Very Sick Chicken: Please Help

[BigBlueHen53]

Sorry, what is ACS?

Again, what is this please?

 

[Adolph Otto]

Again, what is this please?

Acidified Copper Sulfate.

 

[Adolph Otto]

I might try stool softener. There must be 3 lbs of liquid in this crop. I am stopping the ACS today. I just don't know if it's sour crop (I don't get a smell) or something like a block post-crop. I was massaging the abdomen and she bristled a bit as if it were painful. It felt a little tight. She is really losing weight.
Anyway when I put her back in the crate she immediately squirted greenish liquid Disgusting but at least something is getting through. Maybe a partial block colaise could fix?

 

[BigBlueHen53]

Acidified Copper Sulfate.

Thank you.

 

[16 and me]

I might try stool softener. There must be 3 lbs of liquid in this crop. I am stopping the ACS today. I just don't know if it's sour crop (I don't get a smell) or something like a block post-crop. I was massaging the abdomen and she bristled a bit as if it were painful. It felt a little tight. She is really losing weight.
Anyway when I put her back in the crate she immediately squirted greenish liquid Disgusting but at least something is getting through. Maybe a partial block colaise could fix?

My hen Agnes is prone to this due to pendulous crop. When she was at her worst, we (2 people are really best) put a tube down her throat into her crop and using a large syringe evacuated out all that we could. Following that we gave her mineral oil flush. We had to repeat this 2 or 3 days, but she recovered well.

Now when I see it coming on a few things prevent it from escalating:
1. Digestive enzymes & a probiotic daily until the crop is moving well
2. Coconut oil and frequent crop massages
3. Monostat for 7 days
I just went through a week of this treatment and she is well now. But if you have a stubborn blockage you may need to take more drastic measures.

 

[Adolph Otto]

My hen Agnes is prone to this due to pendulous crop. When she was at her worst, we (2 people are really best) put a tube down her throat into her crop and using a large syringe evacuated out all that we could. Following that we gave her mineral oil flush. We had to repeat this 2 or 3 days, but she recovered well.

Now when I see it coming on a few things prevent it from escalating:
1. Digestive enzymes & a probiotic daily until the crop is moving well
2. Coconut oil and frequent crop massages
3. Monostat for 7 days
I just went through a week of this treatment and she is well now. But if you have a stubborn blockage you may need to take more drastic measures.

Thank you for this. I definitely have to do something drastic. She's going downhill fast. Where did you get the tubing? I'll look for a thread here that explains the procedure.
Thanks again.

 

[Adolph Otto]

I reluctantly just "vomited" my poor hen. Very unpleasant, but a lot came up. It didn't take much manipulation at all. Four times toatal, waiting 3-4 mins between each go. Still a lot in the crop but here are my observations.
I'm ruling out sour crop due to no smell whatsoever (and I tried to smell something).
BUT: grass! She has not been outside for at least 4 days, and even then in the run where there is no grass at all. Grass immediately came out of her mouth. Strange because the crop is squishy, not fibrous at all. Could there be grass plugging the drain to the proventriculus? If so, any way to treat for that. Maybe colase?

 

[Chicken_Obsesser]

I've heard that grass can do that to chickens but I've never had problems with it myself.

 

[The Welch Chickens]

I've had a very stubborn case of impacted and sour crop (at the same time) because of long grasses and some hay. The hen was sick for weeks. The only thing that ended up working was ACS in the water, time outdoors, and tipping her upside down (one time) to get the stuff out.
Forcing them to vomit is very much discouraged because it's so dangerous for them, but in my case it was necessary...she would have died without it, so I had to take the chance. Nothing else had worked (I tried for weeks!) and it had to be done.

As for the time outdoors I mentioned: even though they should be kept without food, letting her free range for a few minutes every day with her flockmates helped get her moving, and therefore get her crop emptying as well. I just had to monitor her so that she didn't eat anything that would have worsened her condition. She was also getting depressed in the cage, so the freedom helped her mood a lot, which, in my opinion, partially caused her recovery.

Both those risks paid off and she is now a strong healthy girl...although she hates me because of the whole ordeal lol

Hopefully my experience may offer you a few ideas. I am not recommending doing what I did (vomiting, free ranging), per say, just keep in mind that sometimes you have to take a chance if it's the only chance you've got

 

[Adolph Otto]

I've had a very stubborn case of impacted and sour crop (at the same time) because of long grasses and some hay. The hen was sick for weeks. The only thing that ended up working was ACS in the water, time outdoors, and tipping her upside down (one time) to get the stuff out.
Forcing them to vomit is very much discouraged because it's so dangerous for them, but in my case it was necessary...she would have died without it, so I had to take the chance. Nothing else had worked (I tried for weeks!) and it had to be done.

As for the time outdoors I mentioned: even though they should be kept without food, letting her free range for a few minutes every day with her flockmates helped get her moving, and therefore get her crop emptying as well. I just had to monitor her so that she didn't eat anything that would have worsened her condition. She was also getting depressed in the cage, so the freedom helped her mood a lot, which, in my opinion, partially caused her recovery.

Both those risks paid off and she is now a strong healthy girl...although she hates me because of the whole ordeal lol

Hopefully my experience may offer you a few ideas. I am not recommending doing what I did (vomiting, free ranging), per say, just keep in mind that sometimes you have to take a chance if it's the only chance you've got

Thanks . I did pretty much the same thing Let her out for about`10-15 mins today just to get her some air and exercise. She went to the bathroom too, which was good to see. But still lethargic ad bloated. Did you vomit yours until the crop was empty? That was my intention but I didn't have the heart to continue. I might do some more tomorrow. Thanks for your kind words. Hopefully our results will be like yours!