what and how to force feed a weak/sick hen

[nicollee]

Kohl is a 2 yr old Auracana. and of course my favorite
We battled Acites/Water belly with her last year
And now she has sour crop, The swelling has gone down to almost normal, and she no longer "gurgles" when I pick her up,but she is so thin and weak
She is so weak, that I can not get her to eat ANYTHING.
I have offered yogurt, oatmeal, cottage cheese, meal worms, small pasta, all to no avail.
I even put the mealworms in her mouth, and she would not swallow, the worm crawled back out.
It is going on 2 days, that I know she has not eaten, and possibly four with the sour crop.
I'm not sure she is even drinking any water....
Any suggestions would be appreciated....
thanks
Beth

 

[sphinxface]

Is she pooping? If she cant expell what she eats there is a blockage somewhere and of course she wont eat more. Try grapes? Try looking up impacted/pendulous crop and seeing if maybe that could be the problem.

 

[nicollee]

She had diarrhea for the last three days, but I'm not sure there is anything left in her to expell,
My husband gave her a bath to wash her vent this am, so she must have pooped over night.
I would give her ANYTHING she would eat, but like I said I even put the worm in her mouth, and she let it crawl out. Last night she gave a few futile pecks at some pasta, but didn't make an effort to eat it.

The full crop seems to have faded, over the last few days she vomited a few times when we picked her up , no solids, just a very brownish liquid, and after reading tons of threads last night, I know not to encourage her to vomit again....

 

[sphinxface]

It still sounds like an impaction. When I thought thats what happened to my hen the vet made her throw up and prescribed chlorahexadine for her water. I wouldnt attempt that on my own either...

when my chickens feel bad and wont eat deli turkey they sometimes still eat grapes(the water in the grapes helps hydrate also). So does her crop still have anything in her crop? I think its an impaction because sometimes liquid will just come out of their mouth if its not going through but its not necessarily them throwing up...
If you dont think shes drinking you can try to force her to drink with a syringe, i would put chicken vitamins in the water

 

[sphinxface]

If shes not drinking on her own and has diharreah its really important to get liquid inside her, her condition could deteriorate very quickly if she gets dehydrated..

 

[nicollee]

regular water? Gatorade?
should I spike it with probiotics, ACV, or antibiotics?

I"ve got her inside in the "chicken hospital" it's hot in here, but cooler then outside.
She has a 2 litter bottle with her to lean against

 

[sphinxface]

For lack of poultry specific vitamin mix you can get something called poly-vi-sol without iron, its in the baby section of most drug stores. For lack of that I would give just straight water. She will probably try to fight you even if shes very sick but i think trying to get water in her is good. If her crop is still full of water even now though there is a blockage and without intervention it doesnt seem likely to expell itself if it hasnt for 5 days... ill research purging cause i dont know much about it myself...

 

[sphinxface]

I read up a little bit more about it, it seems like AVC would be ok to add to the water but try also plain water. Do use some sort of syringe or bulb too slowly pour water down her beak.
You still haven't mentioned the condition of her crop, is it full, empty, full of water? Try to massage it.
You can try to massage towards her throat possibly making her throw up but don't make her throw up more than once, and shes already sounding pretty weak...
If you can, try to take her to a vet that treats chickens, i think my vet visit for the crop treatment was $300, which might be on the high end due to where I live and the fact that there arent many chicken vets around?

 

[sphinxface]

Did your husband use epsom salt in her bath? You can try soaking her again with epsom salt in the water, it might help things in her body relax

 

[sphinxface]

I hope she feels better, shes not my chicken but I feel for you and am now worried about her too ;(