Elderly hen with firm crop and watery green diarrhea- please help!!

[gardengal22]

Hello all, it's me again with more elderly chicken drama!! My sweet oldest girl Twix (12 this year!) suddenly came on with clear, watery green diarrhea today and is not eating or drinking much if at all. Her eyes are still bright and she is very much alert, but does not want to move around. Her crop seems rather firm and she does not like me massaging it, but I did not detect a sour smell. Earlier I had no idea what to do and was unsure if it was an infection, so I dosed her with 2ml of Albon (sulfa), Nutridrench, electrolytes, chicken probiotics (Sav A Chick), and meloxicam (her prescription pain meds for arthritis). She does have underlying conditions- a couple months ago we took her to the vet after a possum ripped part of her comb off and after the vet sewed her comb up, she gave her a all-round checkup and found that she had a very slight heart murmur, a benign small growth next to her crop that had not been growing for some time (one can palpate it on her chest), and arthritis in her feet. For these reasons I'm trying to be as gentle with her as possible as she is very old- she is quite spirited though and HATES medicine, so is quite a pain to dose. I feel that impacted crop is definitely a possibility, but I have no idea how to treat it! Going to the vet is out of the question for the next three days because transportation is an issue. What do yall do for impacted crop? How can I help Twixie?

 

[The Coop Crew]

Here’s a good article about multiple crop issues! I hope it helps
https://www.backyardchickens.com/ar...ntion-and-treatments-of-crop-disorders.67194/

 

[Wyorp Rock]

Her crop seems rather firm and she does not like me massaging it, but I did not detect a sour smell. Earlier I had no idea what to do and was unsure if it was an infection, so I dosed her with 2ml of Albon (sulfa), Nutridrench, electrolytes, chicken probiotics (Sav A Chick), and meloxicam (her prescription pain meds for arthritis). She does have underlying conditions- a couple months ago we took her to the vet after a possum ripped part of her comb off and after the vet sewed her comb up, she gave her a all-round checkup and found that she had a very slight heart murmur, a benign small growth next to her crop that had not been growing for some time (one can palpate it on her chest), and arthritis in her feet. For these reasons I'm trying to be as gentle with her as possible as she is very old- she is quite spirited though and HATES medicine, so is quite a pain to dose. I feel that impacted crop is definitely a possibility

12 years old! She's still going.

I'd check the crop first thing in the morning before she's had anything to eat/drink to see if it's emptying.

She's had quite a bit of medication. This along with her underlying conditions could cause her crop to slow a bit. It may be that she is starting a slow decline and may not be with you much longer no matter what type of treatments you administer.

Do offer her supportive care, see that she's drinking and try to encourage her to eat. Let her be with her flock, enjoy the sunshine and fresh air.

 

[gardengal22]

12 years old! She's still going.

I'd check the crop first thing in the morning before she's had anything to eat/drink to see if it's emptying.

She's had quite a bit of medication. This along with her underlying conditions could cause her crop to slow a bit. It may be that she is starting a slow decline and may not be with you much longer no matter what type of treatments you administer.

Do offer her supportive care, see that she's drinking and try to encourage her to eat. Let her be with her flock, enjoy the sunshine and fresh air.

Hello! I just checked and her crop definitely did not empty overnight- it feels large and firm, but the poor girl will NOT let me palpate it. I feel soooo bad- it must be hurting her and I wish I could take her to the vet right NOW but I won't be able to until Friday and then it's the weekend! She is moving around today though, which is definitely an improvement over yesterday when she really didn't want to stand up. Still no sour smell. What should I do next? Am I safe to continue with the Albon and such, or should I not be giving anything? It makes me so nervous to be administering stuff to her with such a full crop, but I haven't even seen her drinking! Alternatively, should I actually be giving her a slurry of food since she's not eating? And do I need to bite the bullet and massage her crop even though it's clearly quite tender? Attached are some photos of her and of the diarrhea. I could be wrong, but it does not look to me like anything's passing through. I am concerned about an impaction possibly requiring surgery, as Twix has free access to the backyard and could possibly have ingested long stemmed grass. But given the greenish diarrhea (and improvement in demeanor since I gave her Albon), I'm also concerned about an infection like coccidiosis.
She has not been dewormed recently- we have never actually had much trouble with worms and she certainly seems thrifty and healthy, apart from age-related issues like arthritis.

I do want to clarify that the crop/diarrhea issue started BEFORE all the meds I gave her yesterday- even the prescription ones! To be completely honest, I'm afraid I haven't been getting much of her prescription meds into her because she hates it and is such a pill to dose

 

[gardengal22]

Given that it could be an infection OR an impaction- would it hurt to give her a syringe full of olive oil? (I don't have any mineral oil which I've heard of folks using for impactions!) I am hesitant to give Dulceolax as she already has diarrhea.

