1) What type of bird , age and weight (does the chicken seem or feel lighter or thinner than the others.) - Orpington, 11 weeks, will weigh later but she is 2/3 the size of her two hatch mates. She feels very skinny. About the size of a dove or pigeon.
2) What is the behavior, exactly. Active, but not as much as the rest of flock. She is eating and drinking. Sometimes lethargic, stands with eyes closed. Wings tend to hang down more than the other pullets. I have seen her raise her head in the air and twist her neck around a few times.
3) How long has the bird been exhibiting symptoms? She was smaller when I brought her home two weeks ago.
4) Are other birds exhibiting the same symptoms? No.
5) Is there any bleeding, injury, broken bones or other sign of trauma. No.
6) What happened, if anything that you know of, that may have caused the situation. Don't know.
7) What has the bird been eating and drinking, if at all. Medicated starter, water.
8) How does the poop look? Normal? Bloody? Runny? etc. Newbie, still learning what normal is. She is isolated tonight, so will be able to check her poop in morning.
9) What has been the treatment you have administered so far? None.
10 ) What is your intent as far as treatment? For example, do you want to treat completely yourself, or do you need help in stabilizing the bird til you can get to a vet? Not sure. I don't think she will make it to vet so would prefer to treat myself. Vet if surgery is required.
11) If you have a picture of the wound or condition, please post it. It may help.
12) Describe the housing/bedding in use Three sided coop/covered run, sand.
I tried to feel her crop - I think it is empty, despite her eating today. I think there might be a hard mass in her crop - it feels like a bone. I'm thinking about trying olive oil and massaging, but am afraid that the "mass" might actually be a bone and I might hurt her. She was moved from a brooder to a coop a couple of days before I got her. I believe also dirt. There were some weeds in the coop, and I hung a cabbage for them (but couldn't tell that they ever pecked at it). I looked for mites, lice, etc., didn't see anything. I have not noticed any of the other pullets/roo pecking at her. I have 8 pullets and a roo, 140 sq ft. All the same age, but the two english orpingtons are easily 4 times larger than Echo, my problem girl.
I don't have a heat lamp - I could put a heating blanket under her crate on the lowest setting. Temperature in the house is 74, and she is fully feathered out.
This is Echo, on the left, a week ago. The other pullet is also a lavender orpington from the same hatch.
This is a picture of her from last weekend, so you can see how she holds her wings.
So, I am about to drag hubby off the couch and will try to give her some olive oil and/or water with a syringe, following the video that Terry at hencam.com posted on you-tube. Probably gentle massage tonight as I'm not positive it is an impacted crop and am afraid of hurting her. Will weigh her and will check her poop in the morning. If her poop looks normal, I will give her chick feed tomorrow. If not, maybe apple sauce and honey, egg yolk. Some threads say to withhold food, but I am afraid that this has gone too long for that.
Winging it! Any advice, or well wishes, are greatly appreciated.
- E
2) What is the behavior, exactly. Active, but not as much as the rest of flock. She is eating and drinking. Sometimes lethargic, stands with eyes closed. Wings tend to hang down more than the other pullets. I have seen her raise her head in the air and twist her neck around a few times.
3) How long has the bird been exhibiting symptoms? She was smaller when I brought her home two weeks ago.
4) Are other birds exhibiting the same symptoms? No.
5) Is there any bleeding, injury, broken bones or other sign of trauma. No.
6) What happened, if anything that you know of, that may have caused the situation. Don't know.
7) What has the bird been eating and drinking, if at all. Medicated starter, water.
8) How does the poop look? Normal? Bloody? Runny? etc. Newbie, still learning what normal is. She is isolated tonight, so will be able to check her poop in morning.
9) What has been the treatment you have administered so far? None.
10 ) What is your intent as far as treatment? For example, do you want to treat completely yourself, or do you need help in stabilizing the bird til you can get to a vet? Not sure. I don't think she will make it to vet so would prefer to treat myself. Vet if surgery is required.
11) If you have a picture of the wound or condition, please post it. It may help.
12) Describe the housing/bedding in use Three sided coop/covered run, sand.
I tried to feel her crop - I think it is empty, despite her eating today. I think there might be a hard mass in her crop - it feels like a bone. I'm thinking about trying olive oil and massaging, but am afraid that the "mass" might actually be a bone and I might hurt her. She was moved from a brooder to a coop a couple of days before I got her. I believe also dirt. There were some weeds in the coop, and I hung a cabbage for them (but couldn't tell that they ever pecked at it). I looked for mites, lice, etc., didn't see anything. I have not noticed any of the other pullets/roo pecking at her. I have 8 pullets and a roo, 140 sq ft. All the same age, but the two english orpingtons are easily 4 times larger than Echo, my problem girl.
I don't have a heat lamp - I could put a heating blanket under her crate on the lowest setting. Temperature in the house is 74, and she is fully feathered out.
This is Echo, on the left, a week ago. The other pullet is also a lavender orpington from the same hatch.
This is a picture of her from last weekend, so you can see how she holds her wings.
So, I am about to drag hubby off the couch and will try to give her some olive oil and/or water with a syringe, following the video that Terry at hencam.com posted on you-tube. Probably gentle massage tonight as I'm not positive it is an impacted crop and am afraid of hurting her. Will weigh her and will check her poop in the morning. If her poop looks normal, I will give her chick feed tomorrow. If not, maybe apple sauce and honey, egg yolk. Some threads say to withhold food, but I am afraid that this has gone too long for that.
Winging it! Any advice, or well wishes, are greatly appreciated.
- E
