Lethargic hen - what to do?

[Wyorp Rock]

I’m assuming she has sour crop and treating her as such with ACV water, kefir and going to try this mixture from a BYC article:

Did you read the article or just run across the recipe and decide to just use it?
Sour Crop (as in the article) is treated using an anti-fungal/yeast medication like Nystatin, Miconazole or Clotrimazole.
Doughy Crop is treated with the recipe you found. Can you figure out which one she has?
Often, a Doughy Crop can be Sour, so if anything, I would treat as both. Give an antifungal and administer the recipe, just space them out.
https://www.backyardchickens.com/ar...ntion-and-treatments-of-crop-disorders.67194/

The white in the poop is urates. She's dehydrated. Get fluids into her. I would give some electrolytes if you have them.

Get some Calcium into her too. The beauty of using a pill is you pop the pill in the beak and let them swallow it. You don't rely on them trying to eat it in food. Most birds that are unwell with crop and reproductive issues don't eat very much at all, so hiding meds in food is not the best course of action.
Hydration, Calcium.

Consider deworming if you haven't done so.

 

[1chip2chicks3cheeks]

Did you read the article or just run across the recipe and decide to just use it?
Sour Crop (as in the article) is treated using an anti-fungal/yeast medication like Nystatin, Miconazole or Clotrimazole.
Doughy Crop is treated with the recipe you found. Can you figure out which one she has?
Often, a Doughy Crop can be Sour, so if anything, I would treat as both. Give an antifungal and administer the recipe, just space them out.
https://www.backyardchickens.com/ar...ntion-and-treatments-of-crop-disorders.67194/

The white in the poop is urates. She's dehydrated. Get fluids into her. I would give some electrolytes if you have them.

Get some Calcium into her too. The beauty of using a pill is you pop the pill in the beak and let them swallow it. You don't rely on them trying to eat it in food. Most birds that are unwell with crop and reproductive issues don't eat very much at all, so hiding meds in food is not the best course of action.
Hydration, Calcium.

Consider deworming if you haven't done so.

Yes I read the article, it said the recipe can be used to treat both doughy and sour crop. I was able to get the calcium into her, but if she’s not egg bound and it’s just crop issues is the extra calcium going to be too much?? I have been giving her water.

 

[Wyorp Rock]

Yes I read the article, it said the recipe can be used to treat both doughy and sour crop. I was able to get the calcium into her, but if she’s not egg bound and it’s just crop issues is the extra calcium going to be too much?? I have been giving her water.

I would continue with the calcium for a few days.

Your slow, doughy or sour crop is a symptom. Often the result (symptom) of an underlying condition like reproductive disorders, infection, worms and/or coccidiosis.
Just because you can't feel an egg stuck in the cloaca (egg binding) doesn't mean that a reproductive problem is not part of the problem.
Internal Laying, Salpingitis, Cancer, tumors, EYP...any of these can cause the symptoms you are seeing as well.

Treat the symptoms and see how it goes.

 

[1chip2chicks3cheeks]

Good news first: she is looking and acting much better than she previously was! When I went out this morning, she was walking all around and exploring the garage instead of laying in the nesting box like she has been. I took her out with the rest of the flock while I did the morning service, and she was very happy to be with her friends. She ran and scratched around, and enjoyed the sun. Lots of energy now and even picked a fight with one hen :/ her crop does seem a bit smaller since the first day as well.

Bad news: she seems hungry by now. She has snuck a few bugs in her scratching but that’s about it, and tried eating the snacks I gave the other chickens but I stopped her. I’m not sure what to feed her, if at all since her crop has not emptied yet. Her poops are looking better, not just urates anymore which I’m hoping means some of what’s in the her crop is digesting, but still a lot of liquid. I’m not sure why, on all the poop charts I’ve read it says that liquidy poops are a result of the hen being hot and drinking too much. I’m giving her water regularly, she won’t drink on her own still. But @Wyorp Rock said dehydration??

Still no egg, I’m still giving her calcium, but she isn’t really acting egg bound anymore or looking penguinish. She didn’t look super penguinish, just standing a little odd which perhaps I mistook for looking penguiny? Surely it’d be worse by now if she was indeed egg bound? Part of the reason I took her to hang with the flock this morning was to see if she would go to her usual box and try laying, but she didn’t. We once had another hen in the garage for about five days or so, and she never laid a single egg but wasn’t egg bound, she just didn’t want to. I figure it’s like when you bring home a new hen they won’t lay for some time until they get adjusted. Being out of their environment is stressful, so maybe she’s just not comfortable enough to lay right now? I’m hoping that’s the case.

When I felt her crop this morning it was hard instead of soft and I feel lumps in it, it feels like hardened feed. When I give her water it becomes soft and pliable, so I’m thinking she actually has doughy crop then, since it becomes pliable? Her breath doesn’t smell sour. Yesterday morning it felt soft, but I’m thinking that may be because I gave her water quite late in the night before.

I have been massaging her crop every time I give her liquids. Does oil work the same for doughy crop as it does for an impacted crop? Since it’s obviously hardened before I give her water, it seems like it would work the same to break it up but not sure.

 

[azygous]

Doing the crop massage is good. She needs to eat, so offer her wet mash or soft boiled egg, things easy to digest that also have water content.

 

[1chip2chicks3cheeks]

I gave her the lemon juice and spices and it seemed to work almost instantly! Two hours later and her crop feels empty of food!

She ate a bit of dry feed, will see if she is able to digest it by morning.

So happy !!!

 

[Wyorp Rock]

Glad she's doing a little better!
Keep us posted on how she's getting along.

 

[Alicethewhiterabbit]

How is she doing?

 

[1chip2chicks3cheeks]

Chippy did very well today! Yesterday morning her crop was still full so I gave her the lemon juice mixture three times yesterday with lots of massaging. Finally her crop was empty this morning! Today was her first day back with the flock and last night she slept in the coop too. She stayed up in her usual nesting box for a few hours today, probably trying to lay an egg but I didn’t see one left behind. Maybe tomorrow she will lay she went foraging and ate lots of Grubblies that happened to be on the ground. For some reason she’s refusing to eat any feed or boiled eggs, but will forage. So her crop was full again from foraging and mealworms, crossing my fingers it will be empty in the morning. I did watch her finally drink on her own today, very happy about that!