Chook off her food - any ideas?

[Lucylou]

I have a Silver Campine about 4 years old (poss a bit older can't remember)& up to now healthy & still laying!

About a week ago we threw a small pile of grass cutting in the run for them to scratch around in (we usually do this for their entertainment, they don't usually eat much of it or at least only the odd peck here & there) & as we were watching them it was as though she picked up something which stuck in her throat. She seemed to be trying to get something down with difficulty, stretching her neck a bit & her beak was slightly open. As she didn't seem to be coping my OH picked her up to get a closer look, couldn't see anything wrong & after a while of gently stroking her throat & crop she seemed fine again. Now whether this problem was an existing thing we'd not noticed before or whether she'd just picked something up we don't know. Her eyes are bright, one of them has had runny poo, not sure if its her though (they wouldn't oblige whilst I was watching!)

Her comb has been gradually looking a bit dry not bright red & now she seems off her food. Usually the first to get to the treats yesterday all she would take was a couple of nibbles from my hand before she'd had enough wheras normally she follows me around for more & even the grapes I'd thrown down didn't get her attention. Also it didn't seem to be going down easily if that makes sense.

She has stopped laying but I didn't at first take any notice of this as she has never been the best layer & sometimes has a 'rest'. She's the bottom of the pecking order out of 3 girls, all same age.

Hopefully someone will have some ideas what I can do, I know she's an old girl but my favourite,

 

[Marigold]

Can you feel whether her crop is blocked? Does it either feel hard and lumpy (maybe impacted with grass or something) or soft and squishy, with a bad smell in her beak?
If it's impacted you may be able to help by gently syringing a few drops of olive oil down her throat and massaging the crop gently to try to break up the obstruction. If its sour and soft, she may have a gut infection, with fluid in the crop, which will need treating, probably by a vet. In either case she will probably be helped by some natural bioactive yogurt. The sort from supermarkets is OK, Yeo Valley etc, although there is a special sort for chickens called Beryl's which many people swear by that you can get on the Internet. Anyway the organisms in yogurt are good for rebalancing an upset gut in chickens.
Of course it may not be either of these things, at her age other stuff may be going on internally. Is her worming treatment up to date (ie Flubenvet within the last 4-6 months? ) a heavy infestation can cause all sorts of other problems, or make them worse.
See Poutrykeeper main site for more info http://poultrykeeper.com/digestive-system-problems/impacted-crop

 

[Lucylou]

Thanks Marigold, we had a look last night at her crop but didn't notice if it was squishy, (I'm never quite sure how firmly you should feel the crop) but she seemed much more perky yesterday & wolfed down some scrambled egg! I did wonder if it could be worms & have ordered some flubenvet as they are just overdue a dose. I will give them some yoghurt too, had bought some for this purpose & then forgot it was for them & ate it myself!!