My Chicken is Sick I Could Use Some Help

its called the 3 H's. the Hand, the Head, and the Hatchet. sorry, but from a farming standpoint you have enough to spare one sick one. i know, its cold.

a reply to: enament

I u2u you with a website that may help.Check your inbox and go there to see if they have any info you can use over this.

a reply to: PFIscott

LOL I'm glad we don't do that with our kids Ahh the kids sick gonna have to kill it and make a new one LOL
here is a documentry you should see

a reply to: Dimithae

I checked my in box there was nothing in it, maybe there is something wrong with my in box? Please try again.

I have successfully evacuated my chickens crop using this method.

This is a really good site you might enjoy. It explains sour crop best, IMO.

Treatment for crop disorders involves 1) emptying them as appropriate and 2) treating for secondary infections if necessary. Sour crop can be helped by holding the bird face-down, at about a 60 degree angle, and massaging the crop towards the throat....the stinky mess should come out like vomit, and reduce the swelling. Be sure to let the hen breathe between bouts of massaging, and keep her inside for a couple days after, feeding soft foods and adding a little bit (1tbsp/gallon) of baking soda to the drinking water to combat the acidity. Do NOT use cider vinegar to treat this, as it only adds to the acid burden. Treatment with an anti-fungal agent might be of value, but often, once the sour crop is dealt with and the hen is back to eating well, it is unnecessary.

It's been my experience that once a bird has had sour crop they become much more susceptible to recurrences.
I hope she is doing better now!

a reply to: nugget1

Now I conflicting opinions. some people say to use ACV and now you mention not to. I am understanding is that the ACV introduces beneficial bacteria known as MOTHER to the digestive tract, now if the swelling is caused buy a blockage wouldn't you want the acidity to dissolve the blockage?

I use to have major heartburn and I almost had to go for surgery for it ACV fixed the problem. Want to know more about it click the link in my signature.

a reply to: nugget1

i agree with you there! good thing i dont have kids!

a reply to: PFIscott

The chicken seems to have whats called sour crop, i'm working towards making her well not much change yet.

originally posted by: enament
a reply to: PFIscott

The chicken seems to have whats called sour crop, i'm working towards making her well not much change yet.

did you try the upside down trick? sometimes you have to do it continuously for a few days. hold it upside down (beak pointing AWAY from you) and message it from the bottom to the top of the crop.

*WARNING*
IT WILL SMELL BAD

a reply to: PFIscott

Yes i have done that 4 times today lots at first but just air the last time. i'll keep posting the results.

Now I conflicting opinions. some people say to use ACV and now you mention not to. I am understanding is that the ACV introduces beneficial bacteria known as MOTHER to the digestive tract, now if the swelling is caused buy a blockage wouldn't you want the acidity to dissolve the blockage?

a reply to: enament

I'm so sorry, I forgot to list the site! It is written by an avian vet. Having raised birds for many years, I know how hard it was for old 'cures' to be abandoned after they were scientifically proven wrong.

People require an acid stomach for digestion, however birds do not. AV will promote fungal and bacterial growth.

Avian medicine wasn't researched much until the late 70's, and most of the things I thought were correct were actually proven to be harmful, so I had to re-educate myself. lol

Here's the link:

www.the-chicken-chick.com...

originally posted by: enament
I have successfully evacuated my chickens crop using this method.

This is EXACTLY what I meant enament, sorry I wasn't clear with my instructions. I am SOOOO glad you were able to "evacuate" her crop. Keep her on the liquid-ish diet and keep "evacuating" until she seems better. In place of ACV (due to mixed opinions, but I respect nugget to the ends of the Earth ) try putting a teaspoon of minced garlic in the yogurt for bacteria control.

Keep updating us as she progresses !!

a reply to: IrishCream

I regret to tell you but i had to do the deed, chicken is now pecking grits in heaven. It was hard to do since I raised her from chick to hen, i felt real bad for having to do it but i evacuated her crop daily and had to force feed her with a syringe and the food would remain for 24 hours so there was really nothing i could do. She was so weak she could hardly stand and seemed disoriented.

I had to end her suffering and did it swiftly, I have to wonder if she may have ate a string from the feed bag or something like that. As gross as it may seem I almost want to find out what the cause was.

a reply to: enament

Oh enament, I'm sorry to hear that. The string may be a real possibility since you had done everything else. Short of surgery, you did all you could do and this is the cycle. I can't imagine how hard that must've been for you. However, now you know how to deal with sour crop should there be issues in the future. You'll also see the signs earlier, just keep track of those rogue feed bag strings.

My girls go through spells of not laying, then laying again and then not laying. They are older and since we got them at auction as adults (and you can not definitively age chickens), we are assuming they are at the end of their egg production years. We will start again in early spring, this time from hatch. We may get a few roos, but we're willing to take the chance. Meanwhile we're debating whether or not to send our girls to freezer camp, it is the cycle after all.

a reply to: IrishCream

Its been my debate since I got them as chicks, is what do you do with them when they no longer lay eggs? Can you eat an old chicken? do you let them free range until nature deals with them ? Its a tough decision. As gross as it sounds i may try to autopsy the chicken just to see what may have been the cause of its demise. i don't want to do it but it may shed some light on the actual cause.

I really really appreciate your absolute sincerity thank you.

Well normally I'd suggest the old cure-all...chicken soup...but...

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