Solitary chicken - need advice

[Luvachicken]

Oh G-d do I feel like I've been here before

My lovely lavender pekin Chloe now has exactly the same kind of lump as Gemma.

Hard but mouldable and in a lump the size of a pebble that moves around the crop.

 

I wondered about her a couple of days ago as she was doing the same neck movements as Gemma.

I checked her crop and I could feel just a small lump that was hard and I hoped it would go on it's own being so small.

How wrong I was.

 

I removed all of the bedding when Gemma first got back from her operation so there would none for her to eat when she got back in with the others, but I guess Chloe must have eaten enough to get the ball rolling.

I think the bedding lump just attracts more food to it and it sticks.

 

I think she will have to have an operation too.

 

I am feeling sick that I have done this to them by giving them the bedding.

I will see what the outcome of this operation is and will contact the company again if it is the same as Gemma's.

 

Fortunately all of the others' crops feel fine.

[mullethunter]

Oh Luvachicken you are having a rough time.

 

I completely understand how bad you feel if you're blaming yourselves for this happening to Gemma and Chloe, but even if it is the bedding, please don't beat yourself up about it. You chose it in good faith,and switched as soon as you realised here could be a problem, and everyone on this forum can see how much you care about your girls.

 

I hope you get Chloe sorted out and Gemma is still doing well (has she got dissolving stitches?). I hope your mum's OK too x

[Luvachicken]

Thanks mullethunter.

 

The bedding has definitely been a bad mistake.

 

Gemma seems fine. She is busy doing chicken things but her crop is full and quite rounded.

I don't know if it empties completely overnight as they have been up before me.

I'm wondering whether to bring her in and starve her again for 24 hours to see if that helps her.

She does have dissolvable stitches but they are still there at the moment.

 

Perhaps Gemma and Chloe should recooperate together.

I just don't know anymore and am finding it tough.

 

My Mum is a lot better but still in hospital, thanks for asking mullethunter

[Lewis]

Sorry to hear it.

 

Was it definitely bedding in Gemma's crop? I wonder why they would both eat it and as they said before, I doubt the bedding company will be able to do anything about it. Don't stress yourself out though, you haven't done anything wrong.

 

The bedding is just chopped straw so in theory she should be able to digest it or at least pass it through her digestive system, as she would grass.

If she were mine, I would bring her in and starve her tomorrow to see if her crop clears.

[Ursula123]

Luvachicken, there is no need to punish yourself over the bedding after all it is designed and marketed as chicken bedding developed in association with BHWT. As mullethunter said you chose it in good faith and have removed it ASAP. All you wanted was the best for your girls.

 

I hope you get Chloe sorted out, is there a possibility it could go on its own ( sorry I don't know much about crop problems).

 

Keep your chin up and hoping your mum will be out of hospital soon.

[Luvachicken]

Thanks again everyone for your wishes and trying to make me feel better about things

 

It was definitely the bedding in Gemma's crop.

 

We went back to the same vet today and Chloe has had the same operation.

She said she managed to get out the lump and could only prise it apart using forceps.

She wanted to have a good look at it. We had also given her a sample of the bedding and she said that Chloe's lump was made of longer bits - I explained a lot of them were longer but I only brought a tiny portion.

 

The vet did say that Chloe struggled to breathe after the operation but managed to come round.

She had eaten some pellets there and some meal worms.

The vet also said she was a little bit boney so I will keep her indoors for a few days and hope to fatten her up a bit.

Being bottom of the pecking order must make her food intake less.

 

Chloe is back home and resting in the broody cage in the dining room.

She really enjoyed tucking into some water with tonic in

 

I mixed her up some pellet porridge and hadn't quite added enough water, but I thought to myself how thick it looked, and that if a chicken ate some pellets, then had a drink - but not enough - and then ate the bedding, how it would all mush together like wattle and daub.

Obviously I added more water, but I could see how the lump could form in the first place.

 

I have no idea why my silly chickens ate the bedding in the first place. Maybe because I threw treats on to it, but it was Garvo chicken treats, and they ate the bedding with the treats, I don't know.

 

I really hope that none of the others have eaten so much of it.

I felt all of their crops early this morning and none of them felt like Chloe's.

Although Gemma's crop wasn't totally empty this morning it was definitely less full than when she went to bed last night. I think with her things must still be settling down and it will come right in the end.

 

Tomorrow I intend to hoover out the very last s"Ooops, word censored!"s of bedding that have got trapped between the wood of the run and the wire.

[Cat tails]

Poor Chloe and poor you.

Luckily both are on the mend.

 

Mine ate the tabacco plant stems that I had the very first week. They were to fend off any bugs and mites etc from the nestingbox, but the silly cows ate the lot.

[mullethunter]

Luvachicken I'm so glad you seem to have got a positive outcome for both little girls. Is Chloe watching TV?

 

Hope they both continue to fatten up now. I think you're right about Chloe being skinnier because she's bottom girl. Shelley who gets bullied all the time by the Wyandottes and never seems to have such a big crop as the others.

 

Fingers crossed

[Luvachicken]

Luvachicken I'm so glad you seem to have got a positive outcome for both little girls. Is Chloe watching TV?

 

Hope they both continue to fatten up now. I think you're right about Chloe being skinnier because she's bottom girl. Shelley who gets bullied all the time by the Wyandottes and never seems to have such a big crop as the others.

 

Fingers crossed

 

Chloe did watch The Chase earlier but seemed to get a bit hot on my lap so I popped her back in the broody cage.

No Emmerdale or Corrie for her.

 

Things are looking up for us all as my Mum is now out of hospital at last

And fingers crossed I find NO MORE lumps in any of my girls ......... PLEASE.

[Chickabee]

Everything crossed for you

[Luvachicken]

Spent the whole afternoon using a long, metal kebab stick and a hoover to get last bits of the bedding from between the wire and the wooden frame of the run.

I have got most of it out and then blasted the rest with the pressure washer out of every single crevice.

It was amazing how much had gathered in the weeny gap between the ground and the surface edge of the run - the kebab stick came in very handy for poking into that gap and hoiking it all out.

I will hoover the last few bits out tomorrow when it has all dried out.

 

Chloe appears to be doing well.

She has eaten some pellet porridge, some pellets and a small bit of Garvo treats.

Her crop tonight is nice and small and she is pooping well

[The Dogmother]

That all sounds good news.

 

I have to say that newbies shouldn't be alarmed by this.... it is VERY rare, and the only two cases I have ever treated were when a hen ate shredded paper used in a nest box, and then when another hen filled its crop up with the play sand used in their dust bath. It isn't normal behaviour, and more likely due to obsessive pecking at things.

[Luvachicken]

more likely due to obsessive pecking at things.

 

OPD is a new one on me

So, me throwing the treats into the bedding probably didn't help

as they would have been constantly pecking at bits to find the treats and perhaps eating more bedding than they should.

 

I was just thinking the other day about any newbies reading this.

I have just been very, very unlucky with what has happened.

 

If I was a newbie now I would steer clear of Dengie Fresh Bed totally.

And scrutinise things that say they are for chickens to make sure they are definitely safe.

 

Poor Chloe was very distressed this afternoon and "clucked/cried" for an hour and a half

I popped her back with her friends who were quite mean to her and made sure she hadn't forgotten her place in the ranks.

I was going to keep her separate again until tomorrow afternoon but I think it will do more harm than good as they will remind her again that she is the very bottom.

 

On the plus side, she did lay an egg this morning so she can't be feeling too bad