Just did necropsy on sick chicken that died

[meekasmom]

One of my 29 week old pullets started acting dumpy a couple days ago. She wouldn't eat or drink and stood all puffed up. I brought her inside and kept her caged up to see if she got better. I noticed her crop was soft and full. She was only pooping a little liquid from time to time. This morning she was dead so I decided to do a necropsy to see if there was anything obvious. I found alot of food in her crop but there was also liquid, and everything was undigested. I also found a soft shelled egg that was probably in the process of forming in her. Didn't find any tumors or any abnormalities. Could she have had an impacted crop? For some reason the crop was not emptying. I thought an impacted crop would be hard. I have 3 other pullets and they are fine. I'm new to keeping chickens and wondered if anyone had any ideas as to what went wrong so I can prevent this from happening again.
Thank you.
Kathy

 

[gmendoza]

One of my 29 week old pullets started acting dumpy a couple days ago. She wouldn't eat or drink and stood all puffed up. I brought her inside and kept her caged up to see if she got better. I noticed her crop was soft and full. She was only pooping a little liquid from time to time. This morning she was dead so I decided to do a necropsy to see if there was anything obvious. I found alot of food in her crop but there was also liquid, and everything was undigested. I also found a soft shelled egg that was probably in the process of forming in her. Didn't find any tumors or any abnormalities. Could she have had an impacted crop? For some reason the crop was not emptying. I thought an impacted crop would be hard. I have 3 other pullets and they are fine. I'm new to keeping chickens and wondered if anyone had any ideas as to what went wrong so I can prevent this from happening again.
Thank you.
Kathy

Could have been sour crop. Sour Crop will be all swishy due to bad bacterial growth in the crop,which it will kill chickens if not spotted in time. Learning lesson: check if crop is squishy. If so invert chicken head-down and massage crop til yucky white goo comes out.Then feed plain yogurt mixed with crumbles and add a few drops of Apple Cider Vinegar ( horse brand from TCS) to chickens water.
..wait for results if chicken is getting better or not.

 

[seminolewind]

It could have been a blockage further down . If so there's nothing you could have done. I know sometimes that animals or people have runny stool because it's the only thing that can get past the blockage.

 

[meekasmom]

Thank you for your input. I am convinced that she had a sour crop. Now I will know what to do in the future if it should happen to another hen.