Sour crop and molting hen

[Fluffyhenkeeper]

I have a Rhode Island Red that is almost 2 years old. She has been going through a hard molt that she has been slow to regrow feathers so I switched her diet to a grower pellet about 3 weeks ago. About 1 week ago she started to act even more quite and keep to herself. I went on a work trip and I had someone watching the hens and she started to act herself again, but when I returned she had a ballooned crop in the morning. I think the person watching her gave them access to long grass and possibly too many treats (I haven’t been giving her treats) I was able to massage her crop and get it empty over 24 hours. She is isolated from her flock in the chicken hospital where she has access to water and we have been trying to get her to eat moist food, she has not eaten any yogurt she is not interested in that and eats very little moist food. I assume she has sour crop based on what I’ve been seeing. She has been pooping small white runny poops and today it was a large wet brown poop, it looks runny like water. Any suggestions on what I should be doing to help her? Does anyone know if once the sour crop empties she will expel a big brown runny mess? This is my first time dealing with this, so I’m not sure what to do. I’ve scoured the internet and there are so many conflicting suggestions for treating sour crop. She hasn’t laid an egg in several weeks and when she was laying her eggs were sometimes soft. Im assuming there must be something else going on with her, I’m just at a loss. I also followed the directions on one of the threads here for treating with Monistat, she has had 3 small doses according to the forum directions. Any help is appreciated, she is my favorite little hen of course!

 

[Tookie]

@azygous @Wyorp Rock @Eggcessive

 

[Wyorp Rock]

Can you please post some photos of her and her poop?

What % protein is the grower feed?

Treatment for Sour Crop. https://www.backyardchickens.com/ar...w-to-know-which-one-youre-dealing-with.73607/

 

[Fluffyhenkeeper]

The photo on the red towel is her poop from last night and this is what most of the poops are looking like. We set her in the laundry sink and she has a huge explosive brown poop, she had two of these yesterday. Could this be the infection passing through? I read sour crop looks really dark brown. I also included a picture of her back where she is molting and a picture of her looking up at me this morning. She seemed a little perkier, drank a little water on her own and about 1/2 teaspoon of wet mash. Her grower food was 20%, I was told to try feeding her that to help with her feather growth, but I’ve been now feeding her their normal layer food. She’s eaten a few bites of plain yogurt as well. She’s also had 3 treatments of monistat. I cut the suppository up as instructed in that link you shared, I had seen it earlier. Shes been having trouble laying eggs for a couple months, they come out soft and have discoloration to them. Do you supposed she has some other underlying condition. I’ve checked her vent and it looks good, her crop was empty this morning. After being a bit perky this morning she’s hunched over with her eyes closed.

 

[Wyorp Rock]

I would continue to treat the crop.

Doesn't look like molt to me, the feather loss is from mating and/or picking. The feathers are worn off and broken. They won't be replaced until she does molt.

Look her over for lice/mites. Consider getting a fecal float to see if worms are part of the problem or deworm her with Safeguard (Fenbendazole) or Valbazen (Albendazole).
Give her 1 Calcium Citrate tablet once a day for 5 days to see if that helps with shell quality. Her comb, I would apply a bit of anti-fungal cream on that.

With her not laying eggs in a few weeks, she may be having some production problems or it may just be she's worn out/stressed and needs to get re-hydrated, eating and the crop issue addressed. It's not uncommon for laying hens to start having reproductive problems.

 

[Fluffyhenkeeper]

Yes you are right I had a rooster in with the hens and she was getting way over visited so I separated him out (8 months ago) after discovering this and she hasn’t regrown feathers until recently they started to come in on her neck and I thought they were starting to come in on her back too, I saw little feathers starting to poke out. All the other hens have gone through their molt and are looking fabulous.

I will continue with the crop treatment and get the worm treatment for her. We don’t have a vet anywhere nearby that will work on birds. Is it ok to do the anti fungal medicine and wormer at the same time?

Why would I apply the cream to her comb? I’m just curious as to the reason for this.

Thank you so much for your help! I’m new to chickens and when things go wrong it can be a bit overwhelming.

 

[Wyorp Rock]

Her comb may just be dry, but it looks like she may have some Favus on the comb which is a fungal infection. The anti-fungal cream can help with that, even if it's not Favus, it will help moisture the tissue.

She does have few pin feathers coming in, but sometimes other hens may pluck those out. I see intact feather follicles in the skin as well from the rooster damage, so those won't be replaced until she molts. If you see the other hens plucking out her feathers, then I would put a saddle on her, the ones coming in should come grow on out under the saddle.

Yes, it's fine to deworm and use the cream at the same time. 2 different things. The cream is anti-fungal and topical, so it's just going on the comb. Dewormer is an anthelmintic and is given orally to combat worms in the intestines.

You're doing fine Sometimes things seem to come all at once. Been there! Just take a deep breath. Keep her drinking, let her eat. Wet feed or dry what she likes, bits of scrambled egg, a little applesauce...things that are easily processed are always good to give.

 

[Fluffyhenkeeper]

Oh I see that now looking at her comb, I’ll put the cream on it twice a day and hopefully they will help. The anti fungal medicine is a suppository that I cut up and have been giving to her orally, so that is fine to do with the dewormer you think?

She’s isolated right now in the laundry room in her chicken hospital box with hen boost water and fresh moist food. once she’s well enough to go back to her flock mates I can put a saddle on her. She was wearing one for a long time, but she ripped it off one day haha.

Thank you so much for your help! My heart hurts for her, she is such a sweetheart. She’s the one that always follows me around and jumps at the chicken run door when she sees me . Hopefully I can help her out!

 

[Wyorp Rock]

Yes, you can deworm and treat the sour crop at the same time.

Keep me posted on how she's doing.

 

[Fluffyhenkeeper]

Thanks I definitely will!

This morning she was walking around her kennel a bit and ate a lot more moist food on her own and drank water. I gave her some monistat (day 4 now) and put cream on her comb. She’s puffed up now with her feathers drooping now. I’m assuming she’s resting, she was a lot more active today than she had been. I ordered the dewormer so that should be here very soon! We live out in the country so big stores are over an hour each way.