Hen won’t eat feed after digestive issues

[mama23]

Hi I’ve got a 6.5 YO Buff Orpington girl who started with a moult in august and stopped eating feed. Didn’t realize at the time but she backed up slowly over time with grass until it all came to a head a month ago with a really bad case of sour crop. She was dehydrated and about to die so I took her and had crop surgery. Everything drained afterwards and she was eating feed and hydrating nicely. She continued to empty out for a week or so all that old impacted grass. I let her outside to take a dirt bath maybe on day 5 post surgery and after that she wouldn’t touch her feed anymore. Took me a few more weeks to get her gizzard/grit straightened out so she would process grass. She only wants to eat insects, greens or pumpkin seeds. I’m watching her for too high of a fat intake on some of those things but I’m hand popping pelleted feed into her mouth for some feed intake. It’s been three weeks since crop surgery. Two weeks since she’s wanted to eat feed. She was 8 lbs in august and is now 4 lbs and holding steady for the last month at 4. She did begin another moult. She’s been living in my house for the last month. I’d love to turn her loose but she will just impact again. She’s been doing this over the last few weeks and then I have to slow her intake again. Really think she’s just got a slow crop maybe a flare up in her digestive system (from a light case of Mareks maybe? Though no other symptoms) since the moult. Just curious if anyone has any ideas or has experienced this. She looks great. Very active and energetic and has fantastic appetite except for feed. Of note she also doesn’t want to drink on her own. She will wait until I hold her and bring the water up to her. It’s a very strange case. I started her on prozyme yesterday. Her stools have since bulked up and look good instead of loose. I do my own fecals and she doesn’t have any parasites. Thanks for any help.

 

[Percheron chick]

Have you tried fermenting her feed?

 

[mama23]

I have some just starting but it’ll be a few days till it’s ready. I’m not very hopeful though since she won’t even touch mash right now. She’s back to passing strands of grass again so maybe her gizzard still has some issues. But she’s been going out on the driveway and eating little gravel so I’m hopeful she’ll fix that soon.

 

[TheOtherOne]

Just wondering if you have an update. Did the fermented feed help? I have a hen who is also refusing to eat.

 

[mama23]

Just wondering if you have an update. Did the fermented feed help? I have a hen who is also refusing to eat.

Hey, I posted an update in a different thread, so I'll copy and slightly edit that one and paste it here. To add onto my thoughts though, I did not end up using fermented feed. I couldn't get a clear understanding on whether the yeast from fermented feed could aggravate an already potent yeast infection so I erred on the side of caution and didn't do it. Does your hen have anything going on with the crop? Sometimes they can refuse to eat bc of other issues. Feel her first thing in the morning before daylight so you know it should be empty. My girl didn't really have a big crop. But it was soft and squishy, not empty, and I could feel egg shells in it and other stuff that didn't pass through. It took me a long time to be able to smell the yeast though. I would sniff and sniff and nothing. Then out of the blue it would come up and it was really obvious that's what it was.

Here is up my copied/pasted update:
It was eventually obvious that the yeast had come back. I knew she didn’t tolerate copper sulfate (on day three of it right after surgery she stopped drinking it and I noticed changes in her urates, and since it's a heavy metal I discontinued it). I also tried miconazole pre-surgery and it was worthless. I am a big fan of natural remedies bc pharmaceuticals have failed me so many times both in myself and my chickens. I’ve been using young living essential oregano oil (diluted to a specific strength, which I can share if anyone is interested) along with kyolic garlic as an “antibiotic” for years in lieu of baytril and other drugs that I've personally seen cause liver failure. The results have been great. So when I did a search for natural remedies for crop yeast infections and oregano popped up as a solution, I used the same recipe I use as an antibacterial, but slightly stronger recipe because yeast can be stubborn and become resistant just like bacteria and if you don't knock it out fast and quick from the start, it'll never go away. I did it about four or five times a day for roughly six days (she was indoors with me for a month after surgery) and the yeast was gone and never came back. She was allowed outside to carefully reacclimate with her sisters after the treatment ended and has been back to herself since. She’s even laying eggs again.