Impacted Gizzard

chrismahon

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We had two Blue Laced Wyandottes showing the same symptoms. Solid crop, not eating or drinking, no poos other than a tiny trickle which smelt terrible and some loss of weight. They were both moulting. Tried treating for crop impaction without success. They were both being bullied and hiding in the coop so they were let out to free range in the day and put back in the coop at night. We put them on Baytril, simply on the basis that nothing else is working and we have some. They were given water by syringe as well but couldn't take much. They were happy scratching around but were very slow moving. I suspected feather eating, not feather pecking but large fallen moulted feathers, which had blocked the crop.

Yesterday one took a sudden downturn and was brought in. She collapsed and died later.

I had no option but to postmortem her in an attempt to save her sister. Not a pleasant task. I discovered a blockage in her intestine, a solid crop that had turned the skin around it green and what looked like a tumour on the gizzard. When fully opened up the complexity of the problem became apparent. The intestine was blocked half way down with long grass and a few small stones and the rest was full of rotten fluid. The gizzard was packed full of grass to the extent that it was massively distorted and the muscle walls were dark and shrunken. There was no grit in it whatsoever. The crop was full of rotten pieces of fruit treats and more grass. No feathers or worms evident. So what went wrong?

We have just left Dordogneshire and moved to Gascony. The chickens are off their dark bare earth and frequently muddy runs and on to bright, dry, grass runs. The whole move took a very hectic 7 weeks, with the chickens going on trips 7 and 8, so in two batches. To build a temporary enclosure for them here I needed the posts and mesh from the internal enclosure dividers in the Dordogne. This meant no free ranging and confinement to the coop runs for two weeks because every coop has a cockerel in it. All our hens were moulting as well, so lots of feathers in the runs. What we hadn't noticed was two moulting Wyandotte hens being bullied off the feeder in that two week period. Their run was too small for long term confinement (it was never meant for that) and that must have triggered the bullying. They were obviously hungry and wasting away as a result. We did have two feeders in that run but spares were needed at the other end in two sheds which would be their temporary accommodation. Of course when they got here, even though their new run was bigger and better, they were still being bullied. I wasn't here to watch them as I was on the way back for the remaining chickens and coops. I conclude that because they couldn't eat any feed they gorged themselves on the fresh grass, which was too long anyway and should have been cut before they went in. With no grit in the gizzard to grind it up they had no chance of shifting it through. Time was my overriding concern, as we had to get everything out by end of September and as it was I finally left with the enclosure (trip 9) in the afternoon of the 29th.

I hoped we could save the second one as she seemed stronger than the first and had begun to poo solids. She was moving about a lot yesterday, but alas no. This morning she had collapsed on the floor of the coop, presumably as the other, suffering the effect of toxins from the food rotting in her digestive system. My reference literature says that an impacted gizzard is a fatal problem and in these cases obviously was so.

So I suppose the lessons I have learned are:-
Confining previously free ranging birds in too small a run for any significant period could lead to stress and bullying so the situation must be monitored constantly with crops checked at night and poos checked in the morning. This run was 7 square metres with a 2 metre perch for 7 birds. Too small for Wyandottes, even mature ones. I knew this and overlooked it.
Grass in runs must be short -there is always a risk of crop impaction on long grass anyway. In the UK they were on mown lawns.
When let out on grass for the first time their crops need to be full of feed so they can't over-eat grass. We used to let ours out in the afternoons to ensure that they had eaten feed, because we had some lose weight due to eating just 'rubbish'.
If grit is in with the feed, when they are not eating they are not getting any grit either. Safest in a separate container perhaps.
Bullying is going to be the biggest problem when the bully isn't laying. At least when she goes into the nest box the hens can nip out for a feed. So problem times will be during the moult and when the nights get longer. So that's the time to most watch for it.

Perhaps if I had addressed just any one of the above our two lovely hens would still be alive. It was a chain of events that caused the problem and all I had to do was break that chain.
 
A very interesting post, Chris. I'm sorry about your two hens. But it must have been helpful to have been able to analyse what went wrong, an unfortunate combination of time pressures and circumstances it seems. Not knowing why illness or deaths have occurred is very worrying, isn't it, and some factors in thus account will help others avoid mistakes over grazing and run size. Moving either home or poultry is always difficult and stressful, let's hope you can all settle down now and enjoy the new surroundings- and in time for the milder, shorter winter you mention in your other post.

