Slow crop is now doughy

[heahaa]

I noticed about 2 days ago in the morning my young easter egger( hatched end if August) had a full crop. I thought it odd but figured made she got an early start on stuffing herself. Took the feed out of the chicken coop that evening to see if that was the case. Next morning her crop was still full. Dag nab it! O.k. its squishy no nasty smell. So I'm going with slow crop. Massaged the crop, then Tried to get her to vomit... nothing. However she did poo a watery undigested crumble feed. I thought well this is good things are moving at least. She seems chipper enough so put her in the bathtub with a bowl of probiotic water and left her to rest. Checked on her maybe an hr or so later and she had drank the entire bowl of water and now her crop is Huge. Oh my. Well decided maybe she'll vomit now. She did. Still a good amount in her crop though. Made her another bowl of probiotic water and some wet layer crumble. Massaged and checked on her through out the day. Not much progress if any.

This morning doughy crop, and a poo that looked thicker but still not quite right. So now I'm cofused. Do I continue with probiotics or do I give her dulcolax and the gynolotrimin?

Her and her buddies were recently introduced to the flock this past week.

 

[CMV]

I would stick with the probiotics and water with little food (scrambled eggs and yogurt preferably), myself, until you smell the signs of a fungal infection. I also don't use Dulcolax on my birds, preferring the molasses flush instead (I'm old-fashioned). A doughy crop can still go back to normal with little intervention. I prefer to "wait and see" rather than going whole hog after an issue because chickens are great healers. If given time, they often heal themselves.

 

[heahaa]

Thanks for the input. I did go ahead and stick with the probiotics and wet feed mixed with some gerber sweet potatoes. My girls haven't been layin lately so no eggs here for her or my breakfast. Molting and losing daylight I spose.

Her crop did go back to squishy. Her poo is looking better and no stink. So things are moving. She is drinking alot of water. Hopefully she is doing this to get things going along in her crop and not some other scary new ailment I don't know anything about. Morning will tell.

 

[heahaa]

I'm still fairly new at this. I am curious about the molasses flush. What exactly is this and what instances might this be used. It's always good to know different angles to solving issues.

 

[CMV]

The flush uses blackstrap molasses at a rate of 1 pint of molasses to 5 gallons of water. It is commonly used to cause diarrhea and force toxins out. It is used in crop issues and cases where a bird has eaten moldy feed. Molasses is also a great nutritional source in moderation. It is the base in nutritional drenches. Chickens also seem to love the taste of molasses so they scarf it right down.

 

[casportpony]

@heahaa , can you post a picture of her poop?

-Kathy

 

[heahaa]

This mornings poo.

 

[casportpony]

Is there any chance you could take her to a vet if she doesn't get better?

-Kathy

 

[casportpony]

Here are two links:

• http://www.aav.org/search/custom.asp?id=1803
• http://www.majesticwaterfowl.org/vetfinder.htm

-Kathy

 

[heahaa]

Crop still full this morning. I took feed out last night around 8p.m. so she has had about 12 hrs.