[bacchus51]

Need some help on my diagnosis and treatment of one of my brown shavers please. 3 days ago she was happy and healthy good poos and laying regularly. I let them out  for a few hours in a larger section of the garden with more growth to scratch about in but late in the afternoon she would not move when it was time to go back to the coop.
Another chicken did likewise 2 days earlier and I picked her up and put her on the perch. Next morning she was 100% again.
 Therefore with this 2nd chicken (whom we call Big Red) I did the same; but by next morning she was no better.Later that day I sat and watched her for an hour and noted she was drinking lots of water but ignored all food, even her favourite snails. She also was stretching her neck up, down and sideways. Information off the internet suggested to me she may be crop bound, so I put 2-3mls of olive oil down her throat and massaged her crop, then left her for the night. Her crop was not hard but still full. Next morning she was weaker, barely moving but still alert.
I then realised I had possibly mis-diagnosed her condition and she was perhaps suffering from sour crop. Her breath smelt and she brought up dark fluid when massaged. More olive oil, massage and tipped her forward this time. Lots of dark brown fluid and some grass and wheat came up. Washed her throat with warm water, but by now she looked really ill, unable to eat or drink or hold her head up.
Gave her a slurry of Probotic powder bought from the vet to restore her gut function and as she needed sustenance and water, I made a mixture of baby food, boiled egg and yoghurt for food followed by water as by now nearly 3 days had passed. 2 hours later she had a seizure then died. Buried Big Red this morning and I feel bad for not seeking medical advice [She cost $5 from a free-range egg farm being a 2nd season bird] or recognising the problem sooner, if indeed I was eventually correct.
Please give me your opinions on my actions and diagnosis. Would shoving all that stuff down her throat cause severe stress and kill her, or was it too little, too late? Sour crop is not usually fatal.

[joyfull]

hello bacchus51 sorry your first post is such a sad one. Not sure where you are from but guessing one of the following places - New Zealand, Australia, Canada or America (going by the $5).
If you click on this link it will give you details of diagnosis and treatment for future reference

http://chat.allotment-garden.org/index.php?action=search2  ignore this link as it doesn't work 
use the link in my posting below 

Hopefully your other girls are all keeping well. I am assuming that as they are ex farm birds then they are hybrids which are good laying machines for a couple of years and then start to slow down a bit like our isa warrens etc.
Please go to the chicken chat pages and tell us a bit more about yourself including some photos of your girls - we just love looking at pictures of hens  
Joyfullxx

[BADBACK]

soz about big red
you said her fav food was snails   
give your birds slugs
never snails they are no good for them

[joyfull]

if feeding slugs, snails and earthworms (or if your birds free range) make sure you worm them with flubenvet as all of the above are hosts to gapeworm.

[beulah59]

Joyfull - sorry but your link doesn't work ...

[joyfull]

oops don't know what went wrong there beulah59 
try this one then

http://chat.allotment-garden.org/index.php?topic=4345.0

fingers crossed that I got it right this time 

[joyfull]

just checked and it worked this time, impacted crop and sour crop are towards the bottom of the page 

[karlooben]

i have suffered my first attack of sour crop and i hated it ,so far my girl is still alive although i have done all i can but today she went all quiet and hid in the corner of the house so shes now back in isolation where she can get some peace but i dont think she will make it dont know why i just get that feeling , shes an 3 1/2 yr old ex batt .

[joyfull]

looby as you know 3 1/2 isn't a bad age for an ex batt and I'm sure you are doing all you can for her. Have you checked her crop again?

[karlooben]

i have joy and yesterday a bit more fluid came out but today although she looked fluffed up she was empty , will get more yoghurt tomorw afternoon and give her a tiny bit more .

[bacchus51]

Yes I'm in NZ and Big Red was an hybrid egg-laying machine.
I have been keeping chickens since October last year. Bought 4 ex farm birds, built a new coop and bit by bit they are slowly taking over the garden.

[joyfull]

hello again bacchus51 - you will find that 4 leads onto more and more (I started with 2 and now have 20+ with another 4 possibly 6 arriving in the coming week and a dozen of hopefully fertile eggs under 2 broodies do to hatch shortly 
By the way is bacchus51 a bass? or does it stand for something else?

[bacchus51]

Bacchus being the God of wine also crosses to Dennis (my name). I'm a keen home brewer and distiller.

[joyfull]

you ought to check out the home brewing section on the forum then as well