The Official Forum of the Ameraucana Breeders Club > Housing, Health & Hatching
Hen has large crop issue - Any suggestions would be appreciated.
greeneggsandham:
--- Quote from: Mike Gilbert ---So why does anybody feed hay? I don\'t, and cannot remember the last time any chicken on the place had an impacted crop. I do feed chaff, gathered up when hay is moved from one barn to another, but it has very little long stem in it, and is primarily alfalfa leaves. No way would I feed dry grass. Wood shavings are much better bedding, and the chickens don\'t eat them. My birds do get free choice grit, not mixed in the feed.
--- End quote ---
You misunderstood me. I don\'t feed hay, I used to use it as bedding as it was free. I still have it in the nest boxes, but that doesn\'t seem to present a problem with older hens who are free ranged anyway. It was the younger birds that I grow out that were kept penned with hay bedding that I had problems with. They get bored with feed and turn to hay I guess.
greeneggsandham:
--- Quote from: Sharon Yorks ---I checked on Ruby at 8:00pm last night and her stressful breathing had stopped. No signs of it this morning, either. The lemon-size ball is now a golf ball. It seems to have gone down a little more. This morning I fed her a chopped up hard boiled egg with a tsp of watered down Nuri-Cal poured over it which the yolk soaked up. She ate it right away. I\'ll keep her on a light diet for a few days, then try her on a little chicken feed if the lump goes away.
Just checked on her at 3:00pm. Lump is the same size. She\'s a little quieter than normal and didn\'t want anymore food. And I\'m not sure if she\'s drank any water. I\'ll have to keep better track of that. She still hasn\'t laid an egg since 12-30-11. Hope she\'s just tired. It\'s warming up here. I may take her for a walk outside this evening. More later.
--- End quote ---
That\'s good that the lump seems to be getting smaller. Are you massaging it? Does the food seem to be passing through her better? The breathing is worriesome. I hope food or water didn\'t get in her lungs. Antibiotics might be called for if that happened. Thanks for the updates.
Mike Gilbert:
If the chickens are bored they oftentimes turn to vices that are not good for them, including feather picking. Now that is another type of roughage that may be difficult to pass through the crop. I\'m told that hanging a head of cabbage just above their heads, so they need to stretch a bit to reach it, is a good ploy to keep them busy and eating something healthy for them.
Sharon Yorks:
It almost seems as though all the liquid has gone and now it\'s down to a small harder lump. It was a lot squishier when there was liquid in it, but we made her throw most of that up and she\'s pooped the rest of it out. I just went down to the coop again at 6:30pm and took a syringe full of water and dripped it into her mouth a few drops at a time until she got all of the water in her...probably 3 tbs. I sat and massaged the knot (which I should have done more often today) and tried to loosen it up. It did a little, but there still seems to be a small mass in there. But what was real surprising was, as soon as I put her back in her 5x8 run and put one of her sisters in with her for the night, she went over and drank some more water. That has me a bit confused. Maybe I just primed the pump.
She hasn\'t made the stress breathing sound since I took her out of the garage. I think that was just a stress issue that was relieved once she went back to the coop. Looking back, flushing her 4 times in an hour was way to much. I\'m sure it helped a lot, and she didn\'t rebel or fight, but that had to be hard on her. I think she felt internal panic when I brought her back in the garage, thinking we were going to stick that tube into her throat again. I don\'t think any water got into her lungs. She made that sound once last spring. It sounded so much like when my son had the croup, I rushed Ruby into the house and steamed up the bathroom, then stood her in a warm tub of water and steamed her up. ..okay, you can all stop laughing at me now. I\'m new at this...but she did stop breathing like that by the time I took her out of the shower, and I wrapped her in a towel, dried her off, then blow-dried her off. I remember standing her on my husband\'s work table, thinking...\"This bird actually acts like she likes this.\" She never once tried to jump off the table or get away from me. She hasn\'t made that sound since, until last night.
I need to get more liquids in her, I think. I hate to put ACV because it smells so sour, but it may help with the digestion. Ahhh! What to do, what to do?
Beth C:
--- Quote ---steamed up the bathroom then stood her in a warm tub of water and steamed her up. ..okay, you can all stop laughing at me now.
--- End quote ---
No laughter here - I have an elderly Amazon parrot with chronic respiratory problems and this is exactly what my avian vet told me to do when he has flare-ups. (Which are thankfully rare in our hot, humid climate.)
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