Hens in the hall - part two

[SW31]

See thread. https://www.backyardchickens.com/threads/hens-in-the-hall.1218211/page-4#post-19492068

Well, one hen, the smaller one is doing very well now. Her feathers are growing back, she’s noisy, inquisitive, greedy and a lovely little character.

The larger one is a different story. She’s now back with the vet. I was very worried as she was becoming now very indifferent to food, was basically just passing, or more squirting, water so rang our vet. She has now lost approx 25% of body weight since 2nd January, I think most of it very recently. She had been eating very well and was pushing the little one out of the way for food.

Our vet is very good. After a lot of crop massage she eventually started to smell signs of a sour crop, there was also later some burping. The crop also started to decrease in size. She could not feel anything hard though in the crop. She also tought us what to look for and how to do it. She contacted a specialist vet in Toulouse who advised her to keep her in overnight, to continue to massage the crop and not feed her tonight and dehydrate her. She will also take some samples and send to the lab as 18 days of antibiotics may have caused a yeast/fungal infection in her crop. If it fills up again she will then make a small hole to empty the crop. We will ring tomorrow to check on her.

 

[SW31]

The vet rang last night. She decided to open up the crop and clear it out. She said the smell was so bad it stunk the whole practise out. Her big concern was that she used the smallest equipment she had and was very worried that then could have aspirated a little. As a precaution she would give her a very short course of antibiotic injections. The specialist also recommended a medication to start moving the digestive system. The vet said she had to double check the volume as it had seemed large.

We returned to the vet this morning. The vet showed us a really large poo she had done earlier in the morning, and several liquidy brown poos. It looks like her whole digestive transit system had come to a stop. With the vet we gave her a couple of times som3 water. We were all concerned as we could hear some gurgling which meant the crop may not be emptying out properly. We took some pellets and hay in but she seemed more keen on the water, but she always used to drink a lot and the vets bowls were tiny.

Her comb, face and wattle is looking a little more red, it was a pale pink, and her eyes definitely look brighter. She will continue to stay with the vet to at least Monday.