UPDATE: Solution found. 2nd Chicken Affected! HELP! Impacted Crop mystery?

[twopeaedpod]

Okay, we now have 2 hens with this exact condition. What could be slowing digestion and causing these symptoms?
We are calling the vet and trying to get them in asap before we lose the whole flock

Almost a year old silver-laced Wyandotte hen.
Three days ago my husband found her lethargic in the coop in the morning when opening them up in the AM.
Here are here presenting symptoms, pictures, and what we've done so far:

• Lethargic, mostly lays down but sometimes will stand, fluffed up, tail down.
• Impacted crop on arrival inside.
• Eliminations look normal, mostly urine but some solids too.
• Breath does NOT stink and crop is NOT bloated (ie, not sour crop, we've dealt with that before).

• Day 1: Gave a 2 dropperfuls of 1/2 olive oil 1/2 water and massaged crop several times throughout the day. Only gave water with vitamins this day. This loosened the impact up a great deal and she passed 3/4 of the crop contents, pooped alot, and seemed to perk up a bit (not so droopy and not fluffed up).
• Day 2: Crop mostly empty, but still has some larger and harder stuff in it. We recently switched them to a larger sized corn/soy mix and assume her crop is not handling it so well (we've switched back to pellets yesterday). Gave her cantaloupe diced small and plain water. Continuing to improve. Roosted on the rocking chair for the night of own accord!
• Day 3: This morning. Crop hard again, still 1/4 full (this portion does not seem to be passing). Gave oil/water and massaged soft again. Offered her some chick starter and she's not really interested. Sitting/standing lethargic and puffed up again Temp. is down and she's starting to lose muscle around the breastbone a bit.

These pictures were just taken:





I'm not sure what to do. After yesterday I thought she was doing better and expected to wake to a mostly-recovered chicken, but instead she seems worse this morning.

I've not tried baking soda b/c that is recommended for SOUR crop, not impacted crop. I've turned an impacted crop sour in the past by giving ACV and other pH or natural-bacteria imbalancing substances so I want to avoid that if possible.

None of the other chickens are presenting similar symptoms.

Suggestions, thoughts, please and thank you!

 

[twopeaedpod]

I have looked over all common illnesses and NOTHING fits
We are thinking maybe their food is deficient and this is just a nutrient deficiency. Other possibility is a parasite or bug of some type. I'm dosing them with nutri-drench in water (heavy concentration) and going into town for some general "anti-parasite" stuff. Dunno, just grasping at straws here

 

[Eggcessive]

Have they been getting grit to help digest the larger grains? Do you have long strands of grass or hay that they could have swallowed? Are the poops still normal? Water works better for flushing out the crop than oil. Are the crops mostly empty be early morning? So many diseases can cause crop emptying problems, coccidiosis, and Mareks are a few of them. I would probably try withholding all food for 24 hours, just giving water to see if the crops go down. Then when resuming food, just give soft foods for a few days--applesauce, egg, yogurt, and later a mash of wet feed.

 

[twopeaedpod]

UPDATE: the second chicken we found is now dead. The first seems to be doing better, but we're still worried. Vet is on her way

 

[twopeaedpod]

The vet examined the live (ill) chicken and she has said her body cavity is filled with yellow stuff...we had a chicken die of this a few years ago (isolated case). Can someone remind me of what it's called? It looks like yolks?
Thanks!
She is opening up the other dead chicken now to see if the same thing killed her.

 

[twopeaedpod]

Okay, the vet is done and we have answers:

1) Chicken 1 who died 3 days ago (we figured this was unrelated) - impacted gizzard - ate 3 decorative bead gems from the ground (past-owners left them strewn all over the back yard) and we thought we'd gotten them all

2) Chicken 2: Silver-Laced: has crop infection from whole corn and should pull through with TERRAMYCIN. Lesson learned on corn/soy mix, back to pellets from the feed store!

3) Chicken 3: Speckled Sussex: died of a deep laceration on her back that had healed over completely on the surface but was septic inside! We never even knew she was hurt!

Just wow...just crazy coincidences!

 

[Eggcessive]

Sorry for your losses, and glad to hear that the vet may be able to save the one chicken. It's so nice to have a vet that will see chickens, and help find answers. Thanks for the update.

 

[seminolewind]

Wow. I hope you have better luck after all this. How sad.
With the feed, yes do yourself a favor and give them layer feed. Then add what you like to it, left overs, oats, greens, anything to make their diet more nutritious.