Chicken problem

[Anonymous]

Hi all,
Starting yesterday ive had a problem with one of my chickens and i think it might be sour crop. She wasnt eating yesterday, only some egg shell and she drank abit of water. Her crop isnt big but is squishy and ive tried massasing it but im not sure if its helping or not because she hasnt eaten anything today.
Shes also tensing her bottom like shes trying to poop, dunno what that is a symptom of? She doesnt move about much, just stands or sits in the same position for hours and she keeps shutting her eyes.
Any ideas what more i can do?

 

[Davidd]

Hello, does she have smelly breath? try bringing her indoors if you can- somewhere quiet and warm- offer her some food and water- see what her crop is like in the morning- it should be empty. If it is sour crop you will need to take her to a vet unless you can empty it yourself- it is not a job for novices though as you can end up doing more damage and drowning the hen. Hope she is better soon.Let us know how she goes.
regards, David

 

[Anonymous]

Hi, just been to check on her and she looks in bad shape. She was laying on the ground all puffed out, wings totally drooped and her head was almost touching the ground. She was breathing heavily and i opened her mouth and theres mucus or something there. What should i do?

 

[girlracer265]

vet is the only option imo

 

[Anonymous]

Thanks for the replies, sadly she died not long ago... her condition got worse so quickly felt so useless!

 

[Anne W]

So sorry terria - it's often the way and I agree, it makes you feel so helpless but at least she didn't suffer for long .

 

[Anonymous]

Don't feel too bad about it, we all have to learn.
I had a similar problem, undiagnosed sour crop. We had to do something, she was so ill and wouldn't have lasted the next couple of hours, let alone the day. We massaged her crop, after reading about it on the internet, and she regurgitated some horrible looking 'gunge'. We thought she was going to be ok, but unfortunately we were novices and didn't really know what we were doing and she died. Apparently we should have tipped her upside-down when massaging, for short periods, to stop her drowning when we massaged her crop. Although this was a hard way to learn I will always remember this.