Impacted crop (?)

[autumn_farms]

Hi there - pretty new to these forums. this might be a sort of long post!

A couple days ago we noticed one of our hens was a little slow, now this isn't the most uncommon thing since this hen from a very young age has always seemed to be a little off- we rescued them from pretty poor conditions, when we got her she had bumblefoot and had clearly been bullied a fair bit.
we have had her for almost two years now (and that is how old she is- if not a little older)
she's never been a great layer, but we were never really bothered. up until recently she was happy and always excited to go about her day.

she became lethargic, did not eat much, and is passing very watery slightly greenish poop - she will however drink pretty readily. her crop is a little smaller than a golf ball i'd say. Its hard, slightly pliable. her breath does not smell.

we withheld food and made sure she was getting hydrated, we massaged her crop a few times every day and also gave her a bit of oil. There has been no improvement and I feel like if anything she has slightly gone downhill. a month ago we did happen to find a lash egg, but all of our chickens seemed fine, so we've just been monitoring them and can't be 100% sure it was the currently sick chicken.

TL;DR
we have a lethargic chicken that does not want to eat, but will drink. she's not in the full-on penguin stance, but is puffed up with her head tucked. She is around 2. She was bred and lived in bad conditions until we rescued her. I don't know her exact breed, she's a very normal looking brown chicken that had been bred for egg laying and maybe meat. She is only having very watery poop. her crop has been full for a couple days and is hard. We have tried a couple treatments but they do not seem to have helped. She has possibly laid a lash egg before.

as much as we want to save her, we don't want her to needlessly suffer. If anyone has any ideas or suggestions please share - if she did lay the lash egg, would her current condition be linked to salpingitis?
--
The vet options around here are a little limited - one of the vets will basically not see to any animals unless they are for meat, the other option is an extremely expensive vet which we have been to and had some rather bad experiences with.

 

[Wyorp Rock]

she became lethargic, did not eat much, and is passing very watery slightly greenish poop - she will however drink pretty readily. her crop is a little smaller than a golf ball i'd say. Its hard, slightly pliable. her breath does not smell.

we withheld food and made sure she was getting hydrated, we massaged her crop a few times every day and also gave her a bit of oil. There has been no improvement and I feel like if anything she has slightly gone downhill. a month ago we did happen to find a lash egg, but all of our chickens seemed fine, so we've just been monitoring them and can't be 100% sure it was the currently sick chicken.

she's not in the full-on penguin stance, but is puffed up with her head tucked.

if she did lay the lash egg, would her current condition be linked to salpingitis?

Welcome To BYC

I'm sorry to hear about your hen.
Do you have photos of her and her poop?

Lash Egg is Salpingitis which is inflammation of the oviduct.
Hard to know if she's the hen that laid the Lash Egg, but with your description of symptoms, I would say it's likely.

It's common to find there's a crop issue when a hen has some type of reproductive disorder, some other common causes that go hand in hand with crop issues are worms, Coccidiosis and infection.
Swelling/inflammation in the body/intestines/reproductive system can slow and/or reduce digestion.

I'd address the symptoms that you may be able to treat and see if she will perk up for you.
If the crop is slow and not emptying, slightly pliable, then I'd treat as Sour Crop. Give her 1tsp coconut oil 2x a day and also an anti-fungal/yeast medication like Nystatin, Miconzole or Clotrimazole 2X a day for 7 days.
Work on hydration and offer her wet soupy feed to eat. Bits of egg, tomato or melon may be enticing as well.
If she's not getting picked on, I'd leave her with her flock so she can move about or lounge as she pleases. Separation is stressful.

For the Lash Egg (Salpingitis), she may have more material she's trying to expel, it can be hard to know. Often the material will build up in the oviduct and sometimes in the abdominal cavity as well, if the material has reversed there. You can try an antibiotic like Amoxicillin to see if that helps with the inflammation, but it may make Sour Crop worse.

Hens that have these problems can often improve for a good while with supportive care and treatment depending on how advanced their condition is, but sometimes they can decline rapidly as well.
I'd give it a go and see how well she does. If she declines and is clearly suffering, then of course putting her out of her misery is in order.

Here's the article I use when treating my own birds - it discusses the coconut oil and yeast medications. I have found these methods to be effective most of the time unless the hen is in really bad shape.

https://www.backyardchickens.com/ar...w-to-know-which-one-youre-dealing-with.73607/

 

[autumn_farms]

Welcome To BYC

I'm sorry to hear about your hen.
Do you have photos of her and her poop?

