I have a 2 1/2 year old Red Star (her name is Bottom) that had crop impaction surgery a few weeks ago. The vet wasn't sure she'd pull through or even survive the anesthesia but she did. She was given a course of broad spectrum antibiotics and had to be tube fed a special recovery food and Ensure for a number of days as per the vet's orders before she was allowed back to solid food. Within about a week she seemed to be in pretty good health except for being the thinnest I'd ever seen a chicken and a little sleepy during the day. During all this she was isolated inside the house. This is when I had to leave town for a week and left the care of my girls to a pet sitter who didn't know much about chickens per se but had taken care of my flock many times over the years without an issue. I decided to leave Bottom in isolation inside so she could gain some weight and the pet sitter wouldn't have to worry about reintroducing her to the flock and all the potential bullying. By this point she was almost done with her antibiotics so I decided to just forget the last few doses so the pet sitter wouldn't have to deal with it (I know, I know, always finish antibiotics). The real problem came when I returned home and found my chicken in much worse shape than she'd been when I left! The pet sitter had thought Bottom was on "special food" and had fed ONLY grit until the day before I came home when she said she had "run out" and so fed her the normal food. Of course I was livid! This idiot pet sitter had fed my sick chicken ROCKS for a week! At that point Bottom weighed only 2 pounds! She ate so much food at this point that her crop seemed impacted again so I gave her olive oil and helped her work it through. I've been feeding her scrambled eggs made with Ensure, half & half, and olive oil and offering her the normal food for a few days now and she's now back up to 4 pounds. She's back in the coop now and doing alright despite being quite thin and being bullied a bit still.
My worry is that she has been consuming huge amount of water and seems to poop almost nothing but water. I live in Colorado so overheating isn't an issue this time of year. Is her body simply absorbing almost all she eats? It's been the same since I returned home 5 days ago. Today after drinking a lot of water she threw some up which I had never seen before. She seems to be doing better each day but chicken health is so delicate and I'd hate to be oblivious to signs of something big and not get her the help she needs. Any advice is greatly appreciated!
My worry is that she has been consuming huge amount of water and seems to poop almost nothing but water. I live in Colorado so overheating isn't an issue this time of year. Is her body simply absorbing almost all she eats? It's been the same since I returned home 5 days ago. Today after drinking a lot of water she threw some up which I had never seen before. She seems to be doing better each day but chicken health is so delicate and I'd hate to be oblivious to signs of something big and not get her the help she needs. Any advice is greatly appreciated!
