[maggiemc]

I have had my chickens for 4 months, and we have settled into our little routine, ie they totally dominate my life .But today one of my ex batt ladies is holding her head & neck in a sort of S shape. She is running about and is interested in food, but she appears to stagger every couple of steps. I have felt her crop and it is not full. I am now wondering what else it can be, and what to do. I feel so helpless. Would appreciate any thoughts or  advice. Thanks

[compostqueen]

Please take time to read the stickies on here about poultry ailments as I'm sure your hen's conditions will be explained and the remedies available, or not

[Casey76]

When you say S shape, do you mean vertically, so she is pulling her head back more toward her body, or horizontally  so that she is holding her head at an angle?

For clarification

[maggiemc]

She is sort of holding it to one side, then sort of moving sideways in a type of swoopping movement. Her whole body sort of follows through. I am wondering about sour crop, not that her crop appears to be full. I cannot find a list of symptoms to check.

[Casey76]

If you can get hold of her, gently open her beak and have a sniff.

Chickens can pull off all kinds of contortions when thery are moving food from their crop to the gizzard; but if this has been going on for some time, it may be that she has a slight impaction in her crop.

Have a feel of her crop, and see if anything feels fibrous - because most impactions are caused by grass/straw/hay balls - and then I can give you more advice

[maggiemc]

My fear is she may have eaten too much grass, as we gave them some grass cuttings to play with on Sunday - raked up now.