impacted crop, fowl pox, grape worm

[mpflynn]

We have a sweet little chicken about 5 1/2 months old, a golden laced wyandotte. She has battled coccidiosis three times this summer and recovered with corid each time! She suddenly seemed sickly a few days ago so I brought her inside. She was gaping mouth open struggling to breathe well, also making a pain noise at times when breathing or eating. We believe we have been dealing with grape worm in our little flock and so I thought that was what was happening to her. Previously we had seen her doing a leaser amount of gaping and pain noises and the febendazole resolved it! I gave her two doses of dewormer over two days but her condition did not improve. We stopped the dewormer and focused on the supportive care (water with electrolytes, Vet RX, and getting her to eat). I then noticed a black spot on her leg and another raised spot on the other leg. I read this could be Fowl poxs, maybe she even has wet pox in her tracea Our other big struggle is her crop is not right. She seems to have an impacted crop and is not wanting to eat to regain her strength. Daily I am massaging her crop until it feels empty and she seems to really appreciate that. It fills up again quickly though and only empties manually. Recently she ate one scrambled egg on Sunday and yesterday she ate a good bit of dandelion greens, I can’t get her to eat anything else (not mush food, or her favorite soft fish that she ate earlier on). We were desperate that she wasn’t eating so gave her nutra drench by mouth just now. Her throat seemed so small and swollen compared to pictures I found of a chickens throat and how to give them liquid medicine. I read maybe an impacted crop could cause a swollen throat. Any advice would be greatly appreciated!

 

[Eggcessive]

Are you checking her crop early in the morning before she has anything to eat or drink to see if it empties? Can you post any pictures of the spots on the legs and of the chicken? For treatment of gapeworm which is rare, fenbendazole 10% is used at a dosage of 1/4 ml per pound of weight given for 5 consecutive days. Are her eyes clear or watery, and have you seen any bubbles in the eye?

 

[mpflynn]

Are you checking her crop early in the morning before she has anything to eat or drink to see if it empties? Can you post any pictures of the spots on the legs and of the chicken? For treatment of gapeworm which is rare, fenbendazole 10% is used at a dosage of 1/4 ml per pound of weight given for 5 consecutive days. Are her eyes clear or watery, and have you seen any bubbles in the eye?

Yes checking her crop first thing in the morning. I will try to get some pictures to upload. The chicken dewormer I have is fenbendazole capsules that I open and put onto food, it said to use one cap per 4-7 pounds of bodyweight so thats the dose Id been doing. I hadn’t noticed anything with her eyes being watery or with bubbles, just that she wants to keep her eyes closed a lot and wants it dark the lighth in our basement seems to bother her eyes.

 

[Eggcessive]

Those fenbendazole capsules may not have the right dose to treat for gapeworms, if you are using a product called Poultry Dewormer. I would get SafeGuard horse paste or the liquid goat wormer at your local feed store and use the dosage I posted above. It contains 10% fenbendazole which studies show that it treats gapeworm. Getting a weight can help with dosage. A 5 pound hen would get 1.25 ml orally daily for 5 days.

 

[mpflynn]

Those fenbendazole capsules may not have the right dose to treat for gapeworms, if you are using a product called Poultry Dewormer. I would get SafeGuard horse paste or the liquid goat wormer at your local feed store and use the dosage I posted above. It contains 10% fenbendazole which studies show that it treats gapeworm. Getting a weight can help with dosage. A 5 pound hen would get 1.25 ml orally daily for 5 days.

thank you for the info!

 

[mpflynn]

 

[mpflynn]

heres our honey girl! she has the one black spot on her leg

 

[mpflynn]

we started the olive oil in a dropper treatment for impacted crop, and then a crop massage. She seems improved! her crop is still not draining except manually. She had strength to finally get back outside with her friends. I did notice she burped/vomitted a tiny bit of something yesterday, i thought maybe it was water. She’s still not interested in eating anything except greens but Ive got ACV and nutradrench in her water and she’s getting nutrition from the olive oil

 

[mpflynn]

thank you for the info!

Those fenbendazole capsules may not have the right dose to treat for gapeworms, if you are using a product called Poultry Dewormer. I would get SafeGuard horse paste or the liquid goat wormer at your local feed store and use the dosage I posted above. It contains 10% fenbendazole which studies show that it treats gapeworm. Getting a weight can help with dosage. A 5 pound hen would get 1.25 ml orally daily for 5 days.

is there anything else we can do for her poor crop? today is day 2 of the olive oil treatment and shes still definetely struggling

 

[Eggcessive]

Did her crop empty overnight? Check it before she eats or drinks. If it is full and hard in the am, then it may still be impacted. Do you have Pouktry granite grit available for your chickens? The dark spot on her leg could be a bruise from a peck. Her comb looks like she may have run into some metal fencing or chickenwire. Is she being bullied or chased? Can you try offering her a small amount of mushy wet chicken feed and cooked egg, but no whole grains or greens? Make sure that she is drinking plenty of water. You may want to read this article about crop problems:
https://www.backyardchickens.com/ar...w-to-know-which-one-youre-dealing-with.73607/