Mystery Illness

[CloneFly]

Hello all, it's been a heck of a year already, and I'd like to ask for some help from you expert chicken keepers out there....

I have a 2yr old dark brahma hen that has been having crop issues for the last month and the doctor hasn't been able to figure out what's wrong. We're getting desperate...

Symptoms:
- crop not emptying and is often giant and hard
- watery poop
- burping/gassing (stinks like crazy)
- very skinny
- not drinking enough
- beginning to get lethargic (as of this week)

We have ruled out the following with the help of our vet:
- crop impaction (x-ray showed nothing).
- sour crop (was treated 1x as a preliminary).
- external injury (full physical and she's otherwise healthy)
- worms.

Confusing extra details:
- usually won't eat feed, but will *sometimes* eat half a cup of live meal worms, earthworms or grass.
- doesn't fluff up.
- when chicken grazes the poop re-solidifies (sorta).
- feathers look fine but there's lots of shaft dust
- no external truama/injuries.
- has not laid an egg in over a month.
- is in good spirits and enjoys bullying my 5wk old rescue chick.

Treatments so far (not all done at same time):
- 3 days of oxytetracycline
- B12 & Thiamine injections
- multiple 40cc subQ treatments
- syringe feeding
- probiotic gels
- Nutridrench
- Miconozole (in case of sour crop)
- x5 coconut oil & crop massage (didn't work)
- crop bra (in case of pendelous crop)
- calcium supplements
- AVC in water (discontinued)
- colloidal silver
- homeopathic salts for nausea

Treatment options currently available:
- wait for blood work results
- explorative crop surgery that'll cost too much money.

This has been going on for nearly a month now, we decided to have lab work done but are still waiting for the results. This is my mother’s favorite hen and she's been living in my room since we first discovered an issue with her crop. At first we thought it was an infection (oxytetracycline), then noticed her crop was hard wouldn't go down (oil & massage), then the crop was soft but still not going down (miconozole & probiotic- given seperately), scheduled an appointment with the vet and stopped miconozole at doctor's request and let her free range and syringe fed occasionally. Fast forward 3wks and she is still losing weight so we bought 6000 live meal worms hoping to tempt her appetite, she occasionally eats them. Brought her back to the doctor on Wednesday and consented to bloodwork and still awaiting results...

My apologies for such a long post, we'd really just like to know what's going on. And for clarification, no, culling her is not an option.

Please help

 

[SandyRiverChick]

I'm sorry that you're dealing with this! I'm not an expert but I've been doing this for a long time.... What is her main diet, when you say "feed," what is that? Also, where did she come from? You have a flock, correct? Has she really been living away from the flock in your room for 3+ weeks?

 

[Eggcessive]

If her crop is huge and hard, and not emptying, that is an impacted crop. Does she crop ever empty by early morning? She needs poultry grit to help digest foods other than chicken crumbles or pellets.

 

[CloneFly]

If her crop is huge and hard, and not emptying, that is an impacted crop. Does she crop ever empty by early morning? She needs poultry grit to help digest foods other than chicken crumbles or pellets.

It's been like this for over a month and the vet has already ruled out impaction. It "empties" but is never smaller than the size of a baseball. Her lab work came back with elevated CPK which is apperently an enzyme that elevates with muscle damage, proventriculus dilation and or cardiac muscle disease. The vet says her heart could have muscle disease eventually leading to cardiac failure... but that doesn't explain the digestive issues, does it?

 

[CloneFly]

I'm sorry that you're dealing with this! I'm not an expert but I've been doing this for a long time.... What is her main diet, when you say "feed," what is that? Also, where did she come from? You have a flock, correct? Has she really been living away from the flock in your room for 3+ weeks?

We got her from a local feed store as a chick nearly 2yrs ago. Our flock is fed a rotating diet of flock raiser (20% protein), layer crumble and "feather fixer" (due to molting). They also are allowed to forage occasionally and are given scratch and meal worms as a treat. This particular hen has refused to touch any chicken feed in over a week but has occasionally eaten meal worms, earth worms and greens. Hence the supplementary force feeding. And yes, I already have a hen and our turkey in the hospital/timeout cages in the coop (each for seperate reasons), so there's no room. She was also getting picked on

I work from home, so it's easy to keep an eye on her when she's inside

 

[Eggcessive]

I don’t think the vet knows what he’s talking about if her crop is full and hard, and never empties less than the size of a baseball. She may have a pendulous crop, where the crop muscle is overstretched and has lost its tone. Azygous has a good article about crops, and that is what I would do for her.

https://www.backyardchickens.com/ar...w-to-know-which-one-youre-dealing-with.73607/

I never have had a hen recover from an impacted crop that later became sour.

