Unwell hen

Embalmergirl

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My year and a half old hen has a full crop. She's not emptying her crop overnight. This morning her crop was full & felt like silly putty when I pressed on it. She's drinking water, a lot , and eating a minimal amount of food. There is no vet to take her to & I want to take care of the situation myself with minimal invasion, unless it's my only option. Help!!!
 
So sorry your post got neglected. Hope I can help.

Your hen probably has sour crop. It's a yeast infection, and it makes a hen feel pretty rotten. You can treat it yourself.

Go to the pharmacy or that section at the store and find the women's hygiene products. You'll see a section on vaginal yeast creams. Get the store brand version of Monistat or miconazole. Get the cream, not the suppositories as it's more economical.

Twice a day for seven days, open her beak and slide about 1/4 inch of cream from the tube into her mouth. It has a neutral taste and some hens will even take it willingly off your finger.

I've found that hens with yeast infections prefer dry crumbles during the treatment period if they have been on fermented feed. Don't feed anything starchy like scratch grains or bread. And offer plenty of fresh water.

She should start feeling better in just a few days, but keep up the treatment for the full seven days.

Please report back and let us know how she's doing.
 
A doughy crop could be from a slight impacted crop. Massaging the crop several times a day, and feeding mostly liquids (lots of water, soft egg and some plain yogurt) and no solids or whole grains for a couple of days with the massage might help. Here are 2 links about the different crop problems I like:
https://www.tillysnest.com/2012/01/crop-issues-html/
https://www.backyardchickens.com/ar...d-sour-crops-prevention-and-treatments.67194/
http://www.the-chicken-chick.com/2012/04/answers-from-chicken-vet-on-impacted.html
 
Recently I had a Cream Legbar hen come down with impacted crop that was also full of yeast infection. It had a putrid sour odor that smelled like a backed up garbage disposal.

First of all, I worked on the impaction by introducing coconut oil into her crop at intervals, about a teaspoon at a time, massaging her crop after each time. Finally, I gave her a stool softener capsule and let it go to work. I gave her another crop massage a few hours later, and felt the mass break up under my fingers and go down. This process took all of one day to accomplish.

Then I addressed the sour crop issue since the smell told me in no uncertain terms that is what I was also dealing with. I gave her miconazole twice a day for seven days. I used the cream version, about a quarter to half inch of cream on my finger which I slipped into her beak.

She recovered fully and is now the picture of health.
 
Thank you all for your vital information & advice. I'm going to start treatment today. I'll definitely post updates of her condition.
 

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