By the way, how's Bottom getting on?
 
Yes it was an unpleasant experience Marigold, but it gives me peace of mind knowing what went wrong. Won't be doing a pm again I hope.

Still quite warm here and 'T' shirt weather. Apparently the rains are late this year and we have another warm week to come. Next job is to construct the permanent enclosure. Perhaps I will eventually get round to posting some photos. Just been round to look at a property which has a sturdy 1000 m2 chicken run already built! Chickens will be fine with cool barn for midsummer but the house is small, so we need to see if the ground floor can be opened up.

Bottom is fine. One of the reasons we didn't let the Wyandottes free range was because he was getting fitter and going out with his hens and we didn't want to upset his routine. So he has recovered from everything -moving stress causing an ILT flareup, Carbon Monoxide poisoning, a respiratory infection from the damp in the house where his bed was, SAD perhaps and a strange allergy to something unidentified in the Dordogne. He lost so much weight he weighed almost nothing, could hardly stand and didn't crow for 6 months, but now he is back to 5Kg and waking us up every morning. He may perhaps have indirectly saved our lives. It was so cold there with no heating in the bedroom we were going to move the bed into the lounge with the fire in it. Because Bottom was ill we didn't want to move everything around and upset him further so we put up with 2 degrees by adding more bedding and leaving the electric blanket on. If he wasn't there we would have moved in. Because the landlord had not maintained the fire at all nor provided a CO alarm, both of which are legal requirements, we would have moved the bed in, kept the fire going 24 hours and then died in our sleep during the night.
 
!!!!!
I think he deserves one of those PDSA medals for brave animals who save the lives of their owners or other people, don't you?
He must be one tough bird, to have got through that experience alive. Sort of like the canary in a coal mine, don't you think? Only an Orpington cockerel weighing 5 kilos would have been a bit inconvenient for the miners to carry around underground. My dog is only 500 grams heavier than that.

So glad you all survived!
 
Hi Chris.
So sorry to hear about your wyandottes; while you're bound to miss them, please don't beat yourself up about their demise. I'm sure they had much more quality time than a lot of hens get in their lives...

I'm glad that your latest move is now complete & that you & Bottom are OK.
Are you going to make your new runs removable, so that you can take them to your next place? You must be the forum's most experienced expert in moving poultry & building runs for them! Maybe, when you're settled, you could offer residential holidays for poultry keepers, teaching coop & run building skills! It'd make a change from cookery holidays, walking holidays & painting (oils & acrylics) holidays 8-)
 
Hi Chris,
Commiserations on your loss and well done for doing the post mortem. It sounds like you've been having a hectic time.

"Just been round to look at a property which has a sturdy 1000 m2 chicken run already built!" Don't tell us you've already found another property to move to!!

Have you sold the house in the UK yet? I'm still dithering about whether to take the hens or not - keep hoping the new owner (when we have a buyer) will take them over. Lots of lessons for me to take note of :)
 
His son is even heavier Marigold. I would say close to 7Kg. He went for Claude the TNN cockerel (who use to taunt him) and bent the weld mesh of the run door about 3" sending Claude tumbling to the back of the run! We went on a shopping trip South last week and saw a Buff Orpington Cock in a chicken run alongside the road. A few Brits have bought them over and someone earlier this year was advertising chicks. They need a stone barn in Summer though to escape the heat (or an air-conditioned coop).

We are actively looking at property even though our house in the UK isn't sold. Renting at the moment a wonderful place which has spoiled us somewhat, as we can't afford anything this good. Over here you can buy on a 'location-vente' basis, which is a buy and rent until completion. So you put down a deposit and rent the property until your own place is sold and you have the funds to complete the purchase. Houses take years to sell here and with Notaire and Immobillier costs for the buyer (legal and agent) of 15% of purchase price people don't move very often so buyers are few and far between.

All the runs are removable Icemaiden. The enclosure from the Dordogne is in the trailer and van -posts, gate, tension wire and netting. the internal dividers are up here acting as a temporary enclosure and all the coops have panel built runs. Everything packs flat -coops, runs, rearing units and shelters. So everything moves with us, just takes time. We have dog cages bought off Preloved over 2 year period to fit the van to move the chickens. Next time they will go into a barn first. Thought about the Poultry keeping holidays, but the self-employment system here is a nightmare.
 
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