Poorly SSH - edit

[Aileen]

She hasn't laid an egg now to my knowledge for abour 5 days.. ish? Never really noticed until yesterday (sunday) when I actually gave it a bit of thought. Her bum feathers have matted within 72 hours like she's had really bad diahorrea, and when I lifted her tonight it was like she had a tiny nose bleed, yucky brown stuff dripped from somewhere....
But she doesn't seem "off" she has been out all day and is eating and drinking.
I have washed her bottom (no mites) given her some baytril and she is now sleeping in my downstairs loo with some ACV water to keep her company.
Any suggestions? She def has something but I would say it's in the very early stages so I really want to combat it before it becomes major.
PS: Where is their "crop" exactly and I will try massaging that to see if anything comes out.

EDIT - Thanks for advice Tim, did a poo check and all clear as they were wormed early Feb, going to buy some Yakult as she is quiet today and want to get some "friendly" bacteria into her ASAP if it is the beginnings of sour crop as I would need to order Beryls online and that would take a few days. Should I be separating her for 24/48 hours for some P&Q as she is pretty near the bottom of the rank so can get shoved about if the others are in a grump.
Again any and all advice greatfully received!!

 

[Tim]

A couple of things - has she been wormed? You can sometimes see worms in droppings if you put them into a jam jar of water and swirl it around to separate.

The mucky bottom can be a sign of worms. Once weak with a high worm load, they pick up all sorts of other things.

It could still be any number of other things though and a vet would be the best course of action IMO.

I wouldn't go massaging her crop. If you suspect sour crop or an impacted (blocked) crop, a vet or experienced keeper would be the best bet - it's one of those things you really need to be shown and if it's really bad, the vet can open her crop up.

For reference, if you go to the poultrykeeper.com site and look at the most popular articles, top right, you will see 'The digestive system of a chicken' have a read of this as it shows you where the crop is and will help you to understand the 'layout' as it were!

I hope this helps (a little 05 )

Tim

 

[Aileen]

was indeed impacted / too darn full crop, took Spangle to vets even tho she was fairly ok and the vet felt it best to empty it before things got nasty, so she has spent the last 24 hours in "the infirmary" (downstairs loo! 08 and is now back out with gals this pm quite the thing.
Phew! A happy ending for a change for me.... first this year!

 

[Tim]

That's great... did he cut it open or turn her upside down?

T

 

[Aileen]

Upside down .... I didn't know there was a chance of being sliced and diced.... poor chook!!

 

[Tim]

Yes, some vets will cut the crop open to clear it.

The upside down method isn't very nice for them but then at least they recover quickly.

There is always a chance the blockage is still there though but often it's tough grass or woody material and unblocks easily.

A happy ending