Omlet cube and run

[debbier]

One of my gingernuts was in the nesting box for too long this morning, and when I double checked, she can't stand up: her feet aren't supporting her.

She looked fine yesterday.

 

She does feel like her crop is hard and lumpy, and as she can't have eaten today yet, I'm suspecting an impacted crop. Is this a reasonable assumption? Would it cause her not to be able to stand and have a droopy head?

 

I've isolated her, and plan on trying the massage, oil, maggots approach I've read on here about. If I can find a maggot shop open today!

[debbier]

Update:

Have administered olive oil from a dropper, some live maggots, and massaged her crop a couple of times. I think she is looking perkier, but I'm not raising my hopes yet.

[Egluntyne]

Good luck. I'd do the massage and feed her maggots at least hourly.

 

Home made apple sauce and some live bio yoghurt are both recommended too, to keep the crop PH at the right level and to help soften the impaction.

[scrambledhead]

Hi,

 

How is your girl doing?

I think I have the same problem and have been giving warm water and massage.

Not heard about the maggot remedy before, will also now try yogurt.

 

Good luck

[debbier]

She can stand up now, which is a massive improvement on first thing. She's also done two poops, so something must be moving. She hadn't done anything at all from first thing until after lunch, which is most unusual for my chooks!

 

I'm trying to keep her hydrated, though she needs a bit of encouragement as she doesn't seem to be seeking the water out herself. I'll feed her a few more maggots and yoghurt later. If her crop is emptying and she improves then I'll try to get her to eat more soft stuff.

[debbier]

She laid an egg

 

Poor thing is stuck in a dog crate, so looks a bit like a battery chicken, but I'm keeping her there until I know she's recovered. At the moment Her crop is still abnormally large and compacted, but I'm hoping she'll be looking better tomorrow.

 

I have her in our house overnight, but will move her back into the run tomorrow, if she's picked up, perhaps using the eglu run to keep her away from the pellets?

[debbier]

She's looking better this morning: standing, and her crop has gone right down (yay!), but her tail is still down. She wasn't interested in some olive oil soaked bread, or yoghurt, but gobbled down the maggots. I'm not sure what else to try her with?

 

I'm planning on putting her outside in the wir in the dog crate today, to see how she looks, but she should be eating something (other than maggots!), I'd have thought. Any ideas?

[wightmoves]

Hi, my araucana was looking a bit under the weather, not her usual cheeky self when I picked her up to check on her she spewed some brown smelly fluid out. Upon checking her crop this seemed enlarged, so I gave it a massage and even more fluid came out. Have given her 2 syringes of warm water, both of which have come back out, and a syringe of olive oil.

Is this an impacted crop or is it something different?

Many thanks for any help

[debbier]

my hen's crop was quite hard, like a golf ball, and she wasn't spewing up. There is a similar condition called "sour crop" which sounds more like the symtoms you're describing.

 

Apart from the stuff on here, I found thie following info useful:

http://www.backyardchickens.com/forum/viewtopic.php?id=92454&p=1

[debbier]

My poorly chook now appears fully recovered, and is back with the others.

I'm feeding all three on pre-watered pellets (and lots of leftover maggots!) at the moment, but will switch back to dry after a few days.

 

Hopefully they will revert back to the dry stuff after all the pampering they are having!

[Egluntyne]

Well done.