Old girl in trouble

[glassdragonfly]

Hi all! When it rains it pours So I have a 5 yr old Barred Rock hen Girly, that I thought has an impacted crop. Not empty in the morning,no smell,stinky runny poop plus drinking like a fish! Oil,massage,repeat and it felt like her crop would go down. She would eat a few bites,then nothing. Gave her some time and repeat. This has been going on for days! She is loosing weight. This morning she has this hard dark poop but still acting the same. Yesterday was real nice so I let her out and she just started fights that she can't finish with the other hens. She is top hen. I feed grower,corn as a treat and free range. Any thoughts? I have her in the house to keep her warm and quiet. Got her on wazine 17 today,just in case its worms. She is not egg bound and has not laid any eggs for a couple of months.She just got a butt bath so she is giving me the stink eye! Thought I could handle this one but I'm stumped.

 

[Lady of McCamley]

I can't say for certain what it may be, but at age 5 for a commercial Barred Rock, sadly she may have some internal maladies going on.

Often the older hens get liver failure, heart failure, or ovarian cancer, and begin to simply fail to thrive. It sounds like her digestion may be off which may point to liver problems. Excessive thirst may point to kidney problems.

I think you've done all you can by way of crop. You might just give her vitamins and electrolytes in water to see if that brightens her. She likely isn't getting much nutrition from her food now...often the problem in the elderly.

Hopefully, I'm wrong....but it's been my experience. I just had to say good bye to several of my older commercial types (at age 5).

LofMc

 

[Duckfarmer1]

Oh geez, I hope that’s not the case..but, yes, 5 is, pretty old in chicken years....I would continue to give her all the love you can..as you are...and see if she perks up..perhaps it’s just the winter time blues..?

 

[glassdragonfly]

Thanks, The worming was a no go. Wouldn't drink it and I changed her water out around 5 pm. Drank like she had none all day. Going to try corid tomorrow. Hoping for some improvement.

 

[Wyorp Rock]

5 yr old Barred Rock hen Girly, that I thought has an impacted crop. Not empty in the morning,no smell,stinky runny poop plus drinking like a fish! Oil,massage,repeat and it felt like her crop would go down. She would eat a few bites,then nothing.

This morning she has this hard dark poop but still acting the same.

That is a hard poop LOL
She's drinking well? I think I would withhold food for a day and provide water. Give her some coconut oil a few times a day. Does the crop feel hard or do you feel a lump in there?
IF it's not fluid or air filled or sour - then massage the crop after you give the coconut oil. See what happens overnight.
Next morning, let her drink of course, but if the crop is not empty yet, she can have a bit of wet feed (no scratch, nothing hard to process) and a little treat of scrambled egg sometime during the day. IF the crop is still hard feeling, give 1 (one!) stool softener (Stimulant FREE) and some coconut oil. See what happens. IF that doesn't work, then let us know. You can keep us updated all along

Has she been laying eggs? Any swelling, bloat or fluid in the abdomen?

 

[glassdragonfly]

Thanks Wyorp Rock, She has not eaten anything all day but she will drink. Poop went back to the stinky,runny mess.Her crop feels like a squishy little ball,nothing real hard. The only thing she ate yesterday was a tiny bit of bread,not even a teaspoon worth. Refuses even scrambled eggs. I will give her more coconut oil. Her belly feels fine,not egg bound,has not laid an egg for 2 months or so. She has lost a good amount of weight the last few days. No weird breathing,and she doesn't even seem to be in distress. Just real lazy. I will update in the morning. Thanks!

 

[Wyorp Rock]

Thanks Wyorp Rock, She has not eaten anything all day but she will drink. Poop went back to the stinky,runny mess.Her crop feels like a squishy little ball,nothing real hard. The only thing she ate yesterday was a tiny bit of bread,not even a teaspoon worth. Refuses even scrambled eggs. I will give her more coconut oil. Her belly feels fine,not egg bound,has not laid an egg for 2 months or so. She has lost a good amount of weight the last few days. No weird breathing,and she doesn't even seem to be in distress. Just real lazy. I will update in the morning. Thanks!

If the crop is a squishy ball, then you may want to treat her like she has sour crop. Miconazole cream. 1/4" strip twice a day. The coconut oil won't hurt, but if the crop is not hard, then I would eliminate the stool softener and go with "sour crop" instead.
@azygous may want to chime in as well.

Your Girly does have some age on her so she may have some other issues going on too. Hard to know. I see you did try to get her to drink the Wazine water and that was a no go. If you feel she needs worming, then I would use Valbazen or Fenbendazole (Safeguard).

 

[azygous]

I agree to start treating for sour crop now. Impacted crop often doesn't clear quickly enough to avoid yeast colonizing the stagnant crop. The miconazole should begin to produce improvement in 24 hours.

If there's no improvement after 24 hours after the first day on miconazole, it's possible the blockage extends down to the gizzard. If the oil and stool softener haven't produced any solid poop, only the watery diarrhea, then I recommend a molasses flush as a final resort to flush out the gizzard.

The molasses flush is one teaspoon of molasses mixed into one-fourth cup of water. The patient needs for all of this to get into her so you may need to syringe it into her crop.

 

[glassdragonfly]

Thanks! She is the same this morning. I have safeguard for goats,I have the dosage for chickens. Should I treat for both. Or go for sour crop first?
Thanks for all your help.

 

[azygous]

You can do both. Sour crop isn't something that should wait.