Oh GROSS-- Help!

[flgardengirl]

My little phx hen who is about a year old went over her run a few days ago and back into the woods where I don't usually let them freerange. The next day she was hunched over and would not come out of the coop to eat. I felt her crop and it felt pretty full but not super hard. I couldn't find anything else wrong with her so I treated her with some olive oil and massaged her crop to see if I could get things moving being that is was that full early in the morning and she hadn't eaten yet. She was still acting the same for 2 days and not eating at all and the crop was still not emptying. When I was massaging her crop it felt like there were some little hard 'knots' of something in there.
Yesterday she did not poop at all and this morning she had a few tiny off white thick liquid mucousy poops and that was all. I did get her to drink a little.
Well tonight, I went to check on her and found this nasty thing in her cage. I had been keeping the cage spotless so I know she pooped it out. She also took a few bites of food tonight.
I am wondering if this is what was blocking her up? AND what the heck is it??? It is tough and fiberous. It doesn't look like any of the pictures I searched for of poultry worms either. It isn't moving or anything. It is a little whiter in color than the photo shows. Any guesses to what this is?

 

[bambi]

Sorry no clue. Have you thought about cutting it open to see what it looks like on the inside?

 

[ADozenGirlz]

Yikes, bizarre-o.

I'm stumped, but I'll be keeping my eye on this thread.

 

[flgardengirl]

I know I have no clue what it is. It is either a dead two headed worm or a peice of gristley something she ate or...???... I don't know LOL.
I hope its not some type of tumor or something. It is really firm and fiberous . I didn/t touch it with my bare hands though! I didn't cut it open yet because
I wouldn't even know what to look for. I stuck it in a ziplock baggie so I can show dh when he gets home from work. I don't want it to spread if it is a worm or something contagious lol so thought the baggie would be a good idea.

Come to think of it she hasn't laid an egg in two days either but she isn't a real regular layer so I wasn't that worried and she didn't look like she was straining at her vent or eggbound or anything. I am thinking it must of been in her crop at some point because I could feel something hard like a knot that seems like it was the same size as the ends of this *thing*.

 

[1livelychick]

Very Strange....Is she feeling better, though?
Good luck with her.

 

[Imp]

Has the crop gone down?

Imp

 

[flgardengirl]

Her crop has not gone down all the way but I don't feel that knot now. She ate a little bit of food so she must be feeling a little better. She hasn't eaten in 2 days before tonight. Her pupils looked more dilated before too and now they are normal. She is still standing with her feathers a little poofed up. I hope someone can identify the gross thing so I will know if I should treat her and possibly the rest of the flock for anything.

 

[donrae]

How big is it? Can you give us some scale?

 

[flgardengirl]

The middle part is probably about 3 1/2 inches long and the round ends are about the size of a marble each. The ends are not attached to each other even though it kinda looks like it in the photo. When I found it, it was in a spiral shape like it just came out of her intestine. I picked it up with long forceps and rinsed it off because it had pine bedding stuck to it and I wanted to get an accurate pic lol.

 

[Chickie'sMoma]

this is a very useful website. i'm thinking it could have been a funky egg that got stuck in her. http://www.browneggblueegg.com/Article.html