[simsima]

I'd like some help please & am glad to have found this topic.
My chicken has been poorly for a while. I initially thought zozo was just under the weather & that she would eventually be fine, but after a few days when she was still poorly I thought that perhaps she had a vitamin deficiency; as I've experienced it b4 with my little cockerel (he improved on vit D). Again a few days passed & I put aside the vitamin theory & thought of worms, but a vet checked the poo & confirmed that it's not worms. The vet then went on to say it's her crop & that she has 2 or 3 bits bundled together & that zozo needed surgery. The vet somehow assumed that zozo might have eaten dry grass or something tough, but we don't allow our chickens to do so. I believe the bits the vet had me feel in her crop were bits of food I had fed her just b4 leaving home. I decided to wait & took the medicine the vet gave me. I am mashing up her food now & feeding her daily, I give her the med daily & water. I am too afraid to not feed her. But at the same time when I do feed her she seems to go into some sort of coma at least once a day, her behaviour makes me assume that she is dying...but she perks up after some rest. I feel her crop daily & massage it when I can & the lumps or impaction the vet referred to is not there. In fact her crop feels soft. Zozo hasn't lost weight throughout all this but she is in a still position, barely able to stand most of the time & she is appears more fragile day by day. She hasn't been eating or drinking on her own throughout her illness. And reading all this leads me to think that what she has is sour crop. I did contemplate inducing vomitting but I'm worried. Could anyone help to confirm my diagnosis & advise me on what I should do? I can not afford the vet fee, but I do believe that she was wrong! Thank you.

[henamoured]

How old is Zozo?
Is she laying?
Is she bottom of the pecking order?
Does she free range?
And when you say you mash her food - is that pellets?
Not sure I'd be convinced by the vet's diagnosis either tbh (personally I wouldn't consider surgery - but that's your call of course)

[GrannieAnnie]

henamoured, I've brought your reply over to this thread, as the other one is 2 years old, so I thought it best to start afresh!

Hope you don't mind?

simsima, does zozo's crop feel just as soft and squdgy in the morning as it does at the end of the day?  It does sound a bit like sour crop rather than impacted crop.  Impacted crop sometimes needs surgery if nothing else works, but often the massaging her crop to get rid of the stuff inside works, and live yoghurt can help too.

That's all I've done with the couple of chickens I've had with it, but 2 younger ones got it recently but they died, probably because I didn't handle the situation well enough.

hope zozo gets better soon!!!

[simsima]

Sorry I'm new so just getting the hang of this site.

In the morning it feels of course deflated but squidgy as opposed to b4 sleep when it's full but still soft. Her crop is always warm, warmer than the rest of her. I attempted 2 do the breath test but she smells fine to me. She leans heavily on one side now so that's why I'm assuming that something is effecting her entire body & therefore more likely to be a fungal infection, fermentation...anything but impacted crop.

Should I quit force feeding her for a day?
And if I do want to induce vomitting would it be ok to do so in the morning? Or just whenever she's at her strongest?

Also I found a video on youtube which interested me but it involves a baby rather than a grown bird: 4J5qj3leyrUI would have liked to try this but I don't have the necessary tools.

Thanks for your help guys!

[simsima]

Below are images of Zozo. First one is b4 feeding, she never ever gets out of her box.
Second is still b4 feeding & in her usual current behaviour, sitting with closed eyes, then open, then closed again...all she does is look around or try miserably to scratch herself.
Third picture is just after giving her a bit of water & her first feed today (second piece of banana) and the smelliest poo shot out immediately. Most of her poos are watery but this latest one was green & soft, I suppose it's what I fed her yesterday evening. 

http://img146.imageshack.us/img146/5351/img5745e.jpg
http://img194.imageshack.us/img194/2266/img5747o.jpg
http://img23.imageshack.us/img23/41/img5748l.jpg

[helens-hens]

Hi Simsima

This isn't something I have encountered yet but you mentioned inducing vomiting and there are posts on the forum which may help. I did a search and came up with the following link which may help you (though I am not 100% sure this is the way to go).

http://chat.allotment-garden.org/index.php?topic=36354.msg434244#msg434244j

Is she in lay - she looks uncomfortable - is there any chance she could have egg(s) inside here?

Will jkeep everything crossed for you, I know how upsetting & worrying it is when they are ill. Let us know how you get on.

[simsima]

zozo is about 2. She has never been the best layer so she hasn't been laying 4 a while now. She is not a heavy eater at all even when she's laying & in good health we are left disappointed by how little she eats. She can be a bit cowardly, & 1 or 2 others sometimes see her as a target 4 bullying so at the moment I have isolated her, at least to get the cockerels of her back. We give them pellets, mash..a variety of seeds and I'll make them mixed food with rice, lettuce, cucumbers, corn with absolutely nothing too tough or hard for them to swallow.

At the moment I'm putting into my kitchen mixer rice, corn, egg, wholemeal bread (small amounts of each) and a variety of seeds. This way I find it easier to feed her & hopefully easy for her to digest. I have stopped giving her grapes to avoid provoking any fermenting but if I'm eating banana I will give her some small pieces (again 4 easy digestion). And thats pretty much all I feed her. She is well feathered, nothing falling off yet!

They go into the garden & we block them from the grass, but they do have dust baths.

[pammie]

Sorry to hear about zozo.  I know how you feel as I am having problems with Wilma, not the same thing though.  I just wanted to say that I hope your perseverance works.  Maybe you could find a vet who knows more about chickens. Good Luck

[Topscaff]

I had the same problem this week, soft feeling crop hen very drowsy, I picked her up and gently massaged the crop area towards her head (Holding her by her legs up side down) and a lot of fluid came out, I put her back in the run with the other birds and she seemed to pick up straight away, a couple of days on and she is right as rain, Mike

[compostqueen]

My hen has been suffering with this recently but I thought she was as right as rain after having her crop emptied a couple of times. She was ok and picking up but this morning she looked close to death    When I picked her up loads of stuff poured out of her beak, it was very mucousy too!  I took her straight to the vet and he put her on Baytril. He couldn't find anything stuck in her throat, which I thought was possible, as she'd been shaking her head

I would take your hen to the vet sooner rather than later! 

Incidentally when she got back from the vet I gave her the Baytril first dose, and she went straight to her layer pellets and began to eat. Phew     Whether she will get over it I'm not sure, so please don't delay with your girl

[Topscaff]

It's been four days now and my hen is fine,

[compostqueen]

My hen was ill back on 10th May but within a few days, and a few crop emptyings later, she seemed her old self.  So I thought!

Today she was very ill and I rushed her off to the vet who has given her antibiotics. Whether it's too late I don't know.  That's why I recommended that Simsima get help sooner rather than later. 

Keep an eye on your hen too as four days is too early (in hindsight) to say she's cured. Don't be complacent about it please

[compostqueen]

My hen is still weak and poorly but she has been outside today and has eaten a little.  She did regurgitate more brown mucously liquid again though. She is on Baytril twice a day. She's hanging in there at the moment 

[Topscaff]

Touch wood she is still going strong, fingers crossed she will be all right, I check the chickens every day to make sure everything is okay,Mike

[compostqueen]

My girl is still hanging on in there. I gave her the last of the antibiotics this evening but I wouldn't say I've seen any improvement