Very Sick Chicken: Please Help

[16 and me]

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.

The tubing was simple aquarium tubing, which you can get most any pet supply or feed store. Be sure to get the more rigid plastic, not the soft pliable type. I'm not sure if there is a thread on here about this procedure specifically. My daughter is a vet tech, who spent years at a wild bird rescue, so it came from her experience and training. The placing of the tube is just like if you were tube feeding a bird, it's just that instead of injecting you're putting the empty syringe in and pulling out the plunger, sucking up into the tube the fluid and gunk from the crop. It won't pull out wads of grass though, but it helped break up the wad. It takes two because it can be hard to hold the tubing, pull the syringe plunger and hold the bird but it's much safer then vomiting the bird.

 

[Adolph Otto]

The tubing was simple aquarium tubing, which you can get most any pet supply or feed store. Be sure to get the more rigid plastic, not the soft pliable type. I'm not sure if there is a thread on here about this procedure specifically. My daughter is a vet tech, who spent years at a wild bird rescue, so it came from her experience and training. The placing of the tube is just like if you were tube feeding a bird, it's just that instead of injecting you're putting the empty syringe in and pulling out the plunger, sucking up into the tube the fluid and gunk from the crop. It won't pull out wads of grass though, but it helped break up the wad. It takes two because it can be hard to hold the tubing, pull the syringe plunger and hold the bird but it's much safer then vomiting the bird.

Very good. I have some of that type of tubing. Thanks again.

 

[The Welch Chickens]

Did you vomit yours until the crop was empty?

I don’t remember…sorry

 

[Gramma Chick]

I have not had crop issues since I started give them Fermented Feed . Mix the feed with water . Let it set for a couple of days . Stir it once a day .Once it starts smelling. Begin feeding it to them ( drain it with a cullender ) . add dry feed again . Do it in a pail that is deep enough so it continues to ferment.

 

[Adolph Otto]

I have not had crop issues since I started give them Fermented Feed . Mix the feed with water . Let it set for a couple of days . Stir it once a day .Once it starts smelling. Begin feeding it to them ( drain it with a cullender ) . add dry feed again . Do it in a pail that is deep enough so it continues to ferment.

Thanks! How much do you ferment at a time?

 

[Gramma Chick]

Thanks! How much do you ferment at a time?

I ferment a lg bucket ...like you can get at home depo

 

[Uwish]

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.

How do you give the monostate and how much? Also where do I find ACS? Is it called asc at the feed store?
(Pretty sure my girl has sour crop)

 

[Adolph Otto]

The 2 types of monistat are monistat 3 and monistat 7. The number indicates the length of treatment in days (3 days and 7, respectively. I had luck mixing it into scrambled egg but you may have to syringe it directly into the mouth. Twice a day is the frequency. Someone can post the ml/lb.
Acidified copper sulfate can be bought online.

https://www.mcmurrayhatchery.com/acidified_copper_sulfate.html

I mixed 1/4 tsp/gallon of water, which is the recommended dose. I let her drink that via her waterer while she was isolated in my basement. I discontinued after 3 days. She began to tremble and I wasn't seeing significant results.

I was seriously considering putting my hen down it was so bad. Her crop was huge, full of liquid. It was awful to see her vomit every time she leaned forward, which was made worse by the sheer weight of her crop pulling her head down.

The turning point came when I did what I should have done long ago. I gave her grit! My hens wee cooped up due to snow and ice cover throughout my property. I didn't even think about their inability to get grit. I put her back with the flock after having her inside for a week and made grit available in the coop. A few mornings later I couldn't believe it, her crop had emptied. I also made sure to get probiotics into her because the ACS destroys good gut bacteria.

I also started fermenting their crumble (thank you, Gramma Chick), which seems to have been very beneficial. She is really doing better and started laying again. Her crop is not always as empty as I'd like, but nowhere near as bad as before. One more thing, I stopped the probiotics when I started giving the fermented feed because it provides probiotics through the fermenting process.
Good luck!