- Sep 29, 2016
- 11
- 7
- 67
Hi, I have a ~5 year old Brahma hen named Boba who I brought inside to treat for flystrike last weekend after noticing her all fluffed up in the yard by herself--I think my boyfriend posted a thread about her when it first happened so maybe someone has heard a little about her situation already. I've never dealt with that before and it was really scary. I brought her to the emergency vet to clean out most of the maggots and treat her wound and cleaned out the rest of the maggots myself the following day. No sign of any maggots since then so I think she's all clear as far as that goes. I've been treating her wound every day ever since and it seems to be doing alright.
She started eating a little bit again the next day and was particularly enthusiastic about her favorite treats (scratch, yogurt, banana, etc) so I was relieved she seemed so happy to eat again and pretty much gave her as much as she wanted of everything. However by the end of the day she had stopped eating again, was constantly adjusting her neck like she was choking? I was worried I blocked up her crop with all these treats so I started syringe feeding her olive oil with a tiny bit of apple cider vinegar every few hours along with massaging her crop. I only offered her wet mash for food with some grit ever since then and I take it away at night, but her crop is still full when I check on her first thing in the morning. It's not hard or doughy, it feels more like a water balloon. It's constantly full even though she's not eating. I've been syringe feeding her a little bit of watered down yogurt with 1ml of Nutridrench 3x/day ever since she stopped eating. She still drinks a little bit of water throughout the day. She stopped making choking motions after that first day.
I brought her to an avian vet after a couple of days of her not eating on her own to see what else might be going on with her, and they said they found a lump along her intestinal tract. They're not sure if it's just a blockage or something worse like a tumor. They said that they think this lump is what made her vulnerable to the flystrike by giving her runny poops (by blocking all the solids trying to pass through), and that this is why her crop is not emptying. They gave me an oral laxative (lactulose) and an intramuscular laxative (metaclopramide) that I give to her twice a day. They told me that the best I can do is keep giving her liquid nutrients and hope the laxatives improve her situation, and that if she doesn't improve by the time her meds run out then it must be a tumor and I'll have to put her down. Her poops went from a milky white liquid the day after the emergency vet to mostly greenish diarrhea with some solids in it, and today there have also been small poops that are either little drops of milky white liquid with no solids, or some greenish kinda solid tiny thin poops. She had ONE almost normal-looking poop this week and I got excited that she was improving, but I haven't seen that again since.
I'm just feeling really lost with this whole situation, she's my most sweet-tempered hen and my favorite. I keep misdiagnosing the situation on my own so I'm hoping I can get some advice. Has anyone dealt with an intestinal blockage in their chickens? Is it okay to keep making her drink the water/yogurt/Nutridrench combo when her crop seems so full? Are crop massages okay/helpful at all? The vet seems to think she had this blockage already by the time the flystrike hit, but could I have caused it by overfeeding her treats the day after the emergency vet? The avian vet also had me switch off of the 3x/day wound irrigation rinse/antibiotic and anti-inflammatory spray that the emergency vet gave to me for a once daily application of manuka honey--does anyone have any experience with that for wound healing? Is it a good sign that there are at least SOME solids in her poop? Is there anything else I can do to help my chicken and keep her more comfortable while she recovers? She is living inside until she gets better and mostly just sits or stands in place all day looking miserable. I feel so bad for her.
She started eating a little bit again the next day and was particularly enthusiastic about her favorite treats (scratch, yogurt, banana, etc) so I was relieved she seemed so happy to eat again and pretty much gave her as much as she wanted of everything. However by the end of the day she had stopped eating again, was constantly adjusting her neck like she was choking? I was worried I blocked up her crop with all these treats so I started syringe feeding her olive oil with a tiny bit of apple cider vinegar every few hours along with massaging her crop. I only offered her wet mash for food with some grit ever since then and I take it away at night, but her crop is still full when I check on her first thing in the morning. It's not hard or doughy, it feels more like a water balloon. It's constantly full even though she's not eating. I've been syringe feeding her a little bit of watered down yogurt with 1ml of Nutridrench 3x/day ever since she stopped eating. She still drinks a little bit of water throughout the day. She stopped making choking motions after that first day.
I brought her to an avian vet after a couple of days of her not eating on her own to see what else might be going on with her, and they said they found a lump along her intestinal tract. They're not sure if it's just a blockage or something worse like a tumor. They said that they think this lump is what made her vulnerable to the flystrike by giving her runny poops (by blocking all the solids trying to pass through), and that this is why her crop is not emptying. They gave me an oral laxative (lactulose) and an intramuscular laxative (metaclopramide) that I give to her twice a day. They told me that the best I can do is keep giving her liquid nutrients and hope the laxatives improve her situation, and that if she doesn't improve by the time her meds run out then it must be a tumor and I'll have to put her down. Her poops went from a milky white liquid the day after the emergency vet to mostly greenish diarrhea with some solids in it, and today there have also been small poops that are either little drops of milky white liquid with no solids, or some greenish kinda solid tiny thin poops. She had ONE almost normal-looking poop this week and I got excited that she was improving, but I haven't seen that again since.
I'm just feeling really lost with this whole situation, she's my most sweet-tempered hen and my favorite. I keep misdiagnosing the situation on my own so I'm hoping I can get some advice. Has anyone dealt with an intestinal blockage in their chickens? Is it okay to keep making her drink the water/yogurt/Nutridrench combo when her crop seems so full? Are crop massages okay/helpful at all? The vet seems to think she had this blockage already by the time the flystrike hit, but could I have caused it by overfeeding her treats the day after the emergency vet? The avian vet also had me switch off of the 3x/day wound irrigation rinse/antibiotic and anti-inflammatory spray that the emergency vet gave to me for a once daily application of manuka honey--does anyone have any experience with that for wound healing? Is it a good sign that there are at least SOME solids in her poop? Is there anything else I can do to help my chicken and keep her more comfortable while she recovers? She is living inside until she gets better and mostly just sits or stands in place all day looking miserable. I feel so bad for her.
I just wanted to link the other post about her.
