Claireabella Posted June 10, 2014 Share Posted June 10, 2014 After a week on Baytril for what the vet thought was an infection, Fleur seemed to be on the mend but over the last few days she seems to be going back downhill again. I've spoken to the vet again about her not being 100% and she says as she has had antibiotics to see how she gets on. I had my suspicions that this may be a crop problem so the last couple of mornings I've felt her crop and it is firm, golf ball sized and I think I know the cause - I've caught her eating Easibed. I've since changed the run floor to larger wood chips but she came out of the house yesterday, sat straight down and started eating the smaller bits of wood I brought her into the house and she has stayed in during the day so I could monitor her more closely. Today she looked worse - she is drinking lots, not eating much except for sweetcorn and mealworms. Her eyes are only half open when she's awake and they look sore - she is sleeping a lot and keeps shaking her head. Her poo is mostly water with green bits (probably lack of food or food not getting through). I've been massaging her crop (not given her oil as she is drinking so much water) and I can feel lumpy bits towards the bottom of her crop. I don't know if massaging will clear the impaction if it's wood or what else I can do? Sadly, I have a feeling this is not going to end well Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Egluntyne Posted June 11, 2014 Share Posted June 11, 2014 Some advice here. Given her recent history, I'd be inclined to take her back to the vet. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Beantree Posted June 11, 2014 Share Posted June 11, 2014 I wonder if her weakened condition has meant she has been bullied off the feeder Claireabella and is eating anything she can get? In which case add another feeder with a drinker next to it. Impacted crop can mean an impacted gizzard, which is not good. But that's pretty rare, so hopefully she will make a full recovery with the stuff just passing right through with a light crop massage and maybe some olive oil to lubricate a bit. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
The Dogmother Posted June 12, 2014 Share Posted June 12, 2014 I would echo Egluntyne's advice re the vet. Also take her off solids for a day - give her plenty of water with more concentrated poultry tonic in it, and/or NutriDrops... the last thing she needs is any more food/bedding in her crop. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Claireabella Posted June 12, 2014 Author Share Posted June 12, 2014 Thanks everyone. I've been meaning to update sooner but I have so much going on at the moment at home. I took Egluntine's advice and took Fleur to the vets yesterday morning. Her crop is well and truly impacted and I decided there was no way I was going to clear this on my own after two days of trying. I saw a different vet this time and my consultation lasted for nearly 50 minutes as we worked out what would be the best option. She had two injections (one was metacam and I can't remember the other one but that began with an 'M' too) and a solution was tubed into her crop. The solution looks like saline but the vet tells me this is full of vitamins and nutrients and will also work to flush the crop. He showed me how to tube her too but I don't feel too confident at this yet. So, she is going back twice a day at the moment to have medication tubed straight into her crop and flushed. He also told me to buy infacol too from the pharmacy and syringe this into her beak 2-3 times a day. I can't tell you how helpful this vet has been. He said he might not be in the surgery this afternoon but offered to come to my house to tube her medication in at no extra charge! The impaction was still there this morning but the vet thinks it is softer and she fought a bit more when being treated (hopefully a good sign ). She has also done three solid- ish poos. It is all vey stressful for poor Fleur (and me actually) but she is fighting so I'm keeping everything crossed that we can clear this. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
The Dogmother Posted June 12, 2014 Share Posted June 12, 2014 Interesting.. you could give her fluid and vits via a syringe, yourself at home . When I first saw that you'd posted about using a tube, I wondered if the vet had done a crop lavage to flush it out completely. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Claireabella Posted June 12, 2014 Author Share Posted June 12, 2014 Mmm... I'd never heard of a crop lavage before. It is one solid lump in there, so I guess if it was too large to go down, it would be too large to come up? Am I thinking along the right lines here? I think the idea is to put this solution in to try and break up the impaction - I guess it could also have some other type of medication in it? There is quite a lot of this fluid going in, so it would take a while to syringe it in. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
The Dogmother Posted June 12, 2014 Share Posted June 12, 2014 You will break up the impaction with syringed cooking oil and massage, if there's no blockage further down the digestive system, then it will pass through as it breaks down, or you can push it up the trachea if you are careful. There are cases when this wouldn't be practical, such as a blockage or gastric stasis further down in the gut. The vet can operate to clear the blockage in the crop, but then you're at the stage of deciding whether it is prudent to inflict a GA on a bird that's unwell, or whether the expense is worthwhile. Not an easy call, but you will decide whether it is a good idea to prolong the situation or now. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Claireabella Posted June 12, 2014 Author Share Posted June 12, 2014 Thank you Dogmother but I have already decided not to go down the surgery route. Sadly, if this does not work, I'm not prepared to put her through any more. I know others may not agree but as she was poorly before this, I feel it just wouldn't be fair on her Looking on the bright side, she has been much more active today, her eyes look brighter and the impaction is softening. Her crop has not reached the pendulous stage, so it could go either way at the moment. I'm desperately hoping her crop is smaller (or dare I say empty) in the morning Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