 

[CloneFly]

I don’t think the vet knows what he’s talking about if her crop is full and hard, and never empties less than the size of a baseball. She may have a pendulous crop, where the crop muscle is overstretched and has lost its tone. Azygous has a good article about crops, and that is what I would do for her.

https://www.backyardchickens.com/ar...w-to-know-which-one-youre-dealing-with.73607/

I never have had a hen recover from an impacted crop that later became sour.

After administering the oil, her crop was no longer hard... it just never empties completely. I do agree, this article is really good! I've read through it several times for some of my other birds All of the treatments recommended have been tried (separately of course), but nothing really seemed to help...

Due to her bloodwork and the way she's been smelling, the doctor recommended starting steroids. She's now on Dexamethasone (she absolutely hates it since it stings) But today her crop definitely seemed smaller and she actually ate an entire cup of live mealworms on her own! Hoping the steroids work and we can figure out exactly what caused this

 

[Washoe Valley Collies NV]

Hello all, it's been a heck of a year already, and I'd like to ask for some help from you expert chicken keepers out there....

I have a 2yr old dark brahma hen that has been having crop issues for the last month and the doctor hasn't been able to figure out what's wrong. We're getting desperate...

Symptoms:
- crop not emptying and is often giant and hard
- watery poop
- burping/gassing (stinks like crazy)
- very skinny
- not drinking enough
- beginning to get lethargic (as of this week)

We have ruled out the following with the help of our vet:
- crop impaction (x-ray showed nothing).
- sour crop (was treated 1x as a preliminary).
- external injury (full physical and she's otherwise healthy)
- worms.

Confusing extra details:
- usually won't eat feed, but will *sometimes* eat half a cup of live meal worms, earthworms or grass.
- doesn't fluff up.
- when chicken grazes the poop re-solidifies (sorta).
- feathers look fine but there's lots of shaft dust
- no external truama/injuries.
- has not laid an egg in over a month.
- is in good spirits and enjoys bullying my 5wk old rescue chick.

Treatments so far (not all done at same time):
- 3 days of oxytetracycline
- B12 & Thiamine injections
- multiple 40cc subQ treatments
- syringe feeding
- probiotic gels
- Nutridrench
- Miconozole (in case of sour crop)
- x5 coconut oil & crop massage (didn't work)
- crop bra (in case of pendelous crop)
- calcium supplements
- AVC in water (discontinued)
- colloidal silver
- homeopathic salts for nausea

Treatment options currently available:
- wait for blood work results
- explorative crop surgery that'll cost too much money.

This has been going on for nearly a month now, we decided to have lab work done but are still waiting for the results. This is my mother’s favorite hen and she's been living in my room since we first discovered an issue with her crop. At first we thought it was an infection (oxytetracycline), then noticed her crop was hard wouldn't go down (oil & massage), then the crop was soft but still not going down (miconozole & probiotic- given seperately), scheduled an appointment with the vet and stopped miconozole at doctor's request and let her free range and syringe fed occasionally. Fast forward 3wks and she is still losing weight so we bought 6000 live meal worms hoping to tempt her appetite, she occasionally eats them. Brought her back to the doctor on Wednesday and consented to bloodwork and still awaiting results...

My apologies for such a long post, we'd really just like to know what's going on. And for clarification, no, culling her is not an option.

Please help

Try my digestive enzymes method. I've been doing this for over a year and saved several of my chickens from disaster. It works with massage in a matter of hours. And when the bird is interested in eating again, we feed sloppy cottage cheese with some feed mixed in, and give a dose of essential oilsregano, worm wood, and colloidal silver to the mix. They usually gobble it up. Then you know they are on the path of healing.

See my only message from a few days ago. My enzyme is Revly from Amazon.

 

[CloneFly]

Try my digestive enzymes method. I've been doing this for over a year and saved several of my chickens from disaster. It works with massage in a matter of hours. And when the bird is interested in eating again, we feed sloppy cottage cheese with some feed mixed in, and give a dose of essential oilsregano, worm wood, and colloidal silver to the mix. They usually gobble it up. Then you know they are on the path of healing.

See my only message from a few days ago. My enzyme is Revly from Amazon.

Thank you for the advice. We placed her on prebiotic enzymes and offered yogurt. I also give all my birds colloidal silver. The bird in question is finally back to an ideal weight and is on dexamethazone injections periodically. We believe it may be an issue with her digestive system. Hopefully it'll correct itself in time