Sick chicken- reading a lot about crop problems. Advice appreciated!

[ShelleyHar]

First off I am a chicken novice. I read this forum all the time and have spent many hours here this weekend searching for advice.what a great resource. We just started raising chickens this year and got our first eggs a couple of weeks ago. The one that is sick is a golden sexlink and she started laying under two weeks ago. She is around 20 weeks old.
By the time I realized she was not feeling well, i did a lot of reading that night and checked her crop. It was definitely swollen like a large water balloon. She usually won't let me touch her but was lethargic enough that I could pick her up to check her and just the pressure had her expelling fluid from her crop out her mouth.
I helped her empty her crop, it's smaller now. She is no longer cocking her head like she's trying to clear it.
I have her isolated inside.
She didn't eat or drink yesterday that I saw. I kept hard food away from her yesterday, but put some back in her box for today. Small mash soaked in a little bit of olive oil. She ate that up this morning.
I am worried over everything because I am not sure if I am doing it right, and not stressing her out. She didn't let me hold her before so I can't imagine me handling her now will make her happy.
I do feel an egg at her vent but assume she's too weak to lay. I hope that doesn't turn into an issue as well.

She seems better today than yesterday but still Isn't moving much, but able to stand more.

So I guess my main worry right now is her egg. Is it normal for a chicken to not lay while ill but clearly have one near the vent? ( 3 days now) If she has a sour crop and is egg bound, that girl has some bad luck!
Thanks. This forum is the best.

 

[iwiw60]

I would think that the stress from the impacted crop would definitely throw her off on laying.

 

[ShelleyHar]

So me being the novice I am, her having an egg hanging around her vent for a few days while she gains strength isn't a bad thing? I have read enough to scare me I guess.

 

[iwiw60]

Oh!! Well, you didn't say anything about THAT previously...eek! If you can put on a glove, lube up, and gently see if you can get a finger up behind that egg to help her......

 

[ShelleyHar]

I gave her a good once over tonight before it got dark.
Her crop is small and firm again - I hope it stays that way. I can't tell you how freaked out I was when I felt it so enlarged.
I grabbed a glove and some oil and checked her vent better, come to find out there is no egg there. I was mistaking her boney butt for an egg. - Because I'm new at this. - THAT is a huge relief. So she's doing really well. I plan on pampering her in solitude for another day or two to regain her strength. I will monitor her daily to make sure she is working through the blocked crop. That was scary. She's got some of her zest back and pecked at the hubby when he picked her up. I thought that was great. Thanks again.

 

[iwiw60]

That is good news for sure...let us know how she's doing later on today!

 

[ShelleyHar]

Pretty sure it's a chicken miracle. She is doing so well that I put her back in her coop with her sisters this afternoon and watched her for a bit to make sure it would work out. I have never seen an animal look and act so sick then recover like she did. I still plan to watch her closely and feel her crop daily.

 

[Pinkaboo]

Pretty sure it's a chicken miracle. She is doing so well that I put her back in her coop with her sisters this afternoon and watched her for a bit to make sure it would work out. I have never seen an animal look and act so sick then recover like she did. I still plan to watch her closely and feel her crop daily.

That's great news well done, I guess the first time is the worst , your an expert now!

 

[leedyfeathers]

the best stuff to have on hand i found out is a vitamin electrolite probotic mix on hand a couple surenges ( no needles) antibotic and corid. use the first one most and for most thing.
im a newbie also and the first 18weeks went ok and then its always something. my hubby suggested i fix up a toolbox and make a emergancy kit... youll need a big one lol
my first paitent had impackted crop but instead of doing the oil and all i gave her forced water with antibotic to help with any infection with held food and then forced fresh water.. she wouldnt drink also periodicly massaged crop. then gave her straight grit then yogert both she went after pretty fast.. then after a while i gently massaged crop more. this time there was a clay like movement i could literaly form it. after more yogert i just left water with electrolites and vitamins with probotics. before that evening she passed a wad of grass as long as 4" and as round as my finger by the next morning was eating normal and trying to escape my emergancy box... need cat carrier!!
my second bird came out of the coop wabbly and seemed dioriented unable to keep her ballace. after trying a few things the electolite mix won out i tried several things for two days each. people were saying mareks but ther was not enough signs pointing to it just the disoriantation and she wasnt eating well. it only took that one day of that mix and she was standing and eating though she still has a slightest limp ive come to think the rooster might have hurt her during mating. she was his favorite and i heard him after her in hen house right at time they go to roost.
my other chick i found inside hen house i seen a hen chase her in earlier but didnt realize she hadnt come out. i was showing my sister the coop when i found her that afternoon. it was hot but not smoldering it had cooled off from rain. she was nearly dead she was gasping for air and only opened eye for few min.. i really had thought her to be dead. i right away gave her the water mix i had to hold her head up and carefully drops at a time so she could swallow suprisingly she could do that much. after giving water i proped her head in a rag so water wouldnt go up and out into places it shouldent. before the end of day her eyes opened and i could see her try to move. by next day she had her head up when i came in and feet under after another round i gave yogert by that afternoon was standing and had eat her yogert so i fed her feed then with grit and oistershell. she was doing so good i just placed her back the next night..just kept her a tad longer to be sure was strong enough.
so be ready with yogert and the probiotics vitamins and electrolites.
my next expendature will be a guide book for all this so i can better evaluate these problems.
good luck with your chickens and enjoy them i know i do.

 

[ShelleyHar]

Thanks - that is good information. I wondered how to feed her an electrolyte as all I know about is Gatorade. I bought probiotic yogurt for her and I had kombucha which is a probiotic too. The grit soaked in olive oil, she liked. The yogurt not so much... Lol ... But I got some in her. I went out at dusk to make sure she made it into her coop and she did but she isn't up roosting. She's in a nesting box. I won't read too much into that as she's been through a lot in 3 days. Three days ago she didn't have the strength to get into the coop. Man. I have learned a LOT in these 3 days.