Likely Crop/Digestive Problem

[BuffetChicken]

My 3-year-old Australorp woke up sick today. She didn't come out of the coop this morning with the others. I lifted her out, but she didn't join the others to eat breakfast.

Through yesterday, she was eating feed normally. She did not participate with the others the last two days, however, when I give them treats just before bed.

This morning, I offered her electrolyte water in isolation from the others, but she did not have any. She did have some water of her own accord, however, when I let her out of isolation. She then went to the end of the yard where the flock generally spends the day and where the others already were. She remained about 10 feet from the others, though.

Her comb is flopped over and she is lethargic. I felt her crop, which was full of grain from yesterday. It is neither hard nor squishy. It's just full of grain although she hasn't eaten today. I haven't seen whether she pooped/how it looked.

I read these two articles:
https://www.backyardchickens.com/ar...w-to-know-which-one-youre-dealing-with.73607/
https://www.backyardchickens.com/articles/how-to-treat-sour-crop.77991/

I gave her some apple cider vinegar mixed into water via a dropper. She swallowed a bit of it. She would not swallow the bits of coconut oil, however. I have massaged her crop several times, and it remains the same.

Tonight she went into the coop with the others, but did not get up onto the perch. I took her from the coop and have her in a crate in the garage for the night with a dish of electrolyte water.

Any advice in addition to what's in the articles linked above? Since her crop is neither squishy nor hard, it seems like her trouble could be something other than sour crop or an impacted crop.

 

[nuthatched]

What's her diet? Is she sitting funny?

 

[BuffetChicken]

What's her diet? Is she sitting funny?

I give them commercial, whole grain feed. It's a mixture of wheat, soy, corn, sunflower seeds...

She's mostly standing, no sitting. I have a low perch in the crate in the garage. She didn't climb onto it herself, so after several minutes I lifted her onto it. She immediately hopped off.

 

[BuffetChicken]

I give them commercial, whole grain feed. It's a mixture of wheat, soy, corn, sunflower seeds...

She's mostly standing, no sitting. I have a low perch in the crate in the garage. She didn't climb onto it herself, so after several minutes I lifted her onto it. She immediately hopped off.

Whoops. I just checked on her, and she's on the perch having gotten onto it herself.

Her breathing seems labored. I can see her chest moving significantly (but it's in her crop area that I really see it, so that could be just from having a full crop). I also see her throat moving as she breathes.

 

[nuthatched]

I give them commercial, whole grain feed. It's a mixture of wheat, soy, corn, sunflower seeds...

She's mostly standing, no sitting. I have a low perch in the crate in the garage. She didn't climb onto it herself, so after several minutes I lifted her onto it. She immediately hopped off.

It could be a blockage, have you checked her over for any injuries? Between her legs for swellings? What's the nutrition analysis or brand of the feed? The problem with whole grain feeds is chickens get to pick and choose what they eat and get nutritionally lopsided.

 

[BuffetChicken]

It could be a blockage, have you checked her over for any injuries? Between her legs for swellings? What's the nutrition analysis or brand of the feed? The problem with whole grain feeds is chickens get to pick and choose what they eat and get nutritionally lopsided.

Thank you for the questions to help figure this out. No injuries. I just felt between her legs and didn't feel anything that seemed like swelling.

Is a blockage different than an impacted crop? The articles I linked in the original post said the crop will be hard if it's impacted. Hers is not hard, just full when it should have already emptied.

I'm aware of the concerns about whole grain feed. They've been eating it for a long time without issue. Here's the nutritional analysis.

 

[nuthatched]

Thank you for the questions to help figure this out. No injuries. I just felt between her legs and didn't feel anything that seemed like swelling.

Is a blockage different than an impacted crop? The articles I linked in the original post said the crop will be hard if it's impacted. Hers is not hard, just full when it should have already emptied.

I'm aware of the concerns about whole grain feed. They've been eating it for a long time without issue. Here's the nutritional analysis.

An impacted crop is just a aggravated blocked crop, the feed doesn't move down so the chicken keeps eating and it over fills. Usually massage fixes it, worst case, you yarf the chicken but hopefully it will fix before then.
Feed is a bit low in protein but otherwise looks great.

 

[BuffetChicken]

Now that she's by herself in the garage, I can see she has pooped only once since she has been in there (a couple hours). It was mostly liquid with a layer of the white cap in the center.

 

[BuffetChicken]

An impacted crop is just a aggravated blocked crop, the feed doesn't move down so the chicken keeps eating and it over fills. Usually massage fixes it, worst case, you yarf the chicken but hopefully it will fix before then.
Feed is a bit low in protein but otherwise looks great.

Thanks. I agree the protein is a little low. Their evening treat is grubs. They also have free range to forage, although this time of year I'm not sure how much they find in the way of bugs.

 

[BuffetChicken]

Update: I never got her to take oil. After trying the cold coconut oil, I tried olive oil via a dropper on Sunday, but couldn't get it into her beak. (I was able to give her electrolyte water via a dropper several times.)

Yesterday (Tuesday), her crop was the same: not hard, not squishy, but still full of feed, which she hadn't eaten since Saturday. I'd been massaging it several times each day starting Sunday afternoon.

I decided she had a slow crop. So, yesterday, I gave her the ducosate sodium. I got the gel caps, punctured one with a knife, and used a syringe without a needle to suck out the contents. The human dose was "1-3 caplets/day". I gave her most of the contents of one caplet mixed with some water in the syringe--some just wouldn't push back out of the syringe. It seemed like a significant dose, given the human dose and her very tiny size relative to a person. But, there also was such a small amount in the gel cap, I couldn't do much in the way of apportioning it.

I had a video meeting to attend after giving her the stool softener. Two hours later when my meeting was over, there was a small bit of poop with substance in the crate with her. Before that, all she excreted was liquid with the urea cap in the middle.

Then I took her out into the yard. She started to eat the grass, which seemed like a bad idea just yet. I isolated her from the grass and cooked an egg. She was very hungry after nearly three days without eating. She ate nearly half the egg and drank a lot of water. That was positive because previously she hadn't taken any water on her own; I had been giving her electrolyte water via a dropper. She pooped two more times, and it had substance.

She spent last night in the crate again because the others were being jerks since she was still a little mopey. This morning her crop was empty. Today she is back with the others. I fed the others before reuniting her. I want to limit her food intake to easily digestible foods today still. I gave her whole wheat bread crumbs soaked in water with some olive oil. She ate pretty well again and has generally perked up.