Sick Chick! lathargic, swollen crop, and feathers not growing

[bt03]

1) What type of bird , age and weight: cornish roo, 3 weeks, ?

2) What is the behavior, exactly: lathargic, sitting in front of water jug with a sleepy look

3) How long has the bird been exhibiting symptoms?: 3 days maybe

4) Are other birds exhibiting the same symptoms?: no

5) Is there any bleeding, injury, broken bones or other sign of trauma: he was one of 4 being picked on one week ago

6) What happened, if anything that you know of, that may have caused the situation: No idea

7) What has the bird been eating and drinking, if at all: drank today when helped

8) How does the poop look? Normal? Bloody? Runny? etc: not sure what poo belongs to him

9) What has been the treatment you have administered so far?: none, not sure how to even start treating

10 ) What is your intent as far as treatment? For example, do you want to treat completely yourself, or do you need help in stabilizing the bird til you can get to a vet?: must self treat, no vet in the area that is willing or able to help treat

11) If you have a picture of the wound or condition, please post it. It may help.: no picture available, will try to get one soon

12) Describe the housing/bedding in use: wood shavings

My DH has been on baby watch this week but he hasn't done the best job . I really don't want to lose my roo

he is one of a batch of 4 that we recently bought. It wont be a total loss if he doesnt make it because 3 in the batch are roos but I really want to try to help him make it if i can.

 

[purpletree23]

Gently fell his crop and see if it feels like wood chips or shavings. A chicks crop is so thin you might be able to see whats in there. Chicks have a habit of eating shavings sometimes. I would say he has an impacted crop. You can't massage pieces of wood through his digestive system. Crop surgery has been successful on chicks. They are actually easier than an adult. If you aren't up to crop surgery IMHO I would put him down so his suffering isn't prolonged.

He isn't growing feathers because of a lack of nutrition.

 

[bt03]

I can't feel any kind of shavings but I can feel just a bit of food. I dont have any of the tools to do a crop surgery (tho I just checked out the procedure Monday and was planning on getting the supplies on Saturday) that might be to long to wait if i have to do it. The poor guy

I'm so depressed because i don't know what to do and i live to far out to get anything other than very basic groceries

 

[purpletree23]

Watch him to make sure he is pooping. If he is it could be something other than an impacted crop. Give him sugar water and if he won't eat scramble an egg, smush it well and see if he will eat any. Watching for poop is very important.

If you have a pharmacy nearby get some liquid baby vitamins called Poly Vi Sol. Get the generic kind to save some money and make sure the formula does not have added iron. Try to give the baby 1/2 a drop once in the morning and once at night. You could add some vitamins to the other chicks water also.

If it is an impacted crop you could get by with a sterile razor blade, a good skin disinfectant and narrow tweezers. You would cut a small slit in the crop (up to down) and gently manipulate the contents so you could reach them with the tweezers. Pull them out gently and you could use a tiny drop of super glue to close the incision. Because the chick is so tiny I would put a drop of glue on a paper plate or something and then use a toothpick to apply it. One drop of super glue on a chick could really make a mess.

Important: The crop and the skin should be cut separately and closed separately. Cut the skin and the crop will become visible and then cut the crop. VERY little pressure is needed. After it is cleaned out dry the area with a napkin and use the superglue to close the drop.....let it dry and then close the skin.

I'm praying that the baby only needs a little TLC, water and food and a good nights rest.

 

[bt03]

so neither one of us could do the surgery, especially since we didnt have the supplies we needed so we did what another BYCer suggested and flushed the crop. It was kind of hard going but we did it. There was A LOT of feed in there so hopefully we got it all out but I doubt it. he is going to have a long next few days with me being momma hen trying to make him pull through. He didnt want anything to eat but he did take some water with pedialite in it. Was this something we did wrong or does it just happen sometimes? will the other chicks in the baby flock get it to? I'm new at all of this and you guys are amazing with the support and answers. Hopefully with some rest tonight tomorrow will look better for our little roo

 

[purpletree23]

Crush up his food and add a little applesauce to it. It's a lot easier to digest and might be more tasty. Keep up the fluids and keep him warm. Might take a few days for him to come around. Also try scrambled egg that has been smushed with a fork. Give him as much as he will eat but don't leave it out too long because it will loose its moisture and get hard.