[Snookers]

One of my hens is not too good. she's been off her food for the last 2 days and quite listless.  Her crop though appears full. Any ideas? Thanks

[chooknewbie]

Hi Snookers and welcome to the forums... just as a starter question, is her crop full first thing in the morning?

[Snookers]

Yes, it has been

[chooknewbie]

mmm...i am not an expert and I am sure there will be one along shortly, but it sounds like it could be impacted crop... does she have bad breath...?? sounds odd i know, but if you can get hold of her, and have a smell, it will help with the "diagnosis"....

[Snookers]

Thanks for that. Haven't smelled her breath, but will try and do so.  I'm new to this (you may have gathered already). I didn't realise i had had any response so that's why it took me so long to answer you. 

[chooknewbie]

no problem... i am probably answering faster than you would normally get cos i am stuck in the house..lol... so mooching round the net...

[Snookers]

Have managed to smell her breath, and it doesn't appear to be "bad".

What buttons do i click on so that i am aware that someone has responded to my queries? I keep going back to the original post and clicking on that - but there must be another way...

[chooknewbie]

towards the top left of the screen there is a "Show new replies to your posts" link. if you hit that then you will get an updated list replies to your posts...assuming there have been some..lol...

its unusual for her crop to still be full in a morning. What bedding are you using? Hay, straw? Are your chooks free ranging at all? Do they have access to Grit?

[Snookers]

Your reply has only just shown and you posted it ages ago. Don't know what I'm doing wrong.

Thanks for that anyway. The girls are free-ranging and they've got shavings as bedding. I think I'll try massaging her crop and see if that helps.  I don't have any mineral oil (or a syringe for that matter) which may alleviate this problem.

[andreadon]

try pressing the F5 button when you're in the forum - that's refresh and it should show up any new posts.

I think for the moment, yes, try massaging the crop.
have you any olive oil?
that should help too.

and if you can find any small gravel, grab a few handfulls and stick them in a bowl - she should pick up any big enough pieces from it.

[Snookers]

Hi, thanks for that. Yes i do have olive oil. Any suggestions how i can get her to take it? I'll try the small gravel thing as well.

[janet12000]

A couple of my hens were 'out of sorts' last week. Using advice from this lovely forum I gave them some live natural yogurt and oil. I just mixed it together in a bowl and put it in the run for them. They eat it all up straight away (including the non poorly ones). A couple of days of this and they were all happy hens again!

[GrannieAnnie]

Hi snookers, hope your hen gets better soon.  Re the ability to keep up to date with your posts.  What you can also do, is when you type into the message box, see below where it says additional options?  click on that, and the first little box says notify me of replies.  Click on that, then you will get an email notification everytime someone replies to your post.

And isn't it sour crop that makes their breath smell rather than impacted crop?  but I could be wrong, so don't quote me! 

[Snookers]

Thanks everyone for all your advice

[chooknewbie]

cheers GA.... knew there was a reason i normally dont offer advice and wait for the more gifted chicken keepers amongst us...