Pixiejan
In the Brooder
We moved our 10 chickens (all are 12 weeks old today) to their permanent home 2 weeks ago (they were in a drag pen previously). Not long before the move I saw one of our hens (Chippy) spit up fluid and she had a little of a squishy crop so we treated with ACV in the water and a little kefir mixed with grain a couple times per day. I probably didn't keep this going long enough (I think we treated for 4-5 days), but I didn't see any other symptoms and chalked it up to me being overly anxious/cautious and I thought there hadn't been anything wrong.
Most of the chickens had their tails down after the move (not super down, but not up either) and I figured stress from moving to a new building and run. But I've been keeping a close eye and over the past week and a bit most of them have been more tail up.
But a couple days ago the favourite Chippy (whiting true blue), the same hen I saw 'spit up' fluid almost 3 weeks ago, started hanging out in the coop more and her tail is quite down. Much more pronounced than any of them had it before. Vent is clean, eyes look bright, she's still eating and drinking. But her crop was a little squishy. So we've been treating with a little kefir mixed in grain again. She's perked up a few times and she's been outside here and there with her tail very high and upright looking like her usual self, but then things go down again. It did get decently cold here the last 4 days or so and so I wondered if she was hanging out in the coop because it was a lot colder than last week and she's our smallest chicken (the rest are Copper Marans and we have 1 olive egger). But it was a lot warmer today and I think she was in the coop every time I went out to check.
All poops seem normal (we did have some slightly foamy poops after we added the kefir which I figured was likely from the kefir, I did see a poop from the true whiting blue before we started the kefir but after she started started with her tail down and it was very normal looking). I'm not seeing any mites or lice (no one is losing feathers etc). There are still a few chickens that their tails are partly down, but I've checked crops and I'm not feeling any other squishy crops like hers. I checked her crop again this evening and it's not squishy anymore, but there also wasn't really any food in it either which has me concerned.
Last week we had a heat wave where it was the hottest it's been since we've had them for about 4 days in a row and then on Sunday it got pretty cold until today.
I have molasses on hand, I was wondering if I should make them homemade electrolytes?
I'm assuming Chippy has sour crop. Should I continue with the kefir? I plan to continue with ACV in water. Is it time to ramp things up from natural stuff, what's next? I was thinking I could bring out some scrambled eggs for them. The improving and then getting worse again is the part that has me puzzled.
Here are two photos from Aug 19 the first one is in the morning, when I first noticed Chippy (the brown hen) was off. We did kefir almost immediately and the second photo was from the evening where she looked back to normal. But she's bounced back and forth since.
Thanks for any and all suggestions! This is our family's first flock, but when I was growing up we had chickens, so I'm not completely new to them (I just don't remember stressing out about them lol).
Most of the chickens had their tails down after the move (not super down, but not up either) and I figured stress from moving to a new building and run. But I've been keeping a close eye and over the past week and a bit most of them have been more tail up.
But a couple days ago the favourite Chippy (whiting true blue), the same hen I saw 'spit up' fluid almost 3 weeks ago, started hanging out in the coop more and her tail is quite down. Much more pronounced than any of them had it before. Vent is clean, eyes look bright, she's still eating and drinking. But her crop was a little squishy. So we've been treating with a little kefir mixed in grain again. She's perked up a few times and she's been outside here and there with her tail very high and upright looking like her usual self, but then things go down again. It did get decently cold here the last 4 days or so and so I wondered if she was hanging out in the coop because it was a lot colder than last week and she's our smallest chicken (the rest are Copper Marans and we have 1 olive egger). But it was a lot warmer today and I think she was in the coop every time I went out to check.
All poops seem normal (we did have some slightly foamy poops after we added the kefir which I figured was likely from the kefir, I did see a poop from the true whiting blue before we started the kefir but after she started started with her tail down and it was very normal looking). I'm not seeing any mites or lice (no one is losing feathers etc). There are still a few chickens that their tails are partly down, but I've checked crops and I'm not feeling any other squishy crops like hers. I checked her crop again this evening and it's not squishy anymore, but there also wasn't really any food in it either which has me concerned.
Last week we had a heat wave where it was the hottest it's been since we've had them for about 4 days in a row and then on Sunday it got pretty cold until today.
I have molasses on hand, I was wondering if I should make them homemade electrolytes?
I'm assuming Chippy has sour crop. Should I continue with the kefir? I plan to continue with ACV in water. Is it time to ramp things up from natural stuff, what's next? I was thinking I could bring out some scrambled eggs for them. The improving and then getting worse again is the part that has me puzzled.
Here are two photos from Aug 19 the first one is in the morning, when I first noticed Chippy (the brown hen) was off. We did kefir almost immediately and the second photo was from the evening where she looked back to normal. But she's bounced back and forth since.
Thanks for any and all suggestions! This is our family's first flock, but when I was growing up we had chickens, so I'm not completely new to them (I just don't remember stressing out about them lol).
