Very lethargic 8 week old falls over easily, green poop, foul smell when beak opened

[canyonchicks]

1) chicken looks about the same as the others.
2) Symptoms seem to have started yesterday. Super lethargic, almost falls over or can’t keep herself upright when lightly pushed. I was thinking swollen crop (it was bulgy this morning) and when opening her beak it smells nasty. Took her out of the coop and massaged the crop and held her and some very green poop came out. (See picture)
3) she’s been like this since last night, possibly a bit earlier than that but did need help getting into roost last night.
4) No other birds (14 of them) have these symptoms.
5) no visible trauma, she doesn’t seem to want to stand on her legs upright, but examining her legs etc everything seems normal.
6) Possibly eating grass that is too long? Seems strange since they’ve all pecked at the grass.
7) whatever is on the ground, plus I feed them fermented feed and minor amounts of veggie scraps from the kitchen. When I placed her next to the trough this morning she did eat. Doesn’t seem particularly ravenous, but did eat.
8) green poop
9) just the massage treatment as described above. She is vaccinated by hatchery for Marek’s and coccidiosis.
10 ) I would prefer to diagnose and treat myself—not going to be able to take on a vet bill. I especially want to know if this is something that I should be concerned about spreading.
11) see pictures attached.
12) chicken tractor with ramp up to nesting boxes, nesting pads in boxes.

 

[ExoticPetOwner]

it sounds like it's something to do with the crop, mostly sour crop, so I would suggest going through sour crop treatment and then seeing if anything has improved. I think it might be caused by the fermented feed causing a fungal overgrowth, excess of the bacteria's gases, and producing the fowl odors and her other symptoms.
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* Read HERE, HERE, and HERE

 

[Razzlefrazzle]

It does sound like sour crop, but I would NOT withhold water or even food. Always provide fresh, clean water, and in the case of sour crop adding a little apple cider vinegar might help. Make sure she has access to grit to help digest any long grass she ate. Giving her plain yogurt can help restore healthy bacteria to her crop which keeps bad bacteria and yeast in check. Frequent crop massages are good to help keep things moving. Sour crop can kill pretty quickly and there is no easy or 100% effective home treatment. If you don't see improvement or she worsens, you can try to make her "vomit" by massaging her crop while holding her upside down, but it's a stressful procedure for her and there is a danger of her inhaling fluid into her lungs.

 

[Wyorp Rock]

Super lethargic, almost falls over or can’t keep herself upright when lightly pushed. I was thinking swollen crop (it was bulgy this morning) and when opening her beak it smells nasty.

whatever is on the ground, plus I feed them fermented feed and minor amounts of veggie scraps from the kitchen.

She is vaccinated by hatchery for Marek’s and coccidiosis.

What type of feed are you fermenting - chick starter? Is it medicated?
Do you provide grit (crushed granite) for your pullets?

I begin treating the crop. Don't withhold food/water during waking hours.

Read this article and the comments as well. These are the methods I use.
https://www.backyardchickens.com/ar...w-to-know-which-one-youre-dealing-with.73607/

 

[canyonchicks]

Thank you so much for the helpful info.

I am feeding them unmedicated fermented feed, currently working with a bag of DuMor starter/grower. I keep the fermented feed in a bucket, pretty thick. Since moving them out a couple weeks ago I haven’t given them additional grit since they are outside, we have moved the tractor moved pretty frequently and I always see them picking at the ground which has so much sediment where we live (a coastal canyon/mountain range). We only get seasonal grass and clover so right now they are basically in a dirt bath with occasional bugs. I have thrown clover that’s popping up elsewhere into the tractor with them as well as some longer grass (which I now really regret doing!!!).

Question: is there potentially a sour crop issue with fermented feed? I was guessing I did it with feeding them that grass but that would be an impacted crop, wouldn’t it? The fermented feed seems to make them so happy and I hadn’t read anything particularly negative about it so now I am wondering if fermenting their food could cause such an issue. I would expect the opposite of a candida overgrowth with fermentation but I’m shooting in the dark here!

They are all 8 weeks old.

And a little update: over the course of the day she seemed to perk up a small amount as in, she walked about a little and did get up into the roosting box via the ramp by herself. So I felt ok leaving her in there overnight, and I will check in the morning to see if anything has changed and start working on the massage/coconut oil combo.