My chicken is dying!!!

[HuntingChick14]

My speckled Sussex has had a large crop for probably 2 weeks, and with this being my first time with chickens, I thought she just liked to gorge herself on food. She kept doing the weird head/neck movements and I thought she was just trying to get her food to go down (I was wrong). So I finally realized there was a problem, so I isolated her and took away her feed and gave her water. She has become increasingly weak. I brought her to the vet yesterday and the guy didn't even tell me what was wrong with her. He sucked out her crop and told me that there was some grass in there that he couldn't get out. Here's the problem though. She's never been outside, so clearly it's not grass. She's about 11 weeks old and is living in the unfinished coop right now. I have noticed that right when I got her, she has been obsessed with eating any loose feathers that are floating around. So my theory is that this "grass ball" is really a "feather ball" and she can't pass it. She just started curling her toes in and sitting on her hocks last night and has a really hard time standing on her own. If I don't do something right now, I don't think she's gonna make it. Did she suddenly develop Marek's Disease? Please help!

 

[TattooedChicks]

If she's impacted her tract with feathers, it's going to be difficult to get them to pass. You could try treating her with olive oil to attempt to move them thru and supplement with vitamins and electrolytes. Solid food likely cannot pass so she could be starving to death. So sorry about your pullet, I really hope she pulls through.

 

[chicmom]

I am so sorry! It's really hard to tell what she's ailing from. Does her head or body feel hot to the touch? I'm just grasping at straws here, but if she had an impacted crop for a couple of week, maybe that caused an infection. You could try and give her vitamins/electrolites in water with a dropper, and possibly add some Corid, which is a strong antibiotic you can buy at the farm store (it's been years since I bought any, so I don't know if you can still get it without seeing a vet.) I hope she comes around, but if not, I think you've really done the right thing by isolating her and trying to keep her comfortable. Let me know how things turn out. Hugs!

 

[sevenpines]

I am so sorry to hear about your chicken. I don’t know much about crop problems but ran across this explanation of difficulties in fixing impacted crops (strangely) just a minute before I read your post. Hope it’s okay to share on here.

http://www.chickenvet.co.uk/health-and-common-diseases/digestive-problems/index.aspx

Best of luck to you and hugs.

 

[fluffykitty12]

When she vomits, is it liquid brown and yeasty/beer smelling? Sounds like sour/impacted crop to me. Basically, a yeast infection of the crop. Give her gatorade- no solid foods- for 24 hours.

You'll need to empty the crop, which is scary, but doable. IF THE CROP HAS SOLID IN IT, THIS WON'T WORK! IT ONLY WORKS IF THE CROP IS FULL OF LIQUID!

Turn her upsidedown and press on her swollen crop gently- it should feel like a waterballoon. She should vomit out a lot of gross liquid. Keep her upsidedown for thirty seconds, and make sure she's done vomiting before you put her upright so she doesn't aspirate. She should be a lot more comfortable then.

Also, go to the store and buy 3 days worth of monistat. The suppositories used for women with yeast infections. Cut the large, waxy suppositories into thirds and give 1/3 morning, noon, and night.

I'm not in your situation, but there's hope. I had a hen that was so weak she couldn't walk without falling get better on this regimen. Start slow with solids after 24 hours, and keep giving the monistat for a day or two.

 

[amanda1]

I'm so sorry. It seems no matter how long we have chickens there is always something new we didn't know about that comes up. I'm no expert, but we had a young chick who had a terrible smell to her. I suspected it was her crop, but she was still eating and drinking. I added a generous amount of apple cider vinegar, the raw kind, to their water and after a few weeks she got better. I suspect mine had eaten quite a bit of paper towel, which doesn't dissolve very easily. I hope your baby can get through this. Remember, what the vet says is only speculation. Obviously he is doing his best, but they don't always have all the answers either.

 

[HuntingChick14]

She hasn't been vomiting lately, but when she was, it was yellow and didn't have a smell to it. Her crop is starting to go down a little bit but I can still feel something hard in there (probably the wad of feathers). It's pretty squishy too though. It's not just a hard mass, except for when I massage it upwards a little too much and the contents of her crop start to come up. I just gave her olive oil and nutri drench together in a syringe and massaged her crop for about 20 mins then waited about 40 mins and massaged her again. Should I give her more oil? I gave her about 5 mL, but I think most of it went onto her chest

 

[TattooedChicks]

I would wait a bit on more oil, but more fluids in 30 min to an hour, watch for passing materials. The oil will slick the feathers and the water will help move them through the gut. Sounds like she's heading down the right road though.

 

[HuntingChick14]

She hasn't pooped at all today and I don't think that she'll make it to the morning. I feel like I could've done more for her, if only I had known something was wrong sooner. If she's still alive tomorrow, I might try to see my uncle who used to do farming stuff. He used to neuter his own piglets, so he might be able to perform some surgery on her. I'm going to look into procedure stuff tomorrow if I need to. Thank you everyone for your insight and help.

 

[TattooedChicks]

Keep hydrating, she won't poop if she's not passing material or eating. You could could try a little warm egg yolk or applesauce if she's acting hungry.