Impacted Crop - Updated, and seeking further advice please!

[casportpony]

Did your vet do a fecal to check for worm eggs, coccidia, bacteria and yeast? Any of those can cause crop stasis.

-Kathy

 

[krista74]

I would say get her on a good probiotic to help get things back in balance, especially if she is going to be on antibiotics as that kills all the good bacteria as well. No good bacteria in the stomach will prevent food from getting digested. I used this probiotic along with probiotics and electrolytes added to the water (chick saver) when mine had a sour crop and was passing undigested food and diarrhea after I treated the sour crop. Good luck!

edited to add: I do not know anything about Mareks...

I hadn't thought of Probiotics, but I do have some available in my little Chookie Medical Cabinet. I've been slowly collecting bits and pieces as I go along -difficult, as in Australia we can't get antibiotics unless we take our animals to the vet to be assessed, and even then they only prescribe what the hen needs for the immediate future. To date, I have managed to acquire worming treatment, some antibiotics suitable for respiratory infections (vet prescribed way too much last time I needed some!), a Probiotic, some prescribed painkiller (which Fire Ant is currently taking), a good wound spray and a dusting powder for lice and mites. Anyway, I will give her the probiotics today, and have already given her a dose of pain killer and her morning antibiotic. Blow this tube-feeding business - I put it on some tuna and she gobbled the lot! Thanks for the great idea.

Lots of water and no grains!

-Kathy

Interesting you should mention that, because I had read up on crop impaction and the like, and queried the vet about what she should be eating, to which he replied "Anything she wants." I have given her the tuna this morning, and some cucumber and cabbage which she likes. I have not given her grain for days now, but by grain I mean whole wheat and scratch. Can she still have her layer's pellets? She has them in her pen at the moment but to be honest she is not showing a lot of interest in them anyway. The tuna though, that was a different story. She came over and looked at it and started purring! It was the sweetest thing ever! Then she turned into a little ravenous dog and ate the lot! Regarding the water - always, always, I put out more than they could ever drink. Especially since it's 107 degrees here today - everyone has access to at least 2 buckets of water, which will be changed out at midday to keep it cool.

- Krista

 

[krista74]

Did your vet do a fecal to check for worm eggs, coccidia, bacteria and yeast? Any of those can cause crop stasis.

-Kathy

No, he didn't. Quite how I would afford to do all that on top of the $280 bill I got yesterday is beyond me! I have wormed her, along with the rest of the flock, about 1 month ago. They get wormed every 3 months or thereabouts, as a precaution rather than as a treatment after the fact.

I acquired all my girls at auction when they were 4 months old, so if they have cocci I wouldn't know. I can tell you I've had 4 batches of chicks in the past 2 months and did not lose a single one, so perhaps that is a good sign that we are not dealing with cocci? There has also been no sign of bloody poop, and trust me on this one - I do look! Hubby thinks it's hilarious, but I go onto hands and knees under the roost on a regular basis to check things out, as I also do in the chick pen. I am presuming, and this may be incorrect, that as the remaining 7 hens, the rooster, and the 5 chicks are lively that cocci may not be an issue at present?

Bacteria and Yeast - an area I know very little about. They could have an issue in that department I suppose - can you clarify how that might exhibit? I can put the whole flock on a dose of probiotic if you feel that may help? I am curious also about ACV - is this beneficial in any way, because if so I can get some. I am sad to report that I don't really do much preventative health management for the flock. They get wormed and treated for lice and mites with a dusting powder, but I haven't medicated them with anything else. I guess this is partly due to the fact that we live rurally (ie: The Middle of No-Where) and supplies are hard to come by. Plus, to be honest, the expense is a consideration. I'd love to be able to get them everything but I don't have a lot of spare cash. The $280 for Fire Ant's surgery is a heavy burden at the moment. I do buy them a high quality layer's pellet though, to which they have free access.

The vet has mentioned that if Fire Ant relapses and passes away, he can do a histology report to verify if Mareks is present. It costs $180 - $220 but at least then I would know what I am (or am not) dealing with. Hubby has said 'ok' to this expense should the worst happen.

