Pipd's Peeps!

[pipdzipdnreadytogo]

Rooska must have vomited and then she aspirated on it. I heard her struggling to breathe a little bit ago and I knew in my heart that that was the end. She passed on just a few minutes ago, with me trying to hold her head up to help her breathe while we made end-of-life preparations. I'm so devastated by the whole situation. I miss her, and her big voice, and her HUGE personality so much already.

 

[Crazy Maizie]

Yes, sour crop. I've never found oil to be an effective treatment for it. My normal treatment regime, which has been very successful up to this point including on her one time before, is 2-3 days on an epsom salt laxative twice daily to get things moving, ~1 week on an antifungal for the souring, and then weaning back onto normal food and we're good to go. The only difference between now and previous times is that I had nystatin as my antifungal before and this time I have miconazole, so I have to wonder if it's just not working as effectively. I've ordered some nystatin now but it's projected to be here in 7-10 days, so who knows if that's even going to be soon enough. All I can do is keep fighting and hope she hangs in there until something starts working.

Good to know. I've not had to treat sour crop yet, but its good to know what works for others.

 

[Crazy Maizie]

One of my two oldest hens, Raven, a Gold Laced Wyandotte who'll be 12 next April, was bent over eating when I noticed a flash of white at the base of her neck slightly toward her right shoulder. I took a closer look and found this feather that started growing in color, and then turned pure white, as if she ran out of ink part way.

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She was not pleased with me picking her up. I got this sour look from her before she flew back down to the floor to go back to eating.

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I love old lady chickens. Look at that face.

 

[Crazy Maizie]

I have been remaining optimistic about Rooska all this time, but tonight when giving her her night dose of nystatin, I noticed a weary look in her beautiful brown eyes that has me feeling less confident. I think she may be running out of strength. Her crop still seems stalled for some reason. She does still poop small amounts at a time, but it's just not enough. I'm out of ideas, out of options, and I don't want to keep her going indefinitely just to make myself feel better. This is absolutely devastating to me, and hard to write through all these tears, but it may just be time for me to start considering when to pull the plug and let Rooska have some peace. My giant Lavender princess, who announces her arrival with a great, loud "BRRRK?" The hen who loves people so much that she'd choose to sit in the middle of a group of us rather than pick just one lap to cuddle in. I cannot stop crying.



Edit 9-22, to add to this situation, my Campine, Ihi, is dying suddenly this morning. She hasn't been herself for a few months now, so it's not a huge surprise, but it does feel like it's rather abrupt after all this time without any real symptoms to go off of for treatment. I've brought her in to the warmth as a cold front has gone through and it's chilly today. I don't expect her to last the day.

Edit again, Ihi is gone. My crazy Campine. What a lousy day.

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Sorry to hear about ihi. She was beautiful. ❤

 

[Crazy Maizie]

Rooska must have vomited and then she aspirated on it. I heard her struggling to breathe a little bit ago and I knew in my heart that that was the end. She passed on just a few minutes ago, with me trying to hold her head up to help her breathe while we made end-of-life preparations. I'm so devastated by the whole situation. I miss her, and her big voice, and her HUGE personality so much already.

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I've missed so much of your thread. I'm so sorry. She was gorgeous. I wonder if she had something else going on that prompted the sour crop?

 

[pipdzipdnreadytogo]

Good to know. I've not had to treat sour crop yet, but its good to know what works for others.

I've had a lot of experience with it, unfortunately, because Elda, the bird in my avatar, seemed to have some sort of thyroid condition (if I remember correctly) that caused her to get crop stasis and then subsequently sour crop literally every fall, seemingly triggered by the same hormonal releases that induce the annual molt. It allowed me to develop an effective treatment regime that has worked for every single other case of sour crop up until Rooska's last bout.

I love old lady chickens. Look at that face.

Me, too! She and Merlin are the oldest chickens I have ever owned so far, so I love to see her still kickin', even if she is annoyed with me bothering her.

I've missed so much of your thread. I'm so sorry. She was gorgeous. I wonder if she had something else going on that prompted the sour crop?

She almost certainly had something else wrong, I think. I thought at first that it was the miconazole vs the nystatin I usually use as the antifungal, but never once did her crop empty out like it should have by that point in the treatment, so I suspect she had a partial blockage somewhere along her digestive tract. Not a complete blockage because her crop did get very slightly smaller over the course of the day and overnight, and she was still passing small droppings, but enough that all the sour crop treatment in the world was rendered ineffective.




I truly hate to have to add to it all again, but when it rains, it really pours. I've discovered symptoms typically indicative of an incurable issue with the reproductive tract in Margaret, my very first Silkie hen, this morning. Her abdomen is enlarged and squishy, and yet her breast bone is protruding more than it should as if she's lost weight. She's still acting normal and everything, but there are only a few things I know of with these symptoms and none of them are good. Could be internal laying, could be ovarian cancer, could be ascites from some other unknown ailment, all I know for sure is that it's not something I can treat with long-term success, so that signals the beginning of the end for her as well. She is older, about 8 years old now if I remember correctly, so she has had a good, long life now. Doesn't take away from the sting of preparing to lose her and the unfortunate timing with two other difficult losses already.

 

[Crazy Maizie]

you've had a rough week.

 

[pipdzipdnreadytogo]

It's been a tough one for sure. Just gotta keep reminding myself that weeks like this are the minority in the grand scheme and things will go back to being okay eventually.

 

[pipdzipdnreadytogo]

Well, things got worse. So much worse. I'm still in shock. About 3:30 am yesterday morning, my beloved, precious, cherished, darling kitty, Keiko, passed away suddenly after a bout of illness that she had seemed to be recovering from. The chickens are everything to me, but outside of them, Keiko was my entire world. I can't even believe it. I feel so numb and heartbroken and sad. I can't even look at pictures of her to add to this post. I'm so overwhelmed with grief right now.

 

[Crazy Maizie]

I'm so very sorry to hear that.