Lost her "voice" and does this look weird

[CKfarm22]

1 tbsp that’s it for all of them. Should not make up 10% of their food. With any treat, doesn’t matter if it’s herbs or not.

Crop should be flat when a chicken wakes up in the morning, hence why it looked fine in the morning. And then as she ate it got swollen.

Impacted crop could turn into sour crop.

This is going to sound weird, but smell her breath. Does her breath smell sour (putrid sour)? If she lets you, look inside of her mouth with a flash light and see if you can see white patches in the back of her throat. Because birds can’t throw up, if there is discharge coming from her mouth then it can be sour crop.

Because you do not know if it is truly sour crop, i would keep her isolated from the chickens for at least 12 hours without food or water and message her crop every hour, because it seems like her crop is not working for her. Massage from top to bottom of the crop.

After 12 hours, she can have plain water, still no food. after this testing period, if her crop looks flat, give her some scrambled eggs or some plain yogurt on her food. Feed her frugally for the first day or two – 3-4 small meals will suffice. Give as much water as she will drink – no additives at this time.

In your best judgement, if this does not work. I really suggest taking her to the vet, sour crop can be deadly to chickens if not taken care of immediately.

Also, Herbal additives such as oregano, fennel seeds, and parsley are all good digestive aids. But only give this to them a little bit, if you can mix it into their food, that would be better.

 

[CKfarm22]

Also what does her comb look like? Red, pink, blue, purple, white? And does she sound like she’s wheezing or having a problem breathing?

 

[Rockergirl]

Hi. So it's not swollen at all today, but she hasn't eaten today either. She isn't wanting me to hold her today, but I'm not surprised since I've kind of been handling her a lot lately and pressing on her chest. So, in shot I haven't been able to pick her up yet to smell her breath. But again, it isn't swollen now....I may feed her early this evening, a scrambled egg if it still stays down? and see if it puffs up, do you agree? How quickly do you think it would puff up after eating? Also, she still doesn't have her voice - she tries to talk and was able to push out a few of her clucks (which was music to my ears) but she struggled. Her comb is red, I wouldn't say bright red but has never been bright red like my austrolorp is. We did have extreme drops to cold...one day we were in the 70s and gorgeous to BAM, very cold weather. I wonder if the change in that could cause her voice to go? Or maybe it's just all about the crop situation. I really don't know. It makes me sad, I wish she could tell me if she is okay. Her eggs have a lot of brown speckles but she typically has brown speckles (she has only been laying for about 3 weeks). I guess that is normal.

 

[CKfarm22]

Hi. So it's not swollen at all today, but she hasn't eaten today either. She isn't wanting me to hold her today, but I'm not surprised since I've kind of been handling her a lot lately and pressing on her chest. So, in shot I haven't been able to pick her up yet to smell her breath. But again, it isn't swollen now....I may feed her early this evening, a scrambled egg if it still stays down? and see if it puffs up, do you agree? How quickly do you think it would puff up after eating? Also, she still doesn't have her voice - she tries to talk and was able to push out a few of her clucks (which was music to my ears) but she struggled. Her comb is red, I wouldn't say bright red but has never been bright red like my austrolorp is. We did have extreme drops to cold...one day we were in the 70s and gorgeous to BAM, very cold weather. I wonder if the change in that could cause her voice to go? Or maybe it's just all about the crop situation. I really don't know. It makes me sad, I wish she could tell me if she is okay. Her eggs have a lot of brown speckles but she typically has brown speckles (she has only been laying for about 3 weeks). I guess that is normal.

If you could corner her and get her i would try to do that just to feel her chest before she eats. Give her only a little bit of scrambled egg and see if her chest puffs up like it has been. If it does and it doesn’t look right to you, I would suggest doing what i said above^^

Do you keep food out for your chickens all the time? Do they have access to oyster shells all the time?

 

[Rockergirl]

Also, I think she may have eaten some of the hemp bedding. I saw some hemp in her poop this morning. I assume it's her poop....could have happened while eating the corn dropped into the hemp....

 

[Bkaye]

Have you checked her crop first thing in the morning before she has had any food or water? Before she has anything to eat or drink her crop should be flat. Throughout the day her crop will fill up with her eating and drinking and it empty’s over night.

If it is empty first thing in the morning her crop is functioning as it should.

 

[CKfarm22]

Also, I think she may have eaten some of the hemp bedding. I saw some hemp in her poop this morning. I assume it's her poop....could have happened while eating the corn dropped into the hemp....

That could be it. The hemp bedding. I don’t use hemp bedding, I use pine flakes.

 

[Rockergirl]

If you could corner her and get her i would try to do that just to feel her chest before she eats. Give her only a little bit of scrambled egg and see if her chest puffs up like it has been. If it does and it doesn’t look right to you, I would suggest doing what i said above^^

Do you keep food out for your chickens all the time? Do they have access to oyster shells all the time?

I do keep food out all the time in an a feeder we made but I also come out in the mornings and give them a fresh scoop on top of the top layer of the feeder. Just because they feel like I'm giving them something. A couple of nights a week I give them "fermented feed" - soak in distilled water for a couple of days. I do have oyster shells and grit out there in separate containers (only Maddy-bird (this one we are talking about) and Astro (the austolorp (even though she isn't laying yet) munch at the oyster shells). I basically feed them Scratch and Peck's version of "all flock" - which is the grower feed, in crumbles (but it's mixed with some of another bag that is cracked grains from the same brand).

it doesn't seem like any of them really munch on the grit much....I guess that is normal. I very rarely have to add to it. I do see them peck at it occasionally. I changed brands to a bigger grit from what they got as tiny babies

 

[CKfarm22]

I do keep food out all the time in an a feeder we made but I also come out in the mornings and give them a fresh scoop on top of the top layer of the feeder. Just because they feel like I'm giving them something. A couple of nights a week I give them "fermented feed" - soak in distilled water for a couple of days. I do have oyster shells and grit out there in separate containers (only Maddy-bird (this one we are talking about) and Astro (the austolorp (even though she isn't laying yet) munch at the oyster shells). I basically feed them Scratch and Peck's version of "all flock" - which is the grower feed, in crumbles (but it's mixed with some of another bag that is cracked grains from the same brand).

it doesn't seem like any of them really munch on the grit much....I guess that is normal. I very rarely have to add to it. I do see them peck at it occasionally. I changed brands to a bigger grit from what they got as tiny babies

You mix in the cracked grains with their feed? And yes chickens will peck at the oyster shells and grit when they think they need it. I haven’t filled my oyster shell feeder in quite a bit because they’ll know when they need it!

 

[Rockergirl]

You mix in the cracked grains with their feed? And yes chickens will peck at the oyster shells and grit when they think they need it. I haven’t filled my oyster shell feeder in quite a bit because they’ll know when they need it!

The first "grower" feed I bought was the one that had cracked grains in it....I learned later to change that to crumbles to ensure they get all the proper nutrition instead of pecking out what they like. Since I still had a big bag of the grower feed with the cracked grains, I went ahead and mixed it together in their feeder. It's mostly crumbles at this point. The crumbles just seem to turn to dust so I kind of liked the substance of the grains. I worry they won't eat the crumbles when it turns to dust. I'd like to do the pellets (so they won't break apart) but that is only in the layer feed and since only one is laying, I have to wait