral oil and crop massages but it did not help either. About a week and a half ago she stopped eating, could not even get her to eat her favorite treats and she got slower and slower. A couple days after she stopped eating she did not come out of the coop that morning, I thought she was dead as the other chickens were looking in the coop door. She did finally come out but later that day I found her under the coop unable to stand so I did the right/tough thing and put her down. End of story

 

[coach723]

I agree with everything said. I also often use human probiotics, it's often just easier to pop one in the beak every day, especially if you are just treating one bird. I will put another link to another article on Salpingitis below, much more layman language.
Salpingitis is very resistant to treatment, I've tried pretty much every antibiotic over the years, singly and in combinations, it might have bought them some time, but I have not had one cured. Some of my birds have lived 18-24 months once it was known what was going on, some have passed much quicker, it's hard to predict. They are very, very good at hiding the symptoms early on, when treatment has a better chance of being successful, so most of the time it's advanced before treatment is started. Once they are acting ill, having crop issues, or showing bloat in the abdomen, it's pretty advanced. Honestly, now, when I know it's salpingitis, I no longer try to treat. I leave them with the flock until they are obviously ill, go off food and water, or get attacked by flock mates. Some of them I have separated into a parallel pen as it progressed, so they are safe from others, but still can see and hear the others and they her. When they stop eating, stop doing normal chicken things, are obviously unwell, then I euthanize rather than let them slowly suffer to the end. Some of them pass suddenly and unexpectedly. It's a frustrating illness with no easily identifiable cause, and no good treatment options that usually end in success. No one but you can decide when it's time, when she's had enough, as you are the one there who can see. Since you are fortunate to have a vet that will see chickens, they can likely assist you at the end if you don't wish to do that yourself. I'm sincerely sorry. When I lost my first one to this I spent an enormous amount of time researching and reading and trying to find answers. There just aren't any good ones. Try to enjoy what time she has left, spoil her rotten, and then give her the gift of kindness at the end so she doesn't suffer.
https://the-chicken-chick.com/salpingitis-lash-eggs-in-backyard/