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

[Axil]

Hello,

First i'd like to take a moment to thank this community for the wealth of information that is provided here. My chickens would've had a much tougher life had sites like this not been available to educate new owners.

Sadly my first post is about a distressed chicken. I noticed a couple days ago she seemed to be spending more time in the coop then usual. I have three hens and they are usually all together except when they need to lay an egg. Then two days ago I saw her just sitting on the edge of the run that is up against the house. After keeping an eye on her for a couple hours i went ahead and brought her inside and placed her in a dog crate in my bedroom for triage. Since then i've noticed the following

1.) all her droppings are very watery, with about half being pure water and the other half being very runny yellow.

2.) she keeps her head very close to her body and the base of the neck feels hard to the touch like the muscles are very tight.

3.) her tail is held perpendicular to her body it's not pointed down like i've seen in pictures for egg binding. but it doesn't curve up to a point like her siblings.

4.) She feels to be lighter than her sisters. only one is the same breed (Plymouth rock i believe) so i'm not sure how useful such a comparison is. For the size she is she seems noticeable light though

5) I withheld food and water overnight and checked her crop in the morning. It wasn't full but it definitely had a bit of the "doughy" feel i've heard is indicative of sour crop.

Yesterday i gave her a little dish of water, she drank a bit but not as much as i would've expected going 12ish hours without. That evening i felt her crop again and it was still a bit doughy, though again not anywhere near the size it would normally get after a feeding. I did a bit of research and mixed a small amount (10-15) of her layer feed with a tablespoon of plain unsweetened greek yogurt which i verified contained the live cultures that were supposed to be useful in helping deal with sour crop. She attacked it like she famished which I took as a good sign. This morning her crop still feels squishy though. Oh, and i should probably mention i've been massaging her crop gently in a downward direction to try and help move things along 3-4 times a day.

At this point i'm just not sure what to do. I hate not giving her more to eat as she seems so hungry, and if she is underweight fasting certainly isn't helping. But my understanding of sour crop suggest that food intake can exacerbate the problem. It's also my understanding that dairy isn't great for her digestive system so giving her a bunch of yogurt isn't a good idea either. I've checked around her vent a few times and it looks normal though it does tend to spasm a bit when i expose it, like she may be trying to poop. Not sure if that's normal given the circumstances.

Overall she seems comfortable but more subdued than normal. She would normally be more annoyed with all my handling of her and sometimes she does express her annoyance with a halfhearted struggle and a few clucks. Her clucks and squawk sound normal but i only get the quiet end of her normal range. My other girls squawk like crazy when i walk by the coop hoping they might get something.

So at this point i'm not sure what to do. Any advice would be very much appreciated. I've watched videos of people purging a hens crop by holding them beak down and massaging the crop but of course i don't want to subject her to something so dramatic if it's not going to help her. She managed to sit in some of her poo during the night so she will be getting a warm bath soon.

To anyone that took the time to read this ridiculously long post thank you very much. below (assuming i figure out how to do it) i've attached some pictures.

 

[MGG]

@azygous

 

[momma chickie]

Hi...I have heard Braggs Organic Apple Cider Vinegar, a little in water helps...also, some have success using a dropper and putting some oil down the the chicken to lubricate things to move.
After the yogurt/feed did her crop empty? If so I would say to go ahead and feed her.
Also, put straw or bermuda grass in the pen so she isnt on metal pan...that can stress her because it gets very cold...it will also help her not sitting in poop.

 

[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.

 

[azygous]

She looks a bit full in her crop. Crop disorders don't necessarily have an odor until they're well along. The earlier you can address them, the better the outcome. It may be sour crop. ACV isn't useful in treating crop disorders. It's merely a health supplement.

You will need miconazole, found in the women's products in the pharmacy aisles. Follow my instructions in this article. https://www.backyardchickens.com/ar...w-to-know-which-one-youre-dealing-with.73607/ Read through the entire thing as there could be more than one crop disorder in this case. You'll need to make that determination.

 

[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.

 

[azygous]

Use whatever form of miconazole you wish. Just be sure to treat twice a day for a full seven days. If in doubt as to amount per dose, err on the side of too much. You can't overdose with miconazole.

The yogurt and boiled egg are offered in place of regular feed to get some high caliber nourishment into her and to transition to regular feed. It's also easier to digest. You can also feed tofu during this transition. You can offer dry crumbles along with these foods and she will decide when it's time to eat her crumbles again.

She's scrunching her neck into her body because she feels awful. This is one of the ways to read whether a chicken is sick. Fluffed up feathers is another.

She should be feeling much better by tomorrow. Be sure to monitor her crop each morning so you can gauge how well the treatment is working. If the treament is not causing the crop to empty by the second day, she may have a secondary crop issue - pendulous crop or something else in her crop or gizzard.

 

[Axil]

Use whatever form of miconazole you wish. Just be sure to treat twice a day for a full seven days. If in doubt as to amount per dose, err on the side of too much. You can't overdose with miconazole.

The yogurt and boiled egg are offered in place of regular feed to get some high caliber nourishment into her and to transition to regular feed. It's also easier to digest. You can also feed tofu during this transition. You can offer dry crumbles along with these foods and she will decide when it's time to eat her crumbles again.

She's scrunching her neck into her body because she feels awful. This is one of the ways to read whether a chicken is sick. Fluffed up feathers is another.

She should be feeling much better by tomorrow. Be sure to monitor her crop each morning so you can gauge how well the treatment is working. If the treament is not causing the crop to empty by the second day, she may have a secondary crop issue - pendulous crop or something else in her crop or gizzard.

Gotcha, I will order some powder as well to have on hand for next time just because it seems easier to handle and measure. As far as the boiled eggs go, how much should i be offering, and how often? Sorry for the constant questions, I am one of those people who actually reads instruction manuals cover to cover before i take the plastic off a product, lol.

 

[azygous]

Ask away. It's the only way to get answers. To start off just offer her the egg or tofu once in the morning and keep a dish of regular feed near. Water always, of course. If she has a good appetite and keeps pecking at the empty egg dish, fix her another one.

Appetite is usually poor, though, until the crop clears. But you never know about chickens. She could be hungrier than we expect.

 

[Axil]

well i made it home and got the first dose in her. I'm kicking myself for not starting yesterday because the poor baby looks so much worse.

She refused to eat at all, and when i tried to get her beak open she expelled a bunch of black nasty smelling liquid. After that happened twice i decided that it was worth the risk to help her evacuate her crop. I used the technique of holding her beak facing the ground and before i could even touch her crop i got a big puddle of more liquid.

I repeated it once more this time giving her a little help rubbing her crop upwards and she released a little more. She's not completely empty by any means but after that i was able to push the little chunk of suppository into her beak and she swallowed it. I then held her back to my ear and listened for any sign of a rasp or other indication of fluid when she breathed and wasn't able to hear any. I'm hoping that means i didn't make things worse

i left a small amount of boiled egg in a bowl for her, and will check on her every so often to see if she's eaten it. If so i'll give her more, otherwise i'm afraid it's more likely to end up all over the kennel then in her beak.

I will continue to update as things develop.