Shivering chicken

[TwoCrows]

You can use anything that you can safely tie around her chest to keep the crop held up against her body. It needs to have some thickness to it or the crop will still just hang there. It needs to be supported with a stiff material. Do you have any foam you can insert into a towel pouch, add some elastic lines to tie behind her back? Any kind of foam will do from an old cushion or something like this??

 

[The Chicken Fan]

I have some cotton stuffing. I don't have elastic lines though.

 

[TwoCrows]

Just see what you can come up with. If nothing works, all you can do is wait. I had a hard time making a home made bra work, LOL, and ended up waiting as well.

 

[The Chicken Fan]

Lol okay. Every time I go over to her little area she lets me know she's not happy being cooped up without her friends. But so far everything with her looks normal

 

[TwoCrows]

If she seems warm enough, you can keep her out in the coop. They do heal faster being warm, but stress on her part is no good either. You might keep her warm tonight and then get her out with the others tomorrow. If she is gone too long, the flock may give her a hard time mixing back in the group. She isn't contagious or anything.

See if you can get het vomited tomorrow morning and some food into her as well.

Keep us posted as she progresses!!

 

[The Chicken Fan]

She's not shivering anymore, and she spent the night in the garage. So should I keep her during the day and at night stick her back in the coop?

I tried to vomit her today, and again she would have none of it. Her crop felt empty as well. She has been eating and drinking and pooping regularly though.

 

[TwoCrows]

She's not shivering anymore, and she spent the night in the garage. So should I keep her during the day and at night stick her back in the coop?

I tried to vomit her today, and again she would have none of it. Her crop felt empty as well. She has been eating and drinking and pooping regularly though.

Her crop was completely empty this morning? No pendulous crop? If the crop is completely empty and has gone back to its normal size, then she doesn't have a pendulous crop. Also being empty, there will be nothing to vomit out. She will not need that crop bra.

BUT...it never hurts to have one on hand. If somebody gets a case of sour or slow crop in the future, these things really come in handy.

It sounds like she may not have a crop issue right now as the crop would still be full or at least slow. If you found her in one of the nest boxes shivering, this sounds to me like she is being bullied, she is hiding in there to get away from the others and they have been starving her out of food and water. A few days in the winter without enough to eat and drink, and they get very very cold.

I think you should spend the day getting plenty of food and water in her and you need to figure out what is going on in your coop. You don't always see bullying. The flock can be on their best behavior when you are around, but come a few hours before roosting time when birds should be stuffing their crops full, she may be going hungry. When they get hungry enough, they will eat just about anything including things that are not food, which could answer for her previous crop trouble.

I would get her back out to the coop later today and let her sleep out with the others. If you don't have several food and watering stations, you need to add more, even if you have a small flock. The higher ranking birds can starve out the lower ranking birds to literal death. The bullies can't guard every food and water station, so add a couple more so the lower in the order birds don't have to compete. You can tell if a bird is being bullied by going up at roosting time and feel everybody's crop. If an otherwise healthy bird lower in the rankings bird has an empty crop, she is being run off. Crops should be full at bed time.

Try to figure out who is causing trouble in the coop. Bullying is very common in all flocks. If one is excessively aggressive, you may need to separate them out from the flock for a while or use pinless peepers on them to keep them from being too mean.

Keep us posted!

 

[The Chicken Fan]

Her crop is still huge. Just when I tried to vomit her it felt like a balloon and just felt empty. When she had the virus, one of her legs lost all it's strength. It has gotten a lot better but she still has a limp. With the combination of her crop and leg it's hard for her to hop from the top row of nesting boxes (even though there is a ladder she doesn't use it). And she's close to the top in ranking. Should I take a picture of her crop for you?

 

[TwoCrows]

No, not necessary on pictures. Ok...so keep the order on that crop bra!

If she just can't be vomited then wait until you get her in a bra and it will help move it out of her crop.

How often does she lay?

What virus did she have? Many virus's never go away and just lay in wait for an opportunistic time to attack the bird. This shivering could be related to this virus.

I say for now, make SURE she is eating and drinking enough. Food is fuel for their internal heating systems. So if she is not eating enough, she is going to get cold. You might put some apple cider vinegar (1 tablespoon ACV per gallon of water, plastic waterer only, change and make a new batch daily) to help increase her appetite. This will also help with any yeast infections from the big crop. Keep an eye on her crop and if it does have anything in it in the mornings before you get that bra, I would try to vomit her.

You might also keep track of her weight so you know if she is losing weight.

The only other thing I can think of that would cause shivering is something neurological going on inside the brain. Brain inflammation will cause tremors in the body. Even some fungus's can cause nervous ticks. Since she has stopped shivering however, she may just need more nutrition. I sure hope that crop bra comes soon!! She will digest her food way better wearing a bra.

 

[The Chicken Fan]

She is not laying right now since she has been molting for about 3 weeks.

As for the virus, I'm not sure. I just know that it affected something in her leg and foot that her foot curled up and she could barely use it. The other leg was fine. I will do the apple cider vinegar in her water.

As for the shaking, if her crop is pendulous then it would make sense that she would not be getting enough nutrition. Maybe me massaging her crop helped some of the food go into her digestive track?

I ordered the bra yesterday and am hoping it gets here really soon! I really think it will help her immensely.