My Chicken is Sick I Could Use Some Help

Hello I have 16 Chickens and one of them is sick, I spend time frequently with my flock so I know my birds well.
Today me and my son were out with marking tape marking the property line and suddenly we heard a ruckus down at the coop, we ran over thinking it might be a predator in the coop but it was nothing like that at all.

On closer inspection of my hens I noticed that one of my chickens head crest was not a bright red but a dull red colour the eyes didn't look right either. Apparently the other chickens also noticed something wasn't right either and began to pick on it. its head crest was bleeding a bit. i googled the symptoms and learned I should also check the chickens crop ( its first stomach ) . So I did and it is full of half air and liquid.
So being into natural remedies i gave my poor chicken a mixture of Omega Nutrition apple cider vinegar mixed with honey wrapped it with a shirt and used a syringe to gently feed the mixture to it,and also put diatomaceous earth on there food pellets in case it may be a parasitic problem.
I have since also quarantined my sick chicken, on advice from a farmer i was told to kill it, for me I will try a few things before i result to the old school method. So my friends I could use some help with some suggestions from people with experience, I would rather people with prior experience respond. Thank you in advance Enament . :-)

a reply to: enament

not ebola is it?

a reply to: rockpaperhammock

Please C'mon this is a serious discussion

If it's sour crop, it needs to be thoroughly empty before you resume feeding.
Birds have a hard time maintaining body heat when they're sick, so providing a lamp for heat would be most beneficial.

Sour crop has a few causes, and it's easier to prevent it than cure it.
The most common causes are inadequate amounts of grit and moldy food, or poor food quality lacking in proper amounts of vitamins and minerals.

Antibiotics are very helpful, and I always keep plenty on hand, as the quicker treatment is started the greater the chance of recovery.

If the chicken has any blood spots visible, keep it isolated from the other chickens.
A flock of chickens will peck a bleeding bird to death.

a reply to: enament

Hi enament, I have 4 chickens so not as advanced as you in chicken raising. However, I have been through almost everything with my girls, seriously. It sounds to me like your girl has sour crop and I do have experience with this. I quarantined my girl for 24 hrs (some people recommend longer) and for the first 12 hours I only allowed her to have plain water. The next 12 hours I gave her ACV with the "mother" in her water and plain yogurt. The ACV was to kill off the nasty bacteria building up in her crop and the yogurt was to replace it with good bacteria. Make sure she is kept warm, their systems use the body heat as energy to heal themselves and so they get very cold. After giving her 24 hours to digest what she could and naturally aid in the digestion with the ACV and yogurt (brace yourself) I vomited her. This is a delicate process and care must be taken so that she doesn't asphyxiate on the bile. Hold her against your chest firmly, but not tightly, tilt her sideways and face down. While she is facing down, massage her stomach so that the contents are guided up towards her throat, she will vomit from there. ONLY do this for about 15 to 20 seconds at a time and don't breath in because it's going to smell horrible. Take a 1 to 2 minute break in between attempts and only do it 3 times so you don't exhaust her. If you haven't gotten all the contents out, try again in about an hour.

You'll know you've been successful when the crop isn't bulging any more, but is droopy. It may take more than the 24 hours and in that case, only vomit her a few times over the next few days and keep her on a liquid-ish diet. No crumble or pellets for sure! Only feed about 1/2 cup of yogurt once per day, too much and there will be a mess you won't want to clean up. I would also suggest canned tuna for protein because it is so soft and she'll need the protein to keep her egg cycle relatively normal while she recovers. Sour crop is not nearly as serious as some make it out to be, my girl still gets this from time to time, but I just repeat the process as needed.

One final piece of advice, if you don't already, include grit in your chickens diet. I had to learn the hard way after letting my girls free range and giving them yummy weeds from my garden, that they need something in their stomach to help break down the fibrous foods they eat. It's like having teeth in their stomach instead of teeth in their mouth LOL.

Good luck and let me/us know how it turns out!

Isolate it. Keep it warm. Give it clean water. It may have eaten something poisonous. If it dies get another chicken.

a reply to: nugget1

How could you empty the crop?

originally posted by: enament
a reply to: nugget1

How could you empty the crop?

Here are the "crop emptying" instructions I posted above, in case you glanced over them.

"After giving her 24 hours to digest what she could and naturally aid in the digestion with the ACV and yogurt (brace yourself) I vomited her. This is a delicate process and care must be taken so that she doesn't asphyxiate on the bile. Hold her against your chest firmly, but not tightly, tilt her sideways and face down. While she is facing down, massage her stomach so that the contents are guided up towards her throat, she will vomit from there. ONLY do this for about 15 to 20 seconds at a time and don't breath in because it's going to smell horrible. Take a 1 to 2 minute break in between attempts and only do it 3 times so you don't exhaust her. If you haven't gotten all the contents out, try again in about an hour."

a reply to: IrishCream

Thank you for the information. I picked up some yogurt yesterday i will try that so far i have her isolated in a pet carrier with some hay I will give her some fresh water with ACV after i try evacuating her crop. i think I will add the ACV directly to the water with honey. i should give them more grit in their diet I was going to give them a dish of sand the other day.

I also had thoughts of it being sour crop.and will be all ears reading the advice posted here. I have since brought her inside as well she should be fine inside since she is climatized I'm in eastern Canada and the temps have been dipping to around zero at night and + 5 to 20 C °during the day.

Thank you for your response.

a reply to: IrishCream

Ok so when you say sideways and face down do you mean with the legs out parallel away from my body and then dip her head down towards the ground?

originally posted by: badgerprints
If the chicken has any blood spots visible, keep it isolated from the other chickens.
A flock of chickens will peck a bleeding bird to death.

Or he could buy them Chicken Eyeglasses.

a reply to: skunkape23

Actually in a flock getting another chicken isn't advisable it will just be picked on if it wasn't raised with the original flock.

a reply to: danielsil18

The chicken eye glasses are actually a collectors item now.
A red heat lamp actually works quite well to since it casts a red hugh on everything , it makes the color of blood blend in and be unnoticeable to the other chickens.

My chicken knowledge is still rudimentary but if folks here can't help you, check out backyardchickens.com. It is a wonderful resource for all things poultry and the first place I always check for my chicken issues. Good luck!

a reply to: enament

I don't know much about chickens, so I'm not sure if the glasses or heat lamp would work.

But supposedly chickens can see color better than us.

A red heat lamp might cover the red color for us, but maybe not for the chickens.

a reply to: enament

Have you tried human noodle soup?

a reply to: igloo

I frequent that site on pretty much a weekly basis for a lot of my questions, i also prefer the interaction of the intellectual types i find here on ATS.

a reply to: danielsil18

Actually it does work my resource for that is a book entitled Hatching & Brooding Your Own Chicks by Gail Damerow

Interesting thread. I will have to remember this for when I get chickens. Sooner or later the wife will give in on this subject. It won't be more than ten years.