I welcome any further comments and advice, thank you!

- Krista

PS: Just saw a second brown snake in the coop. Getting the first one out was hell in a hand-basket. Cross your fingers for me this afternoon! The babies are out and safe but the hens keep going in to lay - for the love of all that is holy, take a day off!!!

 

[casportpony]

I understand that cost is an issue, but the fecal is pretty cheap compared to what you already spent. Crops "impacted" with grain, not grass, are usually secondary to something else going on. The hard part is figuring out what that something else is... could be dehydration, heat stroke, cancer, worms, damage from worms, disease, intestinal obstruction, ascites, egg binding, etc.

Given your hot weather, it could just have been from the heat and her not drinking enough. I had one with a grain impacted crop when we hit 103 here and had to tube fluids to here for several days to get it to pass, but it finally did and she recovered 100%.

Call them and ask how much it would cost to have them check her poop for worm eggs, coccidia and yeast. My vet would charge about $50 for all of the tests, but many vets charge less.

Google capillary worms, they are the ones that worry me the most, and they are very hard to treat. What wormer do you use?

As for what to feed her... after issues with crops I always feed foods that are easy to digest, like eggs, crumbles, cooked rice, cooked pasta, but mostly crumbles. Since she isn't interested in the lay pellets, which I think are fine, try making a mash out of them, but make sure they don't go rancid.

If her poops look nice and solid and 100% normal there is probably no reason to check for bacteria and yeast.

-Kathy
-

 

[krista74]

I understand that cost is an issue, but the fecal is pretty cheap compared to what you already spent. Crops "impacted" with grain, not grass, are usually secondary to something else going on. The hard part is figuring out what that something else is... could be dehydration, heat stroke, cancer, worms, damage from worms, disease, intestinal obstruction, ascites, egg binding, etc.

Given your hot weather, it could just have been from the heat and her not drinking enough. I had one with a grain impacted crop when we hit 103 here and had to tube fluids to here for several days to get it to pass, but it finally did and she recovered 100%.

Call them and ask how much it would cost to have them check her poop for worm eggs, coccidia and yeast. My vet would charge about $50 for all of the tests, but many vets charge less.

Google capillary worms, they are the ones that worry me the most, and they are very hard to treat. What wormer do you use?

As for what to feed her... after issues with crops I always feed foods that are easy to digest, like eggs, crumbles, cooked rice, cooked pasta, but mostly crumbles. Since she isn't interested in the lay pellets, which I think are fine, try making a mash out of them, but make sure they don't go rancid.

If her poops look nice and solid and 100% normal there is probably no reason to check for bacteria and yeast.

-Kathy
-

Hi Kathy

I will ring the vet on Monday and ask how much it would cost. Things out here tend to be pretty pricey (the tests to confirm Mareks via necropsy were going to be $150+ alone!) However, it costs nothing to ask the question, so I will do that.

She is not pooping a great deal at the moment. Mind you, she had a laxative the day before surgery which REALLY emptied her out, and did not eat much the day after surgery. The poops she is doing are quite small but she is otherwise quite alert and talkative.

She seems to want to eat her vegies and that sort of thing but not her pellets yet. I will try the mash idea but if worst comes to worst I suppose a few days on vegies alone will be ok. I will not give her grain though. She did NOT want mashed banana with yoghurt and her hidden antibiotics yesterday, that I know for sure!

The wormer I use is called Sykes Big-L Wormer for Poultry and Pigs. You may not have heard of it, I think we get different drugs out here to what is available in the US. According to the label it treats for Large Round Worm, Hair Worm (Capillaria spp), and Caecal Worm. The wormer contains Levamisole, from the drench family, which I realise birds can develop a resistance to, but I have only used it for 9 months so far. The good thing about that wormer is that there is no withholding period on egg consumption.

Thank you for your wise advice, I very much appreciate it.

- Krista

 

[azygous]

Yogurt or keifer might restore the normal function of her crop and intestines.

So glad to hear she came through the surgery okay.