Sorry, this might be long. We've had a pretty quiet flock for years so, I haven't posted in forever. We've acquired 23 birds this year and they've been keeping me on my toes! The latest is a hen with sour/impacted crop. It's the first we've had and I'm reading a lot of conflicting info. Here's the run down-
1) Appears to be a red sexlink, guessing about a year old. Slight weight loss, but not significant.
2) about a week ago she separated from the flock, seems mildly lethargic (more like listless) eats and drinks but is doing so less, normal poop but very small droppings. Crop is hard/difficult to massage. About tennis ball sized.
3) I noticed she was "off" a week ago. Became obvious almost 48 hours ago.
4) Everyone else looks good.
5) no injury.
6) Possibly ate grass clippings around compost bin.
7) Was eating layer mash and free ranging. Withheld food for 24 hrs. Gave yogurt and olive oil soaked bread.
8) Poop looks normal, but small. Dime sized or smaller.
9) In addition to #7 we isolated her for observation. Lots of massage
10) hopefully treat myself. I can't find a vet to see her locally. Scheduled an appointment for 7 days out but, logically, that won't work.
11) No pics, sorry
12) Enclosed coop at night. Free range all day. We do move them to a new pasture every few weeks.
Backstory: I know nothing about her. In Feb we kept finding chickens in the snow outside our barn. The property is surrounded by a 6ft woven fence with hot wires so I'm clueless as to where they came from. We found 23 alive and 2 frozen. I isolated and wormed everyone then. Treated all for frost bite. Released 3 weeks later. I found one hen with scaly leg mites two weeks ago. I used Ivermectin pour-on, bag balm, and dusted with DE. I don't think it's related, but maybe?
Some articles say to withhold foods and water for a day or indefinitely. Others don't. I cut out food for 24 hours, but then offered her the yog and oil bread. Always gave water. Any opinions on withholding food at this point? Apart from surgery/culling, does anyone have suggestions? I'm thinking mineral oil via dropper.
1) Appears to be a red sexlink, guessing about a year old. Slight weight loss, but not significant.
2) about a week ago she separated from the flock, seems mildly lethargic (more like listless) eats and drinks but is doing so less, normal poop but very small droppings. Crop is hard/difficult to massage. About tennis ball sized.
3) I noticed she was "off" a week ago. Became obvious almost 48 hours ago.
4) Everyone else looks good.
5) no injury.
6) Possibly ate grass clippings around compost bin.
7) Was eating layer mash and free ranging. Withheld food for 24 hrs. Gave yogurt and olive oil soaked bread.
8) Poop looks normal, but small. Dime sized or smaller.
9) In addition to #7 we isolated her for observation. Lots of massage
10) hopefully treat myself. I can't find a vet to see her locally. Scheduled an appointment for 7 days out but, logically, that won't work.
11) No pics, sorry
12) Enclosed coop at night. Free range all day. We do move them to a new pasture every few weeks.
Backstory: I know nothing about her. In Feb we kept finding chickens in the snow outside our barn. The property is surrounded by a 6ft woven fence with hot wires so I'm clueless as to where they came from. We found 23 alive and 2 frozen. I isolated and wormed everyone then. Treated all for frost bite. Released 3 weeks later. I found one hen with scaly leg mites two weeks ago. I used Ivermectin pour-on, bag balm, and dusted with DE. I don't think it's related, but maybe?
Some articles say to withhold foods and water for a day or indefinitely. Others don't. I cut out food for 24 hours, but then offered her the yog and oil bread. Always gave water. Any opinions on withholding food at this point? Apart from surgery/culling, does anyone have suggestions? I'm thinking mineral oil via dropper.
