MissGreenJeans
Songster
Hi, everyone,
Hoping for some advice. I have a 2.5-year-old Ameraucana hen named Sunny Side Up who’s been going through a hard molt. She feels thin and appears to have lost weight. About a week ago, I noticed that she was spending some of her day looking puffed up and squinty eyed—like she felt off. I thought it was just the molt making her feel bad. She was still preening and doing other normal chicken behaviors much of the time. The next morning, I saw that she had watery diarrhea. I felt her crop, and it wasn’t empty. It wasn’t hard as a rock, but it felt firm. It was about the size of a ping pong ball. I read several posts here and decided to fast her for 24 hrs, with access to water the whole day. During the day, she drank a lot. Her crop felt a bit softer midday when I felt it. Next morning, same deal as the morning prior. Her crop wasn’t large, but she hadn’t totally emptied it.
I fasted her again that day and took her to a vet in the evening. She told me that Sunny’s crop wasn’t huge, that it probably wasn’t impacted (she said that almost never happens), that it wasn’t sour crop, that Sunny was underweight but seemed bright, alert and responsive, and that I should feed her whatever she would eat because she was thin and seemed hungry. The vet gave steroid and antibiotic injections. She tested for coccidia, and Sunny doesn’t have that. When I asked for a diagnosis, the vet said she didn’t know but that maybe Sunny had some sort of other infection before and fought it off. She sent me home with directions to feed Sunny and hope for the best.
For the past few days, I’ve been feeding mostly regular food with warm water, supplemented with a little scratch and soldier fly larvae, a little oatmeal, some applesauce, some baby food, some cooked peas and corn, and a little scrambled egg. Sunny is eating everything offered eagerly. But her crop still isn’t completely emptying at night. In the morning, I feel something firm in there—like silly putty. Yesterday I gave her a tsp of coconut oil with a little baby food, and then I massaged. Her crop seemed softer after the oil and massage, but this morning, the whatever-it-is is STILL in there. It might be a little smaller than it originally was, but not by a lot. Still about the size of a walnut.
Sunny is now behaving normally. She seems to feel a little better, I think. I have her inside the run with the other chickens but isolated inside her own small ex-pen area because one of the other chickens has been periodically plucking at her feathers. Her poop is still softer than usual and there’s less of it, but it’s not watery anymore.
Isn’t it abnormal for a chicken’s crop to not completely empty like this? I plan to try the oil and massage again today—but is there anything else I should be doing? Anyone else had a similar experience?
Other info in case it’s helpful:
None of the other hens have the same symptoms. One is thinner right now, but she’s energetic and also molting. My hens live in a large, completely enclosed run because of the many predators around here. They have dirt and broken-down wood chips in the run. The only new thing is that there are some leaves that have made their way into the run lately, and I noticed the chickens eating them. Because everyone’s starting to molt, there are also a ton of feathers. I noticed the chickens eating some small feathers, too. The vet said this was normal. The chickens have access to food, water, grit and oyster shell all day.
Thanks in advance for any advice.
Hoping for some advice. I have a 2.5-year-old Ameraucana hen named Sunny Side Up who’s been going through a hard molt. She feels thin and appears to have lost weight. About a week ago, I noticed that she was spending some of her day looking puffed up and squinty eyed—like she felt off. I thought it was just the molt making her feel bad. She was still preening and doing other normal chicken behaviors much of the time. The next morning, I saw that she had watery diarrhea. I felt her crop, and it wasn’t empty. It wasn’t hard as a rock, but it felt firm. It was about the size of a ping pong ball. I read several posts here and decided to fast her for 24 hrs, with access to water the whole day. During the day, she drank a lot. Her crop felt a bit softer midday when I felt it. Next morning, same deal as the morning prior. Her crop wasn’t large, but she hadn’t totally emptied it.
I fasted her again that day and took her to a vet in the evening. She told me that Sunny’s crop wasn’t huge, that it probably wasn’t impacted (she said that almost never happens), that it wasn’t sour crop, that Sunny was underweight but seemed bright, alert and responsive, and that I should feed her whatever she would eat because she was thin and seemed hungry. The vet gave steroid and antibiotic injections. She tested for coccidia, and Sunny doesn’t have that. When I asked for a diagnosis, the vet said she didn’t know but that maybe Sunny had some sort of other infection before and fought it off. She sent me home with directions to feed Sunny and hope for the best.
For the past few days, I’ve been feeding mostly regular food with warm water, supplemented with a little scratch and soldier fly larvae, a little oatmeal, some applesauce, some baby food, some cooked peas and corn, and a little scrambled egg. Sunny is eating everything offered eagerly. But her crop still isn’t completely emptying at night. In the morning, I feel something firm in there—like silly putty. Yesterday I gave her a tsp of coconut oil with a little baby food, and then I massaged. Her crop seemed softer after the oil and massage, but this morning, the whatever-it-is is STILL in there. It might be a little smaller than it originally was, but not by a lot. Still about the size of a walnut.
Sunny is now behaving normally. She seems to feel a little better, I think. I have her inside the run with the other chickens but isolated inside her own small ex-pen area because one of the other chickens has been periodically plucking at her feathers. Her poop is still softer than usual and there’s less of it, but it’s not watery anymore.
Isn’t it abnormal for a chicken’s crop to not completely empty like this? I plan to try the oil and massage again today—but is there anything else I should be doing? Anyone else had a similar experience?
Other info in case it’s helpful:
None of the other hens have the same symptoms. One is thinner right now, but she’s energetic and also molting. My hens live in a large, completely enclosed run because of the many predators around here. They have dirt and broken-down wood chips in the run. The only new thing is that there are some leaves that have made their way into the run lately, and I noticed the chickens eating them. Because everyone’s starting to molt, there are also a ton of feathers. I noticed the chickens eating some small feathers, too. The vet said this was normal. The chickens have access to food, water, grit and oyster shell all day.
Thanks in advance for any advice.