We sadly lost our beloved Barbara to impacted crop last week.
I'd noticed she was being picked on by our other hen Margo for the past month, but nothing too serious, well it turns out I was wrong, Margo had been starving her when I wasn't looking. And I'd notice she'd lost a lot of weight yet had a big bulge where her crop was. I think she had been eating the straw from their nesting boxes at night when Margo couldn't get/notice her. So we brought her inside in the carrier box and gave her water with apple cider vinegar and garlic infused olive oil drops. After a couple days she was almost back to normal and even though she still hadn't thrown up whatever was in her crop, it had gone down and she seemed to be passing whatever it was?
Barbara seemed well enough to go back outside, so we separated the run so that Margo couldn't attack her but they could still see each other and have their own space. This seemed to work, Barbara seemed very happy and Margo, well, she was just annoyed she couldn't get to Barbara through the fence whenever they got fed. All was going well till one morning I found Barbara in her favourite spot of the run fast asleep, oh so I hoped as I came closer, but sadly she had passed away that morning. We will miss her dearly, she was such a cuddly hen and would fall asleep in your arms. I'm going to miss our cuddles. But for now, we will be re-doing the coop in memory of Bab's our first hen. And getting some more chickens (this time some that will put Margo in her place)
I feel a bit like I let Barbara down by not noticing that she wasn't getting enough food and separated her sooner.
Even though I've learned a lot from this, I still wish the outcome could have been better for Barbara.
Rest in peace darling.
You will be missed x
