4m x 3m Omlet pen, cube, new auto door still boxed and coop light

[loopy]

We're new to chicken keeping, and sadly lost Bacon the first week due to sour crop. Since then we have treid to keep a cose eye on our chucks. Now Black Pudding seems to be ill. Yesteday we noticed that she had a very hard ball (about the size of a golf ball) in her crop and kept on stretching her neck as though uncomfortable. Fearing impacted crop we dropped a little cod liver oil down her and massaged her crop three times during the day. It seemed to soften a little and she seemed active and happy and was eating.

This morning we were pleased to see that her crop looked and felt back to normal, but she seemed quieter than usual. We've just checked on her again (4pm) and she's hardly moving, has clearly eaten nothing as her crop is empty, is uninterested in food, and she is wheezing.

We have brought her inside to keep her warm and have made up layers mash with pro biotic yoghurt with corn to tempt her, but she's not interested in the slightest. Reallly don't know what to do!!

 

Any advice greatly recieved!!

[Plum]

Hello, bad luck with your chickens. I'm only a novice but with a wheeze I guess you are best to get her to a vet tomorrow.

[Egluntyne]

If she is wheezing, she really needs to see a vet.

 

Bring her in and keep her warm. Encourage her to drink, but if she is reluctant, try syringing small amounts of water into her beak every half hour. Why not make her a sloppy porridge out of pellets and warm water, she might be tempted to eat that.

[loopy]

cheers. We have an appointment with the vet on Tues am (for another chicken who did have sour crop and was flushed out by vet on sat and is now doing much better) so will take Pudding along then if she's not made any recovery. She doesn't seem to be wheezing now, but is very dopy - but that could just be cos it's getting dark. Will try to get some water in her tonight adn keep her in so I can try to feed her tomorrow.

[Guest]

chickens have a hole at the back of their tongue which leads to their windpipe, where you really careful to avoid the hole when syringing the oil into her beak? I'm hoping none of it has gone on her chest if it has then I'm afraid it's very serious, can you get an earlier vet appt at all?

 

sorry to alarm you but it does sound quite a co-incidence.

[loopy]

tried to be as careful as we could. We only put a small amount of oil down (0.1ml) and we didn;t put the syringe very far down her throat - just inside her beak to try and get it in her mouth. That was yesterday afternoon and she ran around quite happily after that all evening till roosting time. She had stopped wheezing last time I checked on her, and now she is asleep ( iassume!) and quietly clucking to herself every now and then (chicken dreaming?!)

 

I guess it's always a possibility that some has gone down the wrong way - i hope not, we tried to be so careful. Will see if we can get an earlier app at the vets tomorrow though.

 

Would you reccomment keeping her in tommorrow or getting her back in the run withet others? Not sure if I want a sick chicken mixing with the other 5, or if she'll get picked on or lonely if she's kept apart.

[sandyhas3chucks]

she will need to see the others at least tom soon as they are up is best, so they don't "forget her", even if you need to separate her again for a while keep up the cotact.

Lucky your vet emptied your sour crop as my emergency trip to vet didn't & I had to do it myself(scarey!) sounds like you have a vet thats ok, I would take her 1st thing tom if you are still worried and or she is wheezing, as that's not good & will need antibiotics I expect!

good luck

[chelsea]

I would keep a sick chicken indoors if you can. Under the weather chickens really respond to warmth (our post -op chicken has come on leaps and bounds since she's been in our kitchen).

 

If she is wheezy is could be a cold, or if not treated it could lead to a respiratory infection so will need nipping in the bud with some anitibiotics (probably Baytril) before it gets much worse.

[Egluntyne]

I don't think you need worry too much about her inhaling the oil.

 

The advice re the holes at the back of the throat is useful if you are inserting a tube to do a washout. Get it in the wrong one and you will drown your chicken, but otherwise, unless the chicken is comatose, so long as you only put small amounts in her mouth, she will swallow it without too much ado....or spit it out.

 

If it had gone down the wrong way, you would have known as she would have coughed and spluttered.

 

If you can hear wheezing when you place an ear along her back, you would be better off taking her to a vet as has been suggested.

[loopy]

Great News!! Pudding seems much better now!!

 

Was all set to take her to the vets when my hubby decided to hold her upside down as we have done with chickens with sour crop. I couldn;t see the point as there was clearly nothing in her crop.

 

How wrong could I be!!

 

She threw up gallons of foul smelling grey liquid forwhat felt like 5 mins.

10 mins later she was eating everything in sight and taking on the dog!

 

Put her back in the coop now - with a full crop.

 

Will still keep an eye on her - still worried about what caused it and the whole impacted crop.

 

As for teh wheezing - that stopped last night as suddenly as it started.

 

all very strange.

 

if anyone has any ieas or similar experiences would love to hear.

 

many thanks to all for advice

 

XX

[Plum]

Glad she's better. Good for OH and that wheeze may have just been something in her windpipe she managed to expel but looks like its not the cause of problems. Here's hoping she continues on the mend.

[Guest]

oh my goodness keep an eye on her just in case that's not the end of it but glad to hear she's on the mend.