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Hen with Massive, Water-Filled Crop and Aspirating Liquid, Not Pooping

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Elspeth Dinsmore

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Hello, everyone.
I know it's early in the morning, but I was hoping someone could help me. I have a Speckled Sussex hen that is 1 year and ten months old named Molly. Last night I found her on the top perching bar with a huge, watery crop. It was massive. Like we are talking small grapefruit sized, and completely full of liquid (there may have been solid food in the center, but I couldn't apply enough pressure to find out). It was hard moving her without her spitting up some of the liquid and aspirating it, even with me trying to hold her as careful as possible and not apply any pressure to her crop. She spit up maybe four times on the way inside and I gently set her down each time. I have her in a pop up crate in my room. Even with her just standing there, she would spit little bits up, and open and close her mouth a few times to get it down. It was a clear liquid, almost just like water.
I couldn't smell much of anything on her breath, though there may have been the faintest smell of bread, I really don't know.

I was hoping that if I monitored her overnight, her crop would be down by morning. That gets to why I am up so early, she only pooped once when I first brought her in. It was small, milky white, and only liquid. She has not pooped since. I can't massage her crop to try and help anything pass, and I'm terrified to even try to give her anything with her potentially aspirating more liquid.
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I feel all the chickens crops every night, and there was nothing out of the ordinary last night. Around 6:00 PM, I had gone out and they all ran toward me when they saw me, including her. Right now she will open her eyes and observe me, but she didn't move around much at all before I put her in the pop-up crate. She is holding her wings away from her body. Her tail is a bit low, but not too terribly. She hasn't been making many sounds, but she made a few tiny ones before she went down for bed. Her breathing in general seems fine, but she sneezes and coughs every once in a while. Maybe once every 5-10 min.
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I do not know if she laid an egg recently. I have two Speckled Sussex hens, and they tend to alternate days for laying eggs. I got a Speckled Sussex egg today.

Can anyone help me? What can I do to help my sweet Molly? She is really not feeling well. Her crop has not seemed to go down at all in 4 and a half hours. She has not pooped again. Normally, I would give her some coconut oil, or give a massage, but I feel like I can hardly touch her without worrying about her aspirating liquid.

Thank you in advance.

Soli Deo Gloria.
 
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Make sure that she is not too hot in your room. She may do better outside in a wire dog crate with bedding and water. Holding wings away from the body and panting are signs of being hot. Check her crop gently now to see if it has emptied any. I would just give her water with electrolytes today, and offer some cut pieces of chilled coconut oil. Tomorrw am if her crop has emptied some, you could give her some watery cooked egg and a little plain unsweetened yogurt. What do you normally feed her plus any treats? She should be treated with a proper wormer such as Valbazen or SafeGuard liquid goat wormer or horse paste. Ask me for dosage. Impacted or a slow crop can lead to sour crop. Worms or chronic overeating can as well. Does she normally have an extra large crop or possibly a pendulous crop? Here is a good article to follow about crop problems:
https://www.backyardchickens.com/ar...w-to-know-which-one-youre-dealing-with.73607/
 
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