Sick chicken with large crop, constantly vomiting.

[FrankieDoodle]

If she's still with us, try to get some electrolytes in her, and no more food of any kind until the crop has been emptied. If you can take her, a vet can manually empty the crop, otherwise you can attempt to flush it through yourself with hydration, internal oil, and massage.

Okay. I don't want to take her to the vet. Still haven't looked yet.

 

[Morrigan]

Is the crop hard? Or more large and squishy like a water balloon. If it's hard, I would guess it's impacted crop, if it's soft it may be sour crop. Unfortunately, I've found both of these tough to treat. If you haven't done so already, would remove her from the flock so I could keep an eye on her, and give her plenty of water.

If it's impacted crop, and you can get her to eat, you can try feeding her live, small maggots (spikes I think they are called in bait shops). The theory is that the maggots get swallowed whole and then will eat/break down the hard, fibrous mass that her crop can't move. It worked with one hen I had (but full disclosure, she was left with a pendulous crop that never worked quite right and I still had to put her down a few weeks later). They only other thing is try to get her to eat some oils and (very gently) massage the crop.

If it's sour crop, try to get some probiotics in her, either thru yogurt with live cultures or a supplement. I also had good luck with one hen, by giving her monistat (a yeast treatment found in the women's health section in drug stores) -- there are threads on it on these forums if you search. I wouldn't have tried it, but my hen was on death's door, laying flat out, hardly able to stand and vomiting. After 3 days of monistat treatments, the crop went down quite a bit. It's been about 3 months, and the hen is still alive and doing pretty good, although her crop, too, was left large and pendulous. She's hanging tough, but not exactly thriving.

 

[FrankieDoodle]

She is with us and acting a little bit better!!! She has a hard, full crop. She ate some mealworms.

 

[fluffykitty12]

When she vomits, is it liquid brown and yeasty/beer smelling? Sounds like sour/impacted crop to me. Basically, a yeast infection of the crop. Give her gatorade- no solid foods- for 24 hours.

You'll need to empty the crop, which is scary, but doable. IF THE CROP HAS SOLID IN IT, THIS WON'T WORK! IT ONLY WORKS IF THE CROP IS FULL OF LIQUID!

Turn her upsidedown and press on her swollen crop gently- it should feel like a waterballoon. She should vomit out a lot of gross liquid. Keep her upsidedown for thirty seconds, and make sure she's done vomiting before you put her upright so she doesn't aspirate. She should be a lot more comfortable then.

Also, go to the store and buy 3 days worth of monistat. The suppositories used for women with yeast infections. Cut the large, waxy suppositories into thirds and give 1/3 morning, noon, and night.

I'm not in your situation, but there's hope. I had a hen that was so weak she couldn't walk without falling get better on this regimen. Start slow with solids after 24 hours, and keep giving the monistat for a day or two.

 

[FrankieDoodle]

Thank you

 

[Impatient]

Imo if she doesn't get better and you don't want to take her to the vet then the humane thing to do would be to put her down.

That being said, as other mentioned, no solids, try to empty the crop (though if it's hard this may not be possible), give her either Gatorade or Save-a-Chick electrolyte packets mixed in water. If you haven't already, quarantine her inside a cool place in a pen or kennel so she's not over heating and you can better monitor her. I hope she gets better, but if she doesn't, don't let her suffer.

 

[FrankieDoodle]

She is better, I think it was just the heat. Thanks for all the suggestions

 

[Impatient]

She is better, I think it was just the heat. Thanks for all the suggestions

That's great news!!