Not digesting food

[Eddie12109]

Hi all,
My 8 year old hen is having some major crop problems and I don’t know how to fix it. She won’t digest seeds so I brought her inside where for half of the day she eats fruits and lettuce and then the other half she free ranges.
she is now starting to poop out water and lettuce and grass and once an actual blueberry.
she is not able to digest anything anymore. Has anyone dealt with someone like this?

 

[Disintegration]

It's my first time owning chickens so I've never had anything like this, but your hen is 8 years old. That's pretty old for a chicken. It might just be her time to go?

 

[CalBickieMomma]

Oh no. Poor girl! Have you checked her crop? It should be empty in the morning, and full at night (if she's been eating enough). If it's swollen and squishy like a water balloon, it is probably sour crop. If it feels more like a hard mass, then she might have impacted crop.

For sour crop you can try Apple Cider Vinegar to fight the yeast infection and I've even used Monistat before (the cream variety and you just put a small amount (a little smaller than a pea maybe?) into her mouth and get her to swallow it (I used this for a chick I had who had a gassy crop once).

If it's impacted crop, you can try giving her olive oil (about 2-3 mL) then massage her crop to get it to break up. But, it could be neither of these issues. If so, do search around for more information on both sour crop and impacted crop because I've only had experience a few times with each and I think in all the cases it wasn't severe. Good luck!!!!

 

[CalBickieMomma]

It's my first time owning chickens so I've never had anything like this, but your hen is 8 years old. That's pretty old for a chicken. It might just be her time to go?

I've got an 8 year old Barred Rock and other than having arthritic legs, she's still going strong! I've heard of people who have chickens who are 10+, so it could be that Eddie12109's girl is reaching the end of her life, but it wouldn't hurt to spot check for other potential issues .

 

[Eddie12109]

Thank you for all the advice!
So yes I have old threads about her because her crop has been messed up for awhile now. Her crop goes down but with the help of a bra.
she is able to have most of the food gone in the morning
Something else I am noticing is her abdomen. It seems like ascites but it’s not completely liquid, there is some hard circle shaped things that could be tumors..? I’m not sure but she is an absolute favorite of mine and I want to try anything I can.
her personality and attitude is still the same though, I really don’t want to lose her.

 

[Disintegration]

I've got an 8 year old Barred Rock and other than having arthritic legs, she's still going strong! I've heard of people who have chickens who are 10+, so it could be that Eddie12109's girl is reaching the end of her life, but it wouldn't hurt to spot check for other potential issues .

Yes! It's always good to check for potential issues, I just wanted to out the idea out there, just in case.

 

[dawg53]

Hi all,
My 8 year old hen is having some major crop problems and I don’t know how to fix it. She won’t digest seeds so I brought her inside where for half of the day she eats fruits and lettuce and then the other half she free ranges.
she is now starting to poop out water and lettuce and grass and once an actual blueberry.
she is not able to digest anything anymore. Has anyone dealt with someone like this?

Do you feed her layer pellets or layer crumbles? If so, she should be able to digest it, especially crumbles since the gizzard grinds them down. I'd stop giving her all the other goodies if I were you.

 

[Eddie12109]

So I will attach pictures of what the feed she gets. I also took a picture of her most recent poop which isn’t as severe as it usually is. The thing is is that she obviously isn’t getting any nourishment from that feed if they are coming out whole and she is already severely skinny so I want to make sure she is eating well still. Also in some of her poops there is actual water that comes out... not urates.

 

[Eddie12109]

Here’s more recent ones

 

[NatJ]

Does she have access to grit?

Since the food is obviously NOT getting ground up, I'm guessing that either she needs grit, or else her gizzard is not functioning right.