 

[LaFleche]

You can try giving her little pieces of chilled coconut oil which they will usually eat up without being forced. Hopefully this will help to clear her crop at least a bit.

Her droppings appear to have lots of yellow urate and the firmer parts look like little rabbit droppings.

I am no vet, but to me all in all it looks like she is suffering from some kind of tumor/cancer that is starting to constrict her digestive tract.
I would monitor her very closely while letting here be and allow her to spend time with her flock.
She might need to be put put of her misery soon.

 

[Mdavchicks]

It sounds like she has an impacted crop. There are a lot of good resources on this site if you search impacted crop. When one of my chicks had the same issue I treated with syringe feeding coconut oil and water with rooster booster (for electrolytes and probiotics). I only did a couple mLs because this chick was only 2 weeks old so I would suggest doing more for your hen. I did this every hour and then would massage her crop in a downward motion for a couple minutes (2-5minutes). This took all day and you’ll be able to feel it slowly break apart. You can also see if she will peck pieces of solidified coconut oil but if she does not want to eat it then you will need to melt it and syringe feed. Make sure to not give her access to any food and only water (with electrolytes and probiotics, like rooster booster) until her crop has completely emptied. Then keep an eye out to make sure it doesn’t reoccur. Also, make sure she has access to grit once she recovers to help prevent this in the future. Good luck!

 

[gardengal22]

You can try giving her little pieces of chilled coconut oil which they will usually eat up without being forced. Hopefully this will help to clear her crop at least a bit.

Her droppings appear to have lots of yellow urate and the firmer parts look like little rabbit droppings.

I am no vet, but to me all in all it looks like she is suffering from some kind of tumor/cancer that is starting to constrict her digestive tract.
I would monitor her very closely while letting here be and allow her to spend time with her flock.
She might need to be put put of her misery soon.

I know- I'm so concerned by the fact that we can't get to the vet. I almost hate to bother Twix with treating her and syringing her stuff but if this is treatable at all, she needs her meds! It's the best I know to do

 

[gardengal22]

It sounds like she has an impacted crop. There are a lot of good resources on this site if you search impacted crop. When one of my chicks had the same issue I treated with syringe feeding coconut oil and water with rooster booster (for electrolytes and probiotics). I only did a couple mLs because this chick was only 2 weeks old so I would suggest doing more for your hen. I did this every hour and then would massage her crop in a downward motion for a couple minutes (2-5minutes). This took all day and you’ll be able to feel it slowly break apart. You can also see if she will peck pieces of solidified coconut oil but if she does not want to eat it then you will need to melt it and syringe feed. Make sure to not give her access to any food and only water (with electrolytes and probiotics, like rooster booster) until her crop has completely emptied. Then keep an eye out to make sure it doesn’t reoccur. Also, make sure she has access to grit once she recovers to help prevent this in the future. Good luck!

I'll try this! I'm planning on giving her probiotics & a vitamin/ACV/ electrolyte drench mixed with water, another dose of Albon, and the warmed coconut oil with crop massage. I sure hope it makes her feel better

 

[gardengal22]

Update:
Hi everyone! Twixie is grooming but seems to like to sit quietly- I actually think part of that is the arthritis as her legs seem to be bothering her a bit. I dosed her with the coconut oil, Albon, probiotic drench, & pain meds (although I think more got on the front of her than inside her!) and gave her a crop massage. She definitely seemed to feel tender around the crop- I am not sure of the real difference between what a doughy versus impacted crop feels like! It was definitely full and not emptying, but it didn't feel rock hard and I could manipulate the contents to a degree. I'm racking my brains as to how I should treat her. If it really is cancer, as suggested, I'm afraid I can't do much for her other than TLC and supportive care, and I certainly don't want to stress her out during her last days by shoving a ton of meds down her throat. If it's an impacted crop, she may need surgery and I can't get to the vet! My other options on that are continue with the coconut oil + crop massage and possibly add in Dulceolax, although I am concerned to because she already has diarrhea I don't want to make worse. I will likely keep going with the oil & massage though because I don't see how that could really harm her. Speaking of the diarrhea, though- I also can't figure out, is it green because of an infection or simply because food is not passing through her system? There hasn't been any blood in it, which makes it not quite sound like coccidiosis or cancer. I am giving her Albon, but if that doesn't sound like the best choice I could try a dose of Clavamox (amoxicillin) and see how she responds. While there is still no sour crop smell, I have read that they can have bacterial sour crop (not a yeast infection) that does not smell. I'm not sure if I should continue with my current treatment or switch things up and try a different antibiotic! Sorry for the ramblings but I am very nervous about what best to do!