Very concerned now!!! Updated with video in 3rd post. 2 yo sex link hunched and can't get on roost

Deltabwa

Songster
5 Years
Oct 30, 2016
261
117
171
Southeast Montana
3 nights ago I went to close up the coop and found my oldest and top girl on the ground under the roost being bred by my lowest rooster. That got my attention immediately, I shoo'ed him off and she continued to lay there with 1 wing outstretched. I picked her up and noticed she wasn't struggling to get away. I put her back down and she made no attempt to move so I brought her inside. She stayed hunched that next day, I fed her and gave her water, she ate but I don't think she ate very much. I checked to see if she was egg bound, she wasn't. She did lay down at night but stayed hunched all day. Yesterday she was standing more normal but her wings seemed as tho they hung lowee, so I put her out but she then turned and wanted back in. Brought her back in and later that day put her out again. She walked around, always by herself, slowly and that night did get to the coop. However, she made 2 attempts to get up on the roost and could only jump about halfway and then I picked her up and out her on it thinking maybe it was a wing issue. This morning I went back out and she was in the coop by herself. I checked her wings but not real sure what I'm looking for but nothing feels broken and she doesn't jerk away when I touch anything. I started to bring her in the house but then thought maybe she needed sunshine as well so she has been standing against the house in the sun, all hunched. She does have poop on her feathers and it is liquidy. Her keel bone is vefy prominent even tho she is eating. And when I threw egg, she ran to it but ate it slower than usual. Shes not standing upright But her tail is down and she does seem a little soft around her bum and she stands with her eyes closed a lot. And I thought she had been regularly laying but the egg that I thought was hers, was in the nest box 2 days ago when she was in the house so obviously not her
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Sex links are prone to reproductive problems. Could be a stuck egg, internal laying, or even something else all together. I have on occasion seen a rooster chump on and attack sick hens, so he could have been going after her due to her behaviors. Hopefully someone else can talk you through how to give her an exam.
 
Now she is doing this. I looked in her mouth, i couldn't see anything. And when I threw food to her, she went running for it but then only ate tiny bits. Then the last pieces, she had liquid running out of her mouth and the egg just dropped and she quit. There is hardly anything in her crop, I had to push to find it. Now I am really concerned. I almost thought worms but wouldnt i see them?
 
It looks like she is try to adjust her crop, like there is something stuck. I would feel it again to see if it is puffy like a balloon, which might be sour crop. If your squeeze the crop, the crop contents may smell bad. Her droppings look abnormal like she is not digesting her food. A crop or gizzard blockage might be possible, but I would try to see a vet if possible. They could test her droppings for coccidiosis, worms, and do a gram stain for enteritis. Crops should be empty in the morning.

Crop and/or gizzard blockage can be hard to treat. I have chickens who have had both. The longer it goes on the less likely that you can help them. Here is a good article to nelp determine if it is a crop problem:
https://www.backyardchickens.com/ar...w-to-know-which-one-youre-dealing-with.73607/
 
the vet here doesn't do chickens. I've tried before. Ok, so if I can smell it, than it's the crop? Cuz When I squeezed it, I didn't feel anything and like I said, it felt almost empty and it was hard to find. But I will go try it again.
 
I read the article and felt her again. It is empty. And when I pick her up, I can hear her insides gurgling, like she is hungry. Her crop feels like air in it or something. It's not big like a balloon, but when I squeeze it, I can touch my fingers together.
 
Some vets will let you bring a sample of droppings so they can do a fecal float and gram stain, without seeing the chickens. A lot has to do with your past relationship. Mine does not see chickens, but will do fecal floats for the same charge as other animals.

I would try to get her to drink some fluids.
 
With her posture and crop problems, breed, and age, I'd be very suspect to egg peritonitis or reproductive cancer. Both of these issues can cause their digestive system to slow down and the crop to slow a great deal, if they are putting pressure on the GI tract. This can cause slow starvation, as well, which makes them feel thin. This happened in my hen. Do you have any other, healthy, hens about her size? You may wish to gently palpate her abdomen (the large "booty" area between her vent and the back of her keel bone) to feel for "fullness", masses, etc... as compared to a healthy chicken. Note any differences you feel.

I hope I am wrong, but her symptoms exactly match that of a hen I had that was dying from egg peritonitis, and another that had reproductive cancer.
 
Some vets will let you bring a sample of droppings so they can do a fecal float and gram stain, without seeing the chickens. A lot has to do with your past relationship. Mine does not see chickens, but will do fecal floats for the same charge as other animals.

I would try to get her to drink some fluids.

Any thoughts on what it could be? Blockage before the crop?
 
With her posture and crop problems, breed, and age, I'd be very suspect to egg peritonitis or reproductive cancer. Both of these issues can cause their digestive system to slow down and the crop to slow a great deal, if they are putting pressure on the GI tract. This can cause slow starvation, as well, which makes them feel thin. This happened in my hen. Do you have any other, healthy, hens about her size? You may wish to gently palpate her abdomen (the large "booty" area between her vent and the back of her keel bone) to feel for "fullness", masses, etc... as compared to a healthy chicken. Note any differences you feel.

I hope I am wrong, but her symptoms exactly match that of a hen I had that was dying from egg peritonitis, and another that had reproductive cancer.

I felt it first because i had a hen die last year from, I think, peritonitis, can't remember now but she had masses, felt like eggs. I posted about it as well as the necropsy. This one doesn't feel like my other girl. Its not really big and its a little squishy but no masses that I felt.
 

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