Hey everyone! First, please forgive the length. It's been a bit of a complicated, drawn out situation and I want to get all the details across because I'm at a bit of a loss.
The problem started back in October/November when I noticed that one of my one year old hens had been having very watery, small, unnaturally green poops (I attached a picture of one of the old poop pictures). It took me a while (at least a few weeks) to figure out which hen was having these droppings because she'd been acting fairly normal up until the point when she suddenly started acting lethargic, hunching up, and not eating much. She was, however, drinking quite a lot. Water/liquid was also leaking from her mouth when she bent over.
I brought her inside and, after noticing that her crop was squishy and wasn't draining, suspected sour crop. I took her to the vet who suspected similar. She purged her crop a bit and sent off a fecal sample for testing. I began withholding food (not that she was really eating any anyway), massaging her crop regularly, trying to clear it with mineral and coconut oil, and treating with Monistat until the results came in. She showed a bit of improvement with this, so I was optimistic. The fecal ended up negative with no sign of parasites, which I was surprised about since her poop had been so unnaturally green for way longer than she'd shown sour crop symptoms.
I wondered if maybe the fecal sample was too diluted to be effective, since she'd not really been eating and was drinking a lot. So I had another one of hers tested as well as one from another chicken in the flock. Both of those came back normal as well. The vet wasn't really sure what might else be wrong, so she prescribed her an antifungal and an antibiotic.
I went through both courses and she seemed to get most of her energy back. Her crop was still squishy during the day, but it was now completely draining overnight. She was starting to show some interest in scrambled eggs again, so one day I started provided grit for her again. To my horror, she ate the whole plate of grit and had a swollen crop full of grit. It didn't totally drain overnight, so I went through the oil/massaging process again. Thankfully, eventually she did pass all that grit (weeks later she was still pooping grit).
Flash forward to now and her crop drains completely overnight. Her energy seems back and she shows interest in leaving the cage. I'm inclined to put her back outside, but am still concerned that I didn't fix the overall problem. Her poops are still green and watery. Not as much as before, but they still don't look normal (I've attached a picture of what they look like now). She is having cecal poops again, but they are very watery. She does eat, but I wouldn't say it's a normal amount. She also still drinks a great deal, and liquid sometimes drains from her beak afterwards if she bends over. Her crop is also squishy during the day, presumably because of all the water. It does drain overnight though, so I'm not sure it's still sour crop. It also doesn't help that she's moulting right now.
Do these symptoms sound familiar to anyone? My vet is an avian vet but doesn't have the most experience with chickens and she seems kind of stumped, so I'm not sure there's much merit in going back... Are there any additional treatments I should provide? Or do you think just putting her back outside and monitoring seems smart at this point?
Prior to Treatment:
Current Poops:
The problem started back in October/November when I noticed that one of my one year old hens had been having very watery, small, unnaturally green poops (I attached a picture of one of the old poop pictures). It took me a while (at least a few weeks) to figure out which hen was having these droppings because she'd been acting fairly normal up until the point when she suddenly started acting lethargic, hunching up, and not eating much. She was, however, drinking quite a lot. Water/liquid was also leaking from her mouth when she bent over.
I brought her inside and, after noticing that her crop was squishy and wasn't draining, suspected sour crop. I took her to the vet who suspected similar. She purged her crop a bit and sent off a fecal sample for testing. I began withholding food (not that she was really eating any anyway), massaging her crop regularly, trying to clear it with mineral and coconut oil, and treating with Monistat until the results came in. She showed a bit of improvement with this, so I was optimistic. The fecal ended up negative with no sign of parasites, which I was surprised about since her poop had been so unnaturally green for way longer than she'd shown sour crop symptoms.
I wondered if maybe the fecal sample was too diluted to be effective, since she'd not really been eating and was drinking a lot. So I had another one of hers tested as well as one from another chicken in the flock. Both of those came back normal as well. The vet wasn't really sure what might else be wrong, so she prescribed her an antifungal and an antibiotic.
I went through both courses and she seemed to get most of her energy back. Her crop was still squishy during the day, but it was now completely draining overnight. She was starting to show some interest in scrambled eggs again, so one day I started provided grit for her again. To my horror, she ate the whole plate of grit and had a swollen crop full of grit. It didn't totally drain overnight, so I went through the oil/massaging process again. Thankfully, eventually she did pass all that grit (weeks later she was still pooping grit).
Flash forward to now and her crop drains completely overnight. Her energy seems back and she shows interest in leaving the cage. I'm inclined to put her back outside, but am still concerned that I didn't fix the overall problem. Her poops are still green and watery. Not as much as before, but they still don't look normal (I've attached a picture of what they look like now). She is having cecal poops again, but they are very watery. She does eat, but I wouldn't say it's a normal amount. She also still drinks a great deal, and liquid sometimes drains from her beak afterwards if she bends over. Her crop is also squishy during the day, presumably because of all the water. It does drain overnight though, so I'm not sure it's still sour crop. It also doesn't help that she's moulting right now.
Do these symptoms sound familiar to anyone? My vet is an avian vet but doesn't have the most experience with chickens and she seems kind of stumped, so I'm not sure there's much merit in going back... Are there any additional treatments I should provide? Or do you think just putting her back outside and monitoring seems smart at this point?
Prior to Treatment:
Current Poops:
