Sick chicken- sour crop?

[kmmy414]

I have a 3 year old (this spring) golden comet that has been sick for about 2 days now. She has been walking around slightly upright with her head kind of tucked back into her neck. I noticed yesterday late afternoon water leaking from her mouth so I checked her crop and it felt squishy and airy and as I massaged it some brown liquid came out. I looked up information matching these symptoms and thought maybe she has sour crop. I put her in a dog crate in the garage without any food or water and checked her crop this morning. Her crop seemed to be empty (I'm still new to this but it definitely didn't feel like her crop normally does when she has eaten). I noticed more liquid so I did the crop massage/help her vomit procedure again until no more liquid was coming out (being sure to let her breathe). I did notice the liquid this time seemed a little more slimy. I kept her in her crate and gave her some coconut oil, a little scrambled egg and some mushy feed. I also put a dish of water with apple cider vinegar in it as well.

She did poop last night (picture attached) and I tried to feel around to see if she was egg bound and I dont think she is but I'm need to research that aspect more and will do so while at work today. I dont know the last time she laid an egg as I have 2 golden comets and wasn't closely monitoring it (but would guess only one has been laying for about the past week and a half) My overall egg production has only recently started to pick back up from the winter and is still pretty inconsistent so that wasn't a big red flag for me.

I noticed a warm looking thing in her poop, is that a worm?

Any other tips, advice, next steps would be greatly appreciated.

 

[coach723]

Can you get a better picture of the worm looking thing in the dropping? It may be a roundworm, but I can't see it well enough to tell for sure. The dropping also does not look normal. An egg bound bird cannot pass droppings, so unlikely that is the issue. Worms can cause lots of issues, including the crop backing up. Personally, I would worm her. Get some Safeguard liquid goat wormer, that is usually the easiest to find locally, and dose her orally with .23 ml per pound of weight. Use an oral syringe, shake the medication well before drawing the dose, pull the wattles down to open the beak and dispense the medication into the front of the beak 1/2 ml at a time (to reduce the chance of aspirating it), let go of the wattles and let her swallow. Repeat until the entire dose is given. Do that dose 5 days in a row.
I would not vomit her anymore, there is a high risk of aspiration when you do that.
If it's worms, then it may take several days to a week for things to start moving well, depending on the worm load. I've had them perk up in 24 to 48 hours often, but sometimes it takes longer.
Give her only water soluble, easy to digest things to eat. Her regular crumbles or pellets mixed with water to make a mash is good. Nothing hard to digest or fiberous. Some probiotics can help get the gut healthy again, there are water soluble ones and powdered ones, or you can just take a human capsule and mix it in the moistened feed.
At 3 a reproductive problem is not out of the question, but I would still worm her to make sure that isn't the issue. With a reproductive problem you will usually feel some abdominal bloat below the vent, between the legs, either very firm or water balloon like.

 

[kmmy414]

Can you get a better picture of the worm looking thing in the dropping? It may be a roundworm, but I can't see it well enough to tell for sure. The dropping also does not look normal. An egg bound bird cannot pass droppings, so unlikely that is the issue. Worms can cause lots of issues, including the crop backing up. Personally, I would worm her. Get some Safeguard liquid goat wormer, that is usually the easiest to find locally, and dose her orally with .23 ml per pound of weight. Use an oral syringe, shake the medication well before drawing the dose, pull the wattles down to open the beak and dispense the medication into the front of the beak 1/2 ml at a time (to reduce the chance of aspirating it), let go of the wattles and let her swallow. Repeat until the entire dose is given. Do that dose 5 days in a row.
I would not vomit her anymore, there is a high risk of aspiration when you do that.
If it's worms, then it may take several days to a week for things to start moving well, depending on the worm load. I've had them perk up in 24 to 48 hours often, but sometimes it takes longer.
Give her only water soluble, easy to digest things to eat. Her regular crumbles or pellets mixed with water to make a mash is good. Nothing hard to digest or fiberous. Some probiotics can help get the gut healthy again, there are water soluble ones and powdered ones, or you can just take a human capsule and mix it in the moistened feed.
At 3 a reproductive problem is not out of the question, but I would still worm her to make sure that isn't the issue. With a reproductive problem you will usually feel some abdominal bloat below the vent, between the legs, either very firm or water balloon like.

Thanks! I'll get some better poop pictures in a bit and update my post. I want to get to the feed store to buy the wormer before they close.
********
I got the wormer, and gave her just over 1 ml (she weighs 4.2 lbs) of the safeguard. Should I treat her for sour crop with an antifungal at the same time or give the wormer some time to work first? Also, should I treat all my other hens with the wormer too since she has worms?

 

[kmmy414]

Thanks! I'll get some better poop pictures in a bit and update my post. I want to get to the feed store to buy the wormer before they close.