Pasty behind/ lethargic hen ||HELP||

[fatimastic]

My year old Australorp is extremely sick.
She has a dirty vent and some drops of liquid are randomly coming out of her vent. Moreover, her vent is swollen and looks a bit purple.
I first suspected her of egg bound but that is not the case here.
Her crop is extremely hard. Like it feels hard and I can barely massage it. I gave her a tablespoon of coconut oil to help massage it, but it was just so hard that I could barely do anything.
If you look closely at her droppings, you can actually see whole grains in it. She is not eating on her own and I am force feeding her water.
Her vent is also really smelly. Could vent gleet possibly cause her to be lethargic?
@azygous @Wyorp Rock @Eggcessive @dawg53

 

[azygous]

The crop is hard, but how large is it? Golf ball, tennis ball, softball size? Pick one.

The hard crop doesn't rule out a reproductive crisis. When was the last time she laid an egg and was it normal or did it have shell quality issues?

Does she free range and what does she eat mostly? Or is she an indoor pet? If she lives indoors, do you provide grit easily available to her?

 

[fatimastic]

The crop is hard, but how large is it? Golf ball, tennis ball, softball size? Pick one.

The hard crop doesn't rule out a reproductive crisis. When was the last time she laid an egg and was it normal or did it have shell quality issues?

Does she free range and what does she eat mostly? Or is she an indoor pet? If she lives indoors, do you provide grit easily available to her?

Golf ball. Not that big.
I don't know when she last laid an egg. We have been getting less eggs becaude of their respiratory issues. But the last week has been hard on them since we have workers around rebuilding their coop.
They free range for an hour or more daily. And they live outside with soil being there as their bedding. I used to see her digging around the soil a lot and eating stuff from it.

 

[fatimastic]

The crop is hard, but how large is it? Golf ball, tennis ball, softball size? Pick one.

The hard crop doesn't rule out a reproductive crisis. When was the last time she laid an egg and was it normal or did it have shell quality issues?

Does she free range and what does she eat mostly? Or is she an indoor pet? If she lives indoors, do you provide grit easily available to her?

Please take a look at this. She has this slimy stuff in her mouth.
My other hen, whom we had to cull a few months back, also had the same stuff in her mouth a few hours before we culled her. She had ascites. When we tried to take out the fluid, it was soo thick for the syringe to take out.

 

[azygous]

Do you have the flock on an antibiotic for the respiratory issues? That's likely where all that mucous is coming from.

A golf ball size lump isn't a big problem. If the coconut oil and massage don't break it it, you might try an Epsom salt (magnesium sulfate) flush. You would syringe one ounce of water with one teaspoon of the salts dissolved in it into her crop. That might help dissolve the clog in her crop and get any farther down.

 

[fatimastic]

Do you have the flock on an antibiotic for the respiratory issues? That's likely where all that mucous is coming from.

A golf ball size lump isn't a big problem. If the coconut oil and massage don't break it it, you might try an Epsom salt (magnesium sulfate) flush. You would syringe one ounce of water with one teaspoon of the salts dissolved in it into her crop. That might help dissolve the clog in her crop and get any farther down.

Yes, I do have the flock on an antibiotic for the respiratory issues.
The coconut oil massage didn't do much to help break the clump. How much water should I give to her since she is not eating and drinking on her own?

And what should we do about the nasty smell that is coming from her. She may veng gleet?

 

[Aunt Angus]

That poor chicken! Everything seems to be going wrong all at once!

It does look like gleet. But that seems like a minor issue compared to the respiratory infection and the crop issue.

Does she have ascites, too?

 

[fatimastic]

That poor chicken! Everything seems to be going wrong all at once!

It does look like gleet. But that seems like a minor issue compared to the respiratory infection and the crop issue.

Does she have ascites, too?

I know... I feel miserable for not being able to do much.

I do suspect her of ascites.

 

[Aunt Angus]

You are clearly doing everything you can.

I'm wondering if the respiratory issue opened the door, so to speak, for a reproductive infection (or vice versa). Internal infections can cause crop issues. And bacterial imbalances can invite gleet. It's a vicious cycle.

How long has she been on the antibiotics?

 

[azygous]

The hard crop lump is likely related to her not drinking on her own. It's probably causing constipation, as well. All of these are good reasons to try the salts flush. If you can get a tubing kit from a vet, that would be easiest. They can show you how to use it, and if not, I will instruct you. Syringing the fluids into her crop would take much longer and wear her out.

Those chickens that appear not to be drinking should be given fluids any way you can. Dehydration will cause a chicken to be weak. Weakness affects appetite, and that can cause dehydration and starvation. These make the antibiotic impotent to help your sick chickens.

The bad smell can be related to fluids and solid material backing up and remaining in the digestive system too long. Making sure the chickens are all getting enough fluids is the most important issue you face. Everything else follows.