Impacted crop on a severely underweight hen - how to treat?

[ChickenMama308]

Also - her crop was full again this morning. I wonder if it ever did empty? I thought it did yesterday.

 

[ChickenMama308]

Not sure about Vitamin C? I only mentioned not using foods/products that contain calcium when giving the Oxy.
Papaya is an excellent source of vitamin C.

If her crop is not emptying, birds can shake their head/make neck adjustments when they eat/drink. She may be developing a nervous tick since she is unwell. It would be hard to know.

The scratching - have you checked her for lice/mites? Sometimes when a bird is sick and not preening/dust bathing they can get an infestation.

Antibiotics can help with infection from Salpingitis if caught early. This can help heal them, but there is no cure. A lot would depend on the cause. Birds that had IB and MG, even mild strains usually have damage to the reproductive system, so to have problems down the road is likely.

Take several samples with you to the vet, fresh is always good too. Talk to them about what testing they can do for you.

What is IB and MG? Are those strains of salpingitis? Thank you

 

[Wyorp Rock]

Also - her crop was full again this morning. I wonder if it ever did empty? I thought it did yesterday.

What is IB and MG? Are those strains of salpingitis? Thank you

Did she have access to food/water overnight or before you checked the crop this morning?

IB=Infectious Bronchitis and MG=Mycoplasma Gallisepticum both are respiratory diseases that can impact the reproductive system. Sometimes bird are never symptomatic but they can be carriers of the illnesses.

 

[ChickenMama308]

Did she have access to food/water overnight or before you checked the crop this morning?

IB=Infectious Bronchitis and MG=Mycoplasma Gallisepticum both are respiratory diseases that can impact the reproductive system. Sometimes bird are never symptomatic but they can be carriers of the illnesses.

I purposely removed all food and water lasts night so she had no access to them, she did drink a good amount of water right before going to bed around 5pm and I checked her crop at 6am this morning and it was mostly full.

Hm.. do you know if a symptom of either IB or MG is opening the mouth really wide and doing a yawning like motion? A lot of the chickens around here do that.

 

[casportpony]

Is a vet an option? If so I really think you should get her in to see a vet. Her crop problems are almost certainly due to some sort of intestinal or reproductive trouble. As someone else said, one of those poop pictures looks like it has "lash egg" bits.

 

[MissChick@dee]

When they “yawn” it’s to adjust food from their throat to the crop. Have you checked your feed? Mold is a sneaky nasty thing. It can be dry mold and you wouldn’t know it. If the majority of your chickens are doing this I’d look for a common denominator. Mold can also cause respiratory issues. Check your feed.

 

[Wyorp Rock]

I purposely removed all food and water lasts night so she had no access to them, she did drink a good amount of water right before going to bed around 5pm and I checked her crop at 6am this morning and it was mostly full.

Hm.. do you know if a symptom of either IB or MG is opening the mouth really wide and doing a yawning like motion? A lot of the chickens around here do that.

Her yawning motion is because her crop is not emptying - she is trying to make adjustments.

The crop is not emptying completely because of whatever else is going on with her - Salpingitis or other reproductive problem - any of these can slow the digestive system, intestines, ect., because of swelling, fluid or similar.

 

[MissChick@dee]

Did I understand correctly that you have a few birds now that are yawning??

 

[ChickenMama308]

Not sure about Vitamin C? I only mentioned not using foods/products that contain calcium when giving the Oxy.
Papaya is an excellent source of vitamin C.

If her crop is not emptying, birds can shake their head/make neck adjustments when they eat/drink. She may be developing a nervous tick since she is unwell. It would be hard to know.

The scratching - have you checked her for lice/mites? Sometimes when a bird is sick and not preening/dust bathing they can get an infestation.

Antibiotics can help with infection from Salpingitis if caught early. This can help heal them, but there is no cure. A lot would depend on the cause. Birds that had IB and MG, even mild strains usually have damage to the reproductive system, so to have problems down the road is likely.

Take several samples with you to the vet, fresh is always good too. Talk to them about what testing they can do for you.

Curious where you heard that you shouldn't have vitamin c with oxytetracycline? I mentioned this to my vet and they actually said it should be ok, and honestly to encourage Nani to eat whatever she's willing to eat at this point.

See my following post about her crop and current update,

I will doublecheck her for external parasites but last I looked she had no trace.

I will read more into IB and Mg.

Thank you!

 

[ChickenMama308]

Did I understand correctly that you have a few birds now that are yawning??

Yes, I've seen it here and there over the months but I thought maybe it was normal but now I'm realizing to question everything! All of the chickens I've raised do it from time to time, some times more than others but in general fairly infrequently, and same with all the wild chickens around here. 'Yawning' is kind of the best way to describe the action, or another way to describe would be that it looks like they are dropping their head back, lifting their beak up vertically and making the mouth of drinking water, but with their mouth open, if that makes sense.