Severely Underweight Hen

[Aryetheral Waalburgus]

This time I inserted a finger into her vent and I could feel little pimple like things that shouldn't have been there, so I made the decision to euthanize her. If you are interested I can post a picture of what I felt when I stuck my finger in her vet, and maybe you could check your hen for this too.

I'll do that and report back.

 

[Aryetheral Waalburgus]

Okay, I put her in a crate with water. I'm planning to massage her crop, which appears to have a grass impaction. Her poop this morning looked like this, which seems like she didn't get enough nutrients through her impaction. Does anyone have an idea of dosage for a stool softener if massaging does not work?

 

[rebrascora]

I usually massage 3-4 times a day for 10-15 mins at a time. It is best if you isolate the bird as they will need to have a very restricted diet and no access to grass or straw or anything that could make it worse. Only give liquid feed.... you can soak pellets or ideally unmedicated chick crumbs because it is higher in protein, in water to form a wet runny consistency and add a few drops of Nutri Drench and see if you can get her to eat some solid coconut oil chunks as well prior to massaging as that will help to lubricate things and help them to slide down more easily. Do not offer grit at this stage. Don't give her anything that would not pass through a kitchen sieve. If after a few days you feel that you are not making progress with reducing the mass that is in her crop, a whole stool softener capsule like Dulcolax without stimulant can be given (coat it in coconut oil or smooth peanut butter to get her to eat it) and encourage her to drink and more massage. Assess her crop each morning to see if you are making progress and decide how you need to proceed. The size you describe is a very small mass and you should have success in breaking it down without drastic treatment being required. For information I removed a tangle of soggy grass/straw the size of a softball from my bantam cochin pullet via surgery after 10 days of massage etc because there was no way it was ever going to come up or go down. Hopefully that gives you confidence that your hen has a relatively minor issue.

Of course it is possible that this crop impaction is due to a problem lower down her digestive tract and it is important to monitor weight and body condition and keep checking for any abdominal swelling and comparing with other healthy birds to be sure you are not overlooking something.

Good luck

 

[Aryetheral Waalburgus]

Thank you so much everyone for you helpful responses.

Yesterday morning I put her in a crate and supplied only a wet-food diet (water, egg yolk, yogurt, a slight amount of coconut oil, and crumble power in water). I massaged her crop twice that day. When I checked in the evening, her crop was full of liquids. When I checked again his morning, her crop was empty, and she had pooped a lot of solid matter.

SO, crop impaction = fixed. (I am going to keep her in the crate for a while to monitor her)

The fact still remains, however, that she's been off-lay for the better part of a year (so she stopped laying when she was 2.3-ish), and has been displaying some symptoms for about that long (I've bolded the ones I found most obvious in Ariana):

• Pale comb/wattle
• May be keeping herself away from the rest of the flock, usually tucked up in a nest-box/coop
• Difficulty/reluctance to move about
• Reluctant to walk around and scratch; lack of interest in surroundings
• Going off lay
• Loss of condition – can be assessed by feeling over the keel (breast) bone muscle mass: in chronically ill birds they often lose the majority of this muscle mass
• Faecal matter stuck around vent
• Look in poor feather condition (not preening)

So could it be that she has a reproductive disease and had a crop impaction?

 

[casportpony]

So could it be that she has a reproductive disease and had a crop impaction?

Both cancer and salpingitis can cause crop impactions. This happens because they are hungry, so they eat, but either of the diseases makes digestion of food impossible, so the food has no place to go.

 

[Aryetheral Waalburgus]

Is there any chance that she has something contagious; is there harm in letting her go around with the flock?