Old bantam getting very sick

[BennyPenny]

Hi,
Im really hoping you guys can help!

I have an old millefleur bantam, she is 15 actually!

She was very lethargic and not moving round the yard with the other chooks and not interested in food.

I put her inside assuming it was just her age and the weather (its been very cold).

She started to get a bit better, started preening and eating again, but then got worse again.

She started to smell and I thought it was because she was sitting in her poo, so I washed her then realised she had sour crop. Now ive dealt with this before in the larger chooks, ive vomitted them and given them maggots, they have both worked.

First off i vomitted her and she had a lot of water in her crop but I dont think i dislodged the blockage. I decided to give her maggots to try and break it up and bicarb in water to counter act the acidity in her crop.

She ate about 30 maggots and had a fair bit of water (i removed it so she didn't drink to much like last time).

Its about 3 or 4 days in now and shes no longer eating or drinking really, just sitting in her box. When i try and vomit her she has a lot of air in her crop so i assume it may be the bicarb. Ive removed that from the water and ill see how she goes.

I do recognise shes old so please don't tell me that again, I know that she is sick and this isn't an age thing because she was keeping up with 5 younger hens that are still laying and putting them in their place and now shes just sleeping all day in a box.

Thanks so much for your help, im hoping one of you can help!!

She was wormed and dusted about a week and a half ago also!


Thanks,

Ben (and henny penny)

 

[Veggie4life55]

Nystatin is a fungal med a vet can give you . it works really well. We normally get nystatin, pour out some of the liquid in the crop, give the nystatin and a light crop massage stroking softly. We also feed raw eggs that can sometimes seep past the blockage and no sugar added full fat organic yogurt to add good bacteria. Plus raw apple cider vinegar to the water. The nystatin is pretty quick working ... The smell could be the start of a fungal infection ... Our last chicken to get blocked we had on nystatin and vomited her lightly for I think 3 days before her blockage broke loose.

Wishing her health and wellness. good luck and if u get a chance let me know how she is

 

[BennyPenny]

Thanks for that,
Im in melbourne, australia and the vets here are pretty useless, although I will try none the less.

She seems like shes getting weaker and has air in her crop every hour or so im able to squeeze some out. Im trying to be conscious of wearing her out though because its pretty traumatic. The air sticks though so im assuming its still partly sour.

Shes not interested in food or water and is just sitting there with her eyes shut.

Ive put a heat pack underneath her box so she warms up a bit, but im not sure what else to do. I gave her some blueberry juice for nutrition but it was hard giving it to her as she doesnt want to straighten her neck or anything.

I just put it in her mouth and she just does the drinking reflex.. but im not sure how much is actually getting in there.


Thanks for your help,

Ill try get her to a vet and get some antibiotics, it doesnt seem like I can do much more for her.

Thanks,

Ben

 

[Veggie4life55]

Our vet normally gives is baytril antibiotics but I can't remember if we had it for sour crop to or not ... And hydration in important our vet normally gives sub Q fluids... Since nothing is going down ...

Our chickens love grapes, blueberries, spinach, scrambled eggs, yogurt, warm cooked oatmeal (no sugar).. We give them pretty much anything they will eat when they r sick lol ... But normally mostly raw eggs... We carefully syringe feed them raw eggs since that's pretty much getting back to being in the egg and a complete type of nutrition... But that doesn't even work all the time...

If it's sour crop or yeast infection sugar could also make it worse... Sugar feeds yeast ...

Electrolytes are really good.. You can buy them at farm supply or get the infant unflavored variety at grocery stores... Or if you look it up online you can make it with a little salt and a little sugar...

The raw or unfiltered apple cider vinegar is also really good for sour crop and in the future if you keep it in the water it could have keep sour crop away. It's full or healthy bacteria and it keeps organisms that aren't good out of the water.

 

[BennyPenny]

Hi guys thanks for your help!

Unfortunately she passed away at around 2:30 am.

She was admitted into overnight care as the vet said she was at risk of passing at any moment.

Ive had some brilliant memories with her and she has been with me for more than 2/3s of my life, you could definitely say she was worth the $2 or whatever we paid all those years ago.


Thanks again and I wish you and your feathered friends all the best


Ben