mtngrl812
Songster
I have a chicken that is about 4 months old. It has never been real stealthy. It was outside with a couple others it's age and appeared to be doing ok. It would run out to me begging for food although it had chick crumbles, layer feed, mash and scratch. I never thought much of it. Then I noticed it acting weak, I picked it up and it is skinny as a rail!! Took it inside, treated for mites and wormed it the first day. Checked for impacted crop, massaged, tried to work anything out but I couldn't feel anything but air pockets. Treated with mineral oil to lubricate any thing I may have missed. A couple days later still has air pockets but no feed. Treated for sour crop with probiotics and ACV. Although crop does not smell sour. It has been a day or two and now I have started tube feeding. Chicken will pick at food but not eat it. It will try eat things that are not foods, like a pebble or piece of wood, it had access to plenty of grit when it was outside so I would not think that is it. I put some fresh hay in it's kennel and some feed and scrambled egg, it threw the feed and egg around then proceeded to try to break the seed ends off the hay to eat.
It is like it has no idea of what it should be eating, wont touch pellets or crumbles, only eat the oats groats in the scratch. And the other thing, the poop is very sour smelling!!
Stinks the room up pretty bad. I did a fecal float and found no eggs or worms. After the wormer, nothing in the poop. On occasion the crop with have some foam in it 
I still call it an "it" because it has never developed enough to tell if it is a roo or not. It still has chick feathers on the head and adult feather on the body. Poor little thing just wont eat. Now when I let it out of the kennel it happily walks around pecking at little nothings, walking right over any feed I have laid on the floor, maybe giving one thing a peck or so. But it wanders around then will come settle beside me. When I leave the room it peeps for me. So it is alert and kind of active. But still walks/sits with wings droopy, but it is still skinny as a rail and so sour.
Anyone have any advice? I have researched all the different worms and internal parasites that I could think of, impacted crop, sour crop, but nothing fits so I need some real life experience advise. Thanks in advance for any help you can offer.
It is like it has no idea of what it should be eating, wont touch pellets or crumbles, only eat the oats groats in the scratch. And the other thing, the poop is very sour smelling!!
Stinks the room up pretty bad. I did a fecal float and found no eggs or worms. After the wormer, nothing in the poop. On occasion the crop with have some foam in it I still call it an "it" because it has never developed enough to tell if it is a roo or not. It still has chick feathers on the head and adult feather on the body. Poor little thing just wont eat. Now when I let it out of the kennel it happily walks around pecking at little nothings, walking right over any feed I have laid on the floor, maybe giving one thing a peck or so. But it wanders around then will come settle beside me. When I leave the room it peeps for me. So it is alert and kind of active. But still walks/sits with wings droopy, but it is still skinny as a rail and so sour.
Anyone have any advice? I have researched all the different worms and internal parasites that I could think of, impacted crop, sour crop, but nothing fits so I need some real life experience advise. Thanks in advance for any help you can offer.