The Dogmother Posted June 13, 2014 Share Posted June 13, 2014 I think you've made the right choice re surgery; I wouldn't entertain it either. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Claireabella Posted June 13, 2014 Author Share Posted June 13, 2014 No change this morning, so I guess we keep going for now She's lying under the bushes in the shade at the moment (but then so are the others), which is fair enough - it is incredibly hot in the sun here. Fingers crossed for Fleur please Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mrs_B Posted June 13, 2014 Share Posted June 13, 2014 I have all of my fingers crossed for you When you posted that the blockage seemed to be softer yesterday, I really hoped this is good news for you! Hope she shows huge improvement over the weekend. x Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Claireabella Posted June 16, 2014 Author Share Posted June 16, 2014 Thank you Mrs B, I really appreciate you taking the time to post (I am also following your threads). Well, I am one very happy chicken momma!! Fleur's crop had reduced massively yesterday morning and has reduced even more this morning. I think if I wasn't aware of the problem, I wouldn't have even noticed the very small amount that was in there this morning. She seems pretty much back to her normal self, bright eyes and it was so nice to see her actually running around and scratching like normal without carrying that heavy crop around! I smiled all day yesterday just watching her There are still one or two things I need to keep an eye on. She still has runny poops and is not keen on eating pellets; she has been been mostly eating corn mixed with poultry grit (vet recommended gritty things to help break up impaction). I also need to try and help her regain some weight as she has lost weight over the last few weeks with illness and then impaction. What type of foods would you recommend for this? Thank you for all of your help and support Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
The Dogmother Posted June 16, 2014 Share Posted June 16, 2014 I would put her on a precautionary does (they will all benefit from this) in the water of Oreg-Stim, that will settle any intestinal issues and dry up her poos. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Claireabella Posted June 21, 2014 Author Share Posted June 21, 2014 Fleur's crop is impacted again Bearing in mind that she is a pekin, the hard lump in her crop is about the size of a large marble and is solid. Despite this, she is very perky this morning and came bounding out of the eglu. Is there anything else I could try for this little girl? I'm running out of options... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Claireabella Posted June 25, 2014 Author Share Posted June 25, 2014 Beantree, you are a genius! I was thinking about your comment about her eating anything she can get hold of and it occurred to me that there was still easibed in the poop trays She could have been eating that before she is even let out of the eglu in the morning! I've since removed all of the easibed and lined the tray with newspaper instead and the impaction is reducing! I've also removed all of the wood chips from the run floor and replaced with some offcuts of turf for now to discourage her from eating wood. I don't know what it is with this girl, none of my other hens do it, she is just obsessed with eating bits of wood Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Beantree Posted June 25, 2014 Share Posted June 25, 2014 Sadly we had a similar situation recently Claireabella. Two hens in the flock were bullied off the single feeder whilst being confined to the run for two weeks. Obviously they were hungry and when released into their new grass enclosure they gorged on it, causing gizzard impaction. They both died two weeks later. Unfortunately we were rather preoccupied with moving stuff and hadn't planned to the required fine detail. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Claireabella Posted June 25, 2014 Author Share Posted June 25, 2014 Sorry, I didn't mean that she has been bullied off the feeder (she is still top girl, I've seen her peck the other two off!), she is just obsessed with eating wood I'm sorry to hear about your two girls, that is sad. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
gavclojak Posted June 26, 2014 Share Posted June 26, 2014 Have you tried live white maggots before bed? It worked for Barbara, who had an enlarged crop for several mornings, I only tried it because on day 3 she was not well in herself so hought I would try that before a trip to the vets. It's worth a try x Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
The Dogmother Posted June 26, 2014 Share Posted June 26, 2014 I've always found that a combination of oil, massage and maggots works well Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Claireabella Posted July 1, 2014 Author Share Posted July 1, 2014 Thanks Gavclojak and Dogmother. I tried white maggots on Thursday evening. I let her eat as many as she wanted but her crop was even bigger on Friday morning. Friday evening, I thought, that's it, the gloves are off!! I started a three day routine of syringing 1-2mls of oil 2-3 times a day and massage. Her crop was better yesterday but still had a little bit in there. I was happy it was reducing but knew I'd got this far last time and that little bit caused the crop to become impacted again, so I carried on with the oil. I've just let them out and this morning her crop is COMPLETELY EMPTY!!!!!! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
The Dogmother Posted July 1, 2014 Share Posted July 1, 2014 Good news! The maggots only work in conjunction with the massaging. Make sure they get either ACV or Orego-Stim in their water regularly and plenty of grit to keep things moving. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
gavclojak Posted July 1, 2014 Share Posted July 1, 2014 Ah that's good news.....well done for all your hard work with your lucky lady Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
lillybettybabs Posted July 1, 2014 Share Posted July 1, 2014 I had a hen that had digestive problems when she was starting to moult and when she came back into lay after the winter. After the first year of stress and panicking i could pick up her signs of scavenging and eating any blooming thing and contain her. The vet flush the following out of her crop one year: Piece of polystyrene one blue elastic band one stick five pence I did find the Fluvic acid very useful for getting rid of the blockage and stopping it. It would take me over a month to get her right. She lived until the ripe age of 4 but this year starting to lay took a lot out of her and i called it a day. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Claireabella Posted July 7, 2014 Author Share Posted July 7, 2014 The maggots only work in conjunction with the massaging. Thank you Dogmother, I thought the maggots would do all the necessary massaging well done for all your hard work with your lucky lady I'm not so sure she thinks she is lucky Gavclojak! While all the others run up to me, she runs away when she sees me coming! The vet flush the following out of her crop one year:Piece of polystyrene one blue elastic band one stick five pence They really will eat anything! 4 is a good age, bless. Well, after I stopped the oil treatment, Fleur started having little bits left in her crop in the morning again. It almost empties all the way but it seems that without the oil, the last bit just isn't passing through. I'm still in contact with the vet who has said to carry on with metaclopramide to help the crop contract and we'll ween her off it slowly. I've given her some oil again this morning though to see if we can empty it completely again overnight because she does look groggy in a morning. Are there any sort of natural lubricants I could give? I know that oil is not a long term solution. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
