Sick Hen, ~9mo/o acting lethargic and has yellow diarrhea

[azygous]

Chickens with a crop disorder self regulate their food intake to account for the lack of room in their crop, appetite is greatly constricted. Food is something a chicken can go quite a while without. Water is the most crucial thing to be sure your patient is getting plenty of.

Chickens have their food preferences just as we do. And some will be inclined to eat everything and anything and as much as they can get. Like some of us.

Let your hen select what she wants to eat.

 

[hayley3]

Your technique of prying open a beak is as good as any I can describe. Chicken jaws are strong like alligators when they're closed, but once you get them open, it's easy to keep them open with a finger slipped into the side. (Thankfully, we don't need to deal with chicken teeth on top of everything else.)

If she thrashes around a lot when you are trying to treat her, it helps to wrap her up in a towel to confine wings and feet, which are the weapons chickens rely on to free themselves from trouble they find themselves in. This in itself seems to calm a chicken.

HaHa "chicken teeth"...yeah one less thing to worry about!

 

[Axil]

Update:
My hen is eating and drinking and looks to be back to passing yellowish watery poo. She is eating her regular layer feed now without needing to soften and crush it. I switched when she started picking through the mash to find the most solid bits. She received a total of three doses of the monistat yesterday, and I gave her one this morning.

My concern now is her crop does not seem to be much different than when this whole ordeal started. When i picked her up to check no her today she felt well enough to jump off my lap. When she landed she "Drooled" a bit more of the sour fluid. It's mostly clear now rather than grey. I know Azygous's mentioned that if the crop won't empty after two days of treatment it is indicative of of comorbidity.

I'm wondering if there is anything else I ought to be doing to try and clear this up. Would olive oil be beneficial in helping clear a blockage further down the digestive track? Should i give her more warm baths, or place a heating pad under the crate to encourage things to move along?

I don't think i can afford a vet bill. Here in CT you pay over $100 to walk in the door, and xrays are several hundred dollars... Oh, you want actual treatment? that'll probably add another 0 to your bill.

 

[azygous]

I think it's time to try a crop bra. The clue that she may feel relief when propping her crop on the 2 x 4 points to a crop hanging too low to empty properly. Go back to my article and there are directions on crop bras and how to adjust them over a few days to get the proper fit and drainage.

Hopefully this is what got her into this mess, and a bra will get her out of it.

 

[Axil]

I'm very sorry to report that our hen didn't make it. I apologize for the delay in letting everyone know the outcome it's been a bit rough here. The chicken belonged to my 9yr/o daughter and the loss hit our family hard.

Shortly after my last post I found that our hen was essentially "overflowing" clear water from her mouth again. I was afraid without intervention she would asphyxiate and I attempted to clear her crop by holding her upside down and massaging her crop. We got the water out ok but then her throat filled with old food the consistency of wet sand. Once it had gotten into her throat i couldn't get it out her mouth or back down into her crop and she quickly aspirated and passed away. I feel awful, as I was directly responsible for her death attempting to help her. I wasn't able to bring myself to perform an autoposy. I did look through what little of the grainy substance she'd gotten out and it contained dried leaves that she hadn't even had access to since last Saturday.

Thank you everyone for your help and warm words. I really wanted this story to have a happy ending but without the help i got here I don't believe she would've made it as long as she did. She got to spend her last couple days warm, inside, being loved. I hope that the information here might help another animal in need at some point in the future. Again, thank you.

 

[azygous]

You really didn't kill your hen. It sounds like she had a gravely impacted crop that probably would have required surgery to clear. You merely hastened her to the end and it spared her further suffering.

 

[Silkie_Mama]

It always sucks to lose a bird, but at least now, you have picked up some knowledge on how to combat this kind of thing earlier, I always try to find a brighter side when loosing a hen

 

[MGG]

@azygous

 

[Axil]

After the yogurt i could still feel a squishy crop the next morning. I have heard both good and bad things regarding apple cider vinegar. I will find her something softer to lay on today. The pan isn't metal but it's a hard plastic that at least gives her a bit of grip but you're right it's probably not comfortable.

One more question i should've asked before: What does an empty crop feel like? Does it mean i shouldn't be able to feel anything at all or is there still a bit of sponginess... i mean it is a soft organ right beneath the skin right? I'd hate to think i'm misdiagnosing her because my expectations are off. I'll take the food out of the coop tonight and check her sisters tomorrow morning, but any hints before then would be awesome.

*edit* Now i also keep hearing about the terrible smell associated with sour crop, my wife can attest to the fact that my sense of smell is terrible but i've not been able to really detected any smell when i've had her against my chest rubbing her crop.

 

[Axil]

Thank you so much for your reply. I will get the miconazole cream and follow the directions in your post.

Just a couple quick questions. When you say she should get a boiled egg and some yougurt after treatment does that mean after each time she is treated? I can't imagine she's supposed to go the whole week without food.

Also, any idea what's up with her keeping her head so close to her body? Does it perhaps ease the discomfort in the crop?

Lastly, any reason you don't recommend the powdered version of Miconazole? This last one is just pure curiosity really, i plan to use the cream as instructed.

Again, thank you so much for your help, it's very important to me that i give her the best chance she can have at a full recovery.