Impacted Crop, Egg Bound too?

[MichelleT]

Hi. I've read a lot here already about how to treat impacted crop (and dagnosing possible other ailments), including this great thread which I intend to follow to the tee as soon as I know if I should treat egg-binding as well.
https://www.backyardchickens.com/a/impacted-slow-and-sour-crops-prevention-and-treatments

Carolina came out of the coop quite a while after her sisters. She was puffed up, moving slowly and only drank a couple of sips of water - none of the morning treat (a few mushroom stems). Upon inspection she has an impacted crop, so I massaged it for about 5 mintues, returned her to the run while her fellows free-range, removed food and left water. she went directly into the coop, where she's been in the nesting box for about 1/2 an hour, appearing to be laying. Upon second inspection her fanny is lightly wet (poop) and I can feel an egg in her tract - I'm just not sure if it's bound up. My hens will often take quite a while to lay an egg and I didn't do a complete inspection, but it's not near the edge, shall we say.

The last egg she laid for sure was the day before yesterday. (She may have laid yesterday, but I'm not sure...)
I have 4 hens and they give us 2-4 eggs a day right now, so as far as "on schedule" goes, I have no idea how long between eggs each girl goes.

Should I treat for egg-binding? Or give her a little more time.
I'm off to the store to get stool-softeners and baby food in a few minutes.

Thanks!

PS - she's an older (at least 4 years old) hen who was a retired Organic Industry hen, so I'm aware that her days with us are probably numbered already. I just want her to be as healthy as possible until it's time...

 

[Cluckcluck1215]

So she had impacted crop, right?she is ONLY four years old.i have a hen laying at 7.you may want to treat her for Egg Bound.you need to act, FAST.she could die within 24 hours if its not treated fast enough if she is Egg Bound.she has only been in the nest box for 1/2 hour, normally my hens will go an hour, sometimes a hour and a half, but they can go for just 1/2 hour.

When I says he could die within 24 hours, I'm not trying to make you worry.

Also, does she look droopy, pale and depressed?
How long has it been since she ate and drank?

 

[Cluckcluck1215]

Oops, I said 'he could die' LOL!i ment, she.

 

[MichelleT]

Thanks! When I said at least 4 I didn't mean that 4 is old, necessarily. Just that we got them from a farm 2 years ago that takes in "retired" industry (orgainc) birds, so she could have been 2yo when we got her or she could have been 7. We've lost 2 so far from our original 6 (one, from egg-binding 5 days after we got them... sadly I had no idea about egg binding back then) and one from EYP.

She's puffed up, not droopy (her tail is still up).
She's moving slowly, but she's still in the box now so not really moving at all.

She drank a couple of sips this morning and no food.
I don't know about yesterday - in the morning she seemed fine and i worked until late so I don't know how she ate/drank yesterday.

 

[MichelleT]

Also, she wasn't doing the penguin-walk when she was out-and-about. Just moving slowly. And puffed up.

 

[Cluckcluck1215]

Thanks! When I said at least 4 I didn't mean that 4 is old, necessarily. Just that we got them from a farm 2 years ago that takes in "retired" industry (orgainc) birds, so she could have been 2yo when we got her or she could have been 7.  We've lost 2 so far from our original 6 (one, from egg-binding 5 days after we got them... sadly I had no idea about egg binding back then) and one from EYP.  

She's puffed up, not droopy (her tail is still up).
She's moving slowly, but she's still in the box now so not really moving at all.

She drank a couple of sips this morning and no food.
I don't know about yesterday - in the morning she seemed fine and i worked until late so I don't know how she ate/drank yesterday.

Ok, yeah!i know a lot of people think that four years is old for a bird.i heard a vet, yes a VET say that they can only live to five! It's crazy!

I would treat her for egg bound.i really would.

 

[chickens really]

Just what I know....
Chickens should really only be fed an age appropriate diet...If laying oyster shell in a separate dish...Treats at 5% of daily ration with grit at all times in another dish...A lots of the problems people have with Chickens can be prevented with proper nutrition and a constant supply of water...I have raised Chickens for years and have never encountered any of these ailments that seem to be so common in Backyard Chickens....Lots of these issues take weeks for a Bird to show any signs of an infection or problem, then in cases its too late to correct the problem..
We all like to give them a treat, but at what cost to our hens? I feed treats once a week..

Best of luck

Cheers!

 

[MichelleT]

UPDATE: I gloved up and inspected the vent. No egg... I lubricated for good measure anyway.
Then I gave the laxitive and did a 2nd crop massage. First thing this morning her crop was as hard as a softball. Now it's doughy (not squishy). I am about to read up on what to do for that now.

She's moving about, slowly, and drinking sparingly.
My next move is to get some water in her.
Thank heavens it's Saturday.

 

[MichelleT]

UPDATE: I gloved up and inspected the vent. No egg... I lubricated for good measure anyway.
Then I gave the laxitive and did a 2nd crop massage. First thing this morning her crop was as hard as a softball. Now it's doughy (not squishy). I am about to read up on what to do for that now.

She's moving about, slowly, and drinking sparingly.
My next move is to get some water in her.
Thank heavens it's Saturday.

Ugh. I did the massage after treating with laxitive. Should have done the massage first. I'm going to have to learn how to tube-feed, finally. I have all the materials from when another bird was sick. By the time we got home with the stuff, however, the other remedies I tried had worked and she was better - so I never had to do it.

"Of course this condition usually arises because some other medical issue is going on at the time. So make sure to address what is going on after you clear out the crop. "
No clue.

 

[ladyearth]

MY Hubby massaged Goldie quite a bit over a day or two...cause we were so determined after she been thru the flystrike.
cant puffed up mean air sac problem?
just a saying