Lash Egg is Salpingitis which is inflammation of the oviduct.
Hard to know if she's the hen that laid the Lash Egg, but with your description of symptoms, I would say it's likely.

It's common to find there's a crop issue when a hen has some type of reproductive disorder, some other common causes that go hand in hand with crop issues are worms, Coccidiosis and infection.
Swelling/inflammation in the body/intestines/reproductive system can slow and/or reduce digestion.

I'd address the symptoms that you may be able to treat and see if she will perk up for you.
If the crop is slow and not emptying, slightly pliable, then I'd treat as Sour Crop. Give her 1tsp coconut oil 2x a day and also an anti-fungal/yeast medication like Nystatin, Miconzole or Clotrimazole 2X a day for 7 days.
Work on hydration and offer her wet soupy feed to eat. Bits of egg, tomato or melon may be enticing as well.
If she's not getting picked on, I'd leave her with her flock so she can move about or lounge as she pleases. Separation is stressful.

For the Lash Egg (Salpingitis), she may have more material she's trying to expel, it can be hard to know. Often the material will build up in the oviduct and sometimes in the abdominal cavity as well, if the material has reversed there. You can try an antibiotic like Amoxicillin to see if that helps with the inflammation, but it may make Sour Crop worse.

Hens that have these problems can often improve for a good while with supportive care and treatment depending on how advanced their condition is, but sometimes they can decline rapidly as well.
I'd give it a go and see how well she does. If she declines and is clearly suffering, then of course putting her out of her misery is in order.

Here's the article I use when treating my own birds - it discusses the coconut oil and yeast medications. I have found these methods to be effective most of the time unless the hen is in really bad shape.

https://www.backyardchickens.com/ar...w-to-know-which-one-youre-dealing-with.73607/

Thanks for the response!
I don't have any photos of her in this current condition, I'll see about taking some tomorrow.

and sorry, I worded that weird - I know lash egg is the result of salpingitis - what I was trying to ask is whether her crop would be how it is now (hard and not emptying) because she has salpingitis. We have tried coconot oil but we were treating this more like impaction and not sour crop, so I'll have to see about the yeast medication.
She has rejected most food- even her favourites.

We've separated her because she was getting picked on, however she is still at least able to see the others and is in a spot she's pretty familiar with.

i'll read the article you've linked and see if any of these methods help - thanks again for reading/replying.

 

[Wyorp Rock]

Thanks for the response!
I don't have any photos of her in this current condition, I'll see about taking some tomorrow.

and sorry, I worded that weird - I know lash egg is the result of salpingitis - what I was trying to ask is whether her crop would be how it is now (hard and not emptying) because she has salpingitis. We have tried coconot oil but we were treating this more like impaction and not sour crop, so I'll have to see about the yeast medication.
She has rejected most food- even her favourites.

We've separated her because she was getting picked on, however she is still at least able to see the others and is in a spot she's pretty familiar with.

i'll read the article you've linked and see if any of these methods help - thanks again for reading/replying.

Ah, I see, gotcha - I understand your question now.
Yes, the crop issues could be due to Salpingitis. If she has material that is building up in the system or there's infection/inflammation, this can affect the digestive system, make it slower, etc.

Poor thing, sometimes they do get picked on when not well, but it's good that she's where she can see the others.
Work on hydration and try a few things to see if she will eat a little for you.

Reproductive problems are sad and frustrating, while common, they don't make it any easier when it's your hen that is going downhill.

Do the best you can, hopefully she will rally for you.

This thread was posted yesterday, the OP lost a hen and opened her up to see what they might find. From the photo and descriptions, this was lash material found inside the oviduct. As you can see, it's quite a bit of material, while the material was in the reproductive tract, it would very likely have caused a slowing in the digestive system and the hen would have not been feeling very good. https://www.backyardchickens.com/threads/dead-hen-autopsy.1606411/

 

[autumn_farms]

i suppose i will just update this thread - we did end up euthanizing her. The issue was definitely salpingitis - I am kicking myself for not putting her down sooner. I suppose i was just being too optimistic. I really cared for her and wanted so badly to fix what i thought was wrong.

 

[Wyorp Rock]

i suppose i will just update this thread - we did end up euthanizing her. The issue was definitely salpingitis - I am kicking myself for not putting her down sooner. I suppose i was just being too optimistic. I really cared for her and wanted so badly to fix what i thought was wrong.

I'm very sorry about your hen.

Don't be hard on yourself, I've been there too and it's heartbreaking. You did what you could for her, and I know you cared for her.

Thank you for updating the thread even if the news is sad, I really appreciate it.