Sour Crop without smell?

[lw12047]

Hello all, we have a hen who has been sick for the last 6 days, I'm hoping someone can help.
The first symptom I noticed was her droopy tail and listlessness. Standing with feathers slightly fluffed up, neck pulled in towards her shoulders. Less active than usual. By the next day she had very watery diarrhea containing bits of undigested corn, no blood. Her comb also started getting floppy and remains so, it is also a little lighter in color near the tips than usual. She makes very few sounds and they're at very low volume. I checked her crop a few days ago and it was down to about 1" in diameter and soft, as of yesterday afternoon, even after she'd been eating it was nearly flat.
She has been drinking plenty of water and she is eating (crumbles, corn, hulled sunflower seeds, she also has grit available) but she is eating less than usual. She is still walking around and picking but half heartedly. She's not been preening much either.
On the second day we decided to try Tylan which we continued through yesterday with no apparent results.
Doing some research on her symptoms the one match I was able to find was sour crop, however I can detect no odor on her breath, could sour crop still be the issue?
A little more information : She is a red star hen, we received her a few months ago from a woman who'd lost the rest of her hens to predation, I'm not sure how old she is exactly but I have the impression from what the woman said at the time that she's in her first year. She became a part time house chicken about a month ago, spending a good part of the day indoors and going to the coop at night. She has been in the house day and night since she started showing symptoms. None of our other chickens appear to be sick.
Having taken her off of Tylan I am going to begin giving probiotics, I've also been adding a little sav-a-chick to her water for the electrolytes. Any ideas on what else I can be doing for her?
Thanks!

 

[KrisH]

does she have access to grit? just thinking undigested food... need grit for digestion...

RobertH

 

[lw12047]

She does have access to grit.

 

[2overeasy]

Hi, I'm wondering what happened with your chicken? I've been trying for days to figure out what's wrong with my hen. I've read volumes on here, including about 8 pages from the "sour crop support needed" thread!
I've quote your initial thread below, editing to leave only the parts that mirror my hen's symptoms and issues. When I give her treats she gobbles them up. I've got her in a dog kennel in the bathroom - off and on over the last few days. When she seems fine (looks good, stands there chirping to get out) I put her back out with the others. Then at night she's either on the floor sleeping under the roosting poles (won't go up for whatever reason) or hiding and sleeping down in the barn. So I bring her in the house again.
I've posted twice but gotten no real responses.
She had a mushy crop earlier so I turned her upside down to expel but all she did was burp several times. Besides, she wouldn't hold her head down but raised it up. Frustrating. So I took away her food and will give her 3cc sour red wine this eve (per several posts in the aforementioned thread). Then leave her overnight.
She just doesn't have a smell, though, and doesn't poop much despite what she eats. Although, I dunno, how often does a normal chicken poop, anyway?
No mucus, no blood, no broken bones: just lethargy, poofiness, and head tucked in. All of that of course, until she's in the kennel and wants to come out!
I'm totally baffled and can't get any answers. Could it be that she's just old and feels like being alone???
So I thought perhaps I'd see what you came up with your chicken
Sigh...

....droopy tail and listlessness. Standing with feathers slightly fluffed up, neck pulled in towards her shoulders. Less active than usual. By the next day she had very watery diarrhea containing bits of undigested corn, no blood. Her comb also started getting floppy and remains so, it is also a little lighter in color near the tips than usual. She makes very few sounds and they're at very low volume.
....She has been drinking plenty of water and she is eating (crumbles, corn, hulled sunflower seeds, she also has grit available) ... She is still walking around and picking but half heartedly. She's not been preening much either.
...some research on her symptoms the one match I was able to find was sour crop, however I can detect no odor on her breath, could sour crop still be the issue?

 

[lw12047]

2over easy:
Unfortunately I have no insights yet as to what's actually wrong with our hen. Today she seemed slightly improved, still had diarrhea but made one almost normal poop in the morning. Tail up a bit more than it has been in the last week, though still drooping often. We had a pretty warm day here so she was out all day enjoying the sun and I'm sure that perked her up a little.
Today I decided to go with her instincts as far as her diet is concerned. She showed a great deal of interest in eating apple pieces so I let he have all the apple she wanted. I offered banana and she likewise ate a great deal of it. She was interested in my scrambled eggs at breakfast so I made her one of her own, she ate the entire thing. What she seems to have no interest in eating are harder foods like her crumbles, corn or sunflower seeds. I offered millet, likewise no interest. This is day two of probiotics in her water.
My guess is that, maybe soft foods like bananas, apples and eggs are more easily/ quickly digested and absorbed and so have more to offer her right now, considering the undigested corn I've been seeing in her poop.
I'll keep you updated on how she's doing and if I discover anything about what's wrong.
Hope things go well for your chicken. I'm curious to hear whether the sour wine does her any good or if you find anything else that helps.

 

[Ginger B]

Any results w the sour wine?