Help! Lethargic Hen with Mushy but Emptying Crop

[freerangehappyhens]

I have grown up with chickens my whole life and was recently asked to petsit 4 newly adopted hens for a friend. I'm not sure exactly how old they are but I think they are relatively new egg layers so maybe around 30 weeks? The first day hen sitting I noticed one Rhode Island Red was quite lethargic and removed from the others. I let her do her thing the first day and just monitored her, but last night I removed her from the roost. She is significantly lighter than the others, refused to eat or drink, is having extremely liquidy poops, and her crop was very mushy, but didn't feel overly large. I asked her owner about it and she, a very new chicken owner, said that she had been noticing how weird the hen had been acting and thought she was sick. I pulled her into a separate space for the night and gave her a crop massage before bed, during which I could hear lots of gurgling but didn't necessarily notice any foul odors. Before we went to bed I noticed she was able to pass a firmer poop.

This morning her crop was empty so I gave her a little bit of food soaked in water (she ate less than 1/4 cup) and some water, both of which she gobbled up. As she was eating/drinking I could hear gurgling sounds coming from her crop area and she started becoming lethargic again, falling asleep standing there just after eating. I felt her crop and it was a bit larger, as she had just eaten, but still very mushy. I'm keeping her separated from the others for now but am not sure how to proceed. I'm afraid she has been sick for awhile and is now malnourished. Can I feed her regularly and continue crop massages if it's emptying normally overnight? The mushiness and the gurgling is concerning me as far as her crop goes, I'm thinking her lethargy could be related to malnutrition due to an untreated crop issue?

Any info helps!

 

[Eggcessive]

What are all of the foods you are feeding her? Do you provide poultry granite grit to aid digestion? Since her crop emptied overnight, that is a good sign. You might try some probiotics. Many use a tsp of chilled coconut oil cut into slivers and fed to chickens to help pass a blockage. Also consider worming with either Valbazen or SafeGuard liquid goat wormer in case of crop or intestinal worms. Here is a good article that many use for crop problems:
https://www.backyardchickens.com/ar...w-to-know-which-one-youre-dealing-with.73607/

 

[freerangehappyhens]

What are all of the foods you are feeding her? Do you provide poultry granite grit to aid digestion? Since her crop emptied overnight, that is a good sign. You might try some probiotics. Many use a tsp of chilled coconut oil cut into slivers and fed to chickens to help pass a blockage. Also consider worming with either Valbazen or SafeGuard liquid goat wormer in case of crop or intestinal worms. Here is a good article that many use for crop problems:
https://www.backyardchickens.com/ar...w-to-know-which-one-youre-dealing-with.73607/

Thank you! She seems to be steadily improving, though she's still quite underweight and seems to eat less than the other girls. I've introduced granite grit and oyster shells into the other hens' diets since I started chicken sitting and noticed this one was sick. She's still mostly eating soft foods, but should I give her grit too already? I've also started giving them all electrolytes and probiotics. I learned that they may have come from a previously overcrowded home so I wouldn't be surprised if they have intestinal worms or something else from that overly large flock kept in a small space.

 

[Eggcessive]

You should put out grit in a separate container, where the chickens will take some as they need it. Some hens love scrambled egg, canned cat food, or ground meat in very small amounts. Don’t feed that instead of her regular chicken feed, but those may be given on occasion to see if she will take some. Electrolytes should not be used for more than a few days, since it can cause diarrhea. You could use the combo probiotic electrolyte a couple of days a week. How long are you pet sitting? If the owner doesn’t mind, you could go ahead and worm her to see if that helps her.