RSL Very Lethargic! Help!!

[Bleenie]

My 5.5 mo old(i believe) RSL pullet is acting very ill today. She hasn't eaten to drank at all, was wobbling around earlier and "vomitted" when i picked her up earlier. She has a HORRIBLE smell coming from her mouth but her crop feels empty??

And ideas what could be wrong? She was fine yesterday

She's laying in a basket next to me right now, but her mouth keeps hanging open and she makes a sort of 'gasping' motion quite often.

 

[TwoCrows]

I am no expert, but if there is a bad smell coming from her beak, then it sounds like sour crop, especially that she vomited when you picked her up. I am dealing with a pullet that does have sour crop...vomiting, sour smell coming from beak, although her crop is extremely swollen.

I tried everything to cure her...yogurt, olive oil, vomiting her myself, even using a fungal cream. (sour crop is a fungal infection). However she got so sick I took her to the vet and had her crop flushed and was sent home with Nystatin to treat it. This was 2 days ago and she is still not well.

I would start in with the yogurt to try to combat the infection. If her crop really starts to get swollen and won't go down, than I would say she indeed does have a sour crop. I hope she heals up soon.

 

[Bleenie]

I actually got 5cc of yogurt/olive oil mix down her throat and massaged her crop for a little bit(just in case). I could feel some stuff starting to roll around in there so i decided to go ahead and try to work it back up. It ended up being a lot of 1 certain type of grain from their treat mix... like she ate ONLY that when i gave it to them last time and it swelled up a little and blocked everything up.

I got quite a bit out, considering her crop was empty-feeling. She's acting a little better now but i've been checking on her and i am going to try again later today if i have to. I am hoping i loosened the blockage up. I'm sure the soaked grains is what the nasty smell was from... almost fishy but not really, just yucky!

 

[TwoCrows]

Only use olive oil if she is blocked up and not pooping as I have heard that oil is hard to digest, but is great for breaking down blockages. The yogurt will help combat any bacterial or fungal infections. It can't hurt. And that is great if you can "vomit" her. I was doing this several times a day to my girl and the vet said that it really helped in keeping her infection at bay. However she still had to end up at the vets office.

And yes, the vomiting will make her feel tons better, but if she does have a sour crop, it all will come back. I wasn't able to get it all out of her toward the end and you have to be careful not to stress them and allow them to breathe, or the stuff can end up in the lungs. Yes, it is a nasty smell, one you will never forget.

But keep up the good work and keep me updated on her condition...we can counsel each other about our sour crops!