Sour crop question…is it time to euthanize?

[Apags18]

I asked my rehabber friend to take her, as her crop was not moving and she was getting dehydrated. One morning, she found her dead. She thinks she aspirated. I asked my friend to take her because she would be able to euthanize her, but since my hen still looked interested in eating she kept treating her. I should have just brought her myself to the vet to get euthanized. I never could have predicted when she would have passed -- she was a very strong girl. Heaviest Easter Egger, but strong and stout. Best personality, never flightly.

I appreciate you sharing your story with me.

 

[Apags18]

I’m so sorry that you’re at this cross roads it’s never an easy decision to make, but you’re making all of the right considerations and you’ll choose the right decision for you and her.

If it’s any help to hear, my Fiona, pictured in my profile, had pendulous crop and I tried everything to cure it. Her breast feathers never grew back but she was such a sweet girl and total fire cracker—loved being held and eventually regained enough confidence that she wasn’t lowest on the pecking order. I know chickens can hide their ailments well, but she really adapted to life with pendulous crop and kept up with the rest of the flock. I’d occasionally find her puffed up whenever her crop got really full, but otherwise she was quite lively and resilient! She lived to be 1.5 before she disappeared one day, unrelated to her crop. Molts seem miserable for all chickens, but maybe she’ll bounce back after she’s done molting?

Good luck! Sending you lots of love

Thank your for sharing. Truffles also adjusted well over the spring, summer, and fall to her pendulous crops. I had hoped she would stay that way. Then she went broody in Oct and because she was sitting for so long on the nest and not eating much her crop got so tiny. I was really hoping we had turned a corner! Then her molt started about 2ish weeks ago and her crop started to grow again, but to the size it had been throughout the year, so we figured she’d be ok. But clearly something else was wrong, because we had never seen it this size before. I think the combo of her not getting enough nutrition and then her body using nutrients to grow more feathers made her lose weight and decline so fast. She was such a strong willed hen. I’m going to miss her!

 

[hammyanne]

I added a picture of her last night with her bonded sister, Peanut Butter. Those two were always together. I’m definitely sad for PB. I know chickens don’t grieve like us, but I still am sad for her. PB seems to be doing ok though. I also added of photo of her from just a couple months ago laying in the sun. Her feathers never did grow back on her chest but she adjusted. I’m just relieved she’s no longer suffering.

What a gorgeous girl! Sending you a virtual hug. You did the humane thing. Often chickens don't get enough credit for being companion animals with full lives—there's nothing more heartbreaking than watching a living thing grow and then having to watch it pass. It's okay and completely normal to grieve.

I'm glad she had a proper send off with some treats! Hopefully she's moved onto the next realm with a trail of seeds nearby. Maybe she and Fiona are hanging out together with fully functioning crops ◡̈

 

[Apags18]

What a gorgeous girl! Sending you a virtual hug. You did the humane thing. Often chickens don't get enough credit for being companion animals with full lives—there's nothing more heartbreaking than watching a living thing grow and then having to watch it pass. It's okay and completely normal to grieve.

I'm glad she had a proper send off with some treats! Hopefully she's moved onto the next realm with a trail of seeds nearby. Maybe she and Fiona are hanging out together with fully functioning crops ◡̈

Thank you! I told her before she passed to have fun with her other sisters she had grown up with, Jellybean and Dozy, who passed last year from a dog attack. When the vet injected her with the sedative she did get scared but I held her in my arms (she hadn’t been letting me do that recently). She seemed to feel safe there. When the vet said she had passed I felt sadness but definitely more so a relief. It was so hard to see her like that.

 

[lizo97]

I currently have a 5 yo Australorp hen likely internal laying. Her bottom is getting large and her droppings are getting small. She has had fly strike 3 times with the last being the worst, because she cannot groom herself in the back. My husband says just let her live her live, but I feel I have to decide when she needs to move onto chicken heaven because I don't want her to suffer. That means an appointment to the vet which isn't always possible last minute. I feel it is better to let them go before they suffer too much.

 

[WhatsUpDuck]

I know as people we tend to put our own personal feelings above the betterment of the chicken/animal.. what are we hanging onto? I regret not putting down critters before that shouldn't have suffered that long. I know God takes care of his creatures. And that has really helped me have peace with it.

• I said in mine heart, God shall judge the righteous and the wicked: for [there is] a time there for every purpose and for every work.
• I said in mine heart concerning the estate of the sons of men, that God might manifest them, and that they might see that they themselves are beasts.
• For that which befalleth the sons of men befalleth beasts; even one thing befalleth them: as the one dieth, so dieth the other; yea, they have all one breath; so that a man hath no preeminence above a beast: for all [is] vanity.
• All go unto one place; all are of the dust, and all turn to dust again.
• Who knoweth the spirit of man that goeth upward, and the spirit of the beast that goeth downward to the earth?
• Wherefore I perceive that [there is] nothing better, than that a man should rejoice in his own works; for that [is] his portion: for who shall bring him to see what shall be after him?

Ecclesiastes 3: 17-22

 

[Apags18]

I currently have a 5 yo Australorp hen likely internal laying. Her bottom is getting large and her droppings are getting small. She has had fly strike 3 times with the last being the worst, because she cannot groom herself in the back. My husband says just let her live her live, but I feel I have to decide when she needs to move onto chicken heaven because I don't want her to suffer. That means an appointment to the vet which isn't always possible last minute. I feel it is better to let them go before they suffer too much.

I agree. We lost another hen in Oct from salpingitis or egg yolk peritonitis. She suffered for a long time but hid it well. I kept trying to save her but her back end was always very messy and I noticed her bottom was large and hard and in the end she started having a hard time breathing. She had laid a lash egg a couple months earlier. She ended up dying before I could euthanize her, but I wish I had done it sooner. She suffered in the end and it makes me sad. So I didn’t want to do that with Truffles. We def let our human feeling and emotions get in the way, but I never want an animal under my care to suffer.
If you feel like your hen is suffering or dying I would put her down sooner than later. It’s so hard to let them go, but it’s harder to watch them suffer and see that they no longer have a quality of life. I’m sorry you are having to go through that situation. Definitely not fun.

 

[WhatsUpDuck]

I really regret not putting waddles down sooner and she suffocated when I massaged her crop one morning because she aspirated
This is one of the last pictures I have of her.

 

[McChooky]

Definitely been a problem for my 3 big hens.They tend to be less active and hang around the feeder more.None of my smaller hens has ever ate too much or had a crop problem.I put my 'problem' girls in a pet cage indoor so they can't eat or drink anything but what I give them.I give them a capsule of turmeric, a TB of olive oil and a TB vinegar in a cup of water and fast them 24 hrs.

 

[McChooky]

Massaging the crop every hour or so helps to get it moving