Help! Sick chick

[farmer john]

Casper, our 2 yr old Isa Brown has been off-colour for a couple of weeks. She is now sitting around most of the time with her comb bent over to one side and eyelids often closed. Have checked for egg boundedness and this seems to not be the problem. When we picked her up to feel her crop she was sick; passing mainly water. The crop seems to be nearly empty. After being sick she will drink water and feed on layers mash unaided. Then she stretches her neck several times and twists it awkwardly to one side at the same time. After a few minutes when she bends forwards the water and mash flow out of her mouth and she starts drinking and feeding again to repeat the process all over again.
Does this sound like a compacted crop problem even though the crop feels nearly empty? We are a bit worried about lancing her crop to remove the contents as is suggested in some chicken care manuals as this may not be the problem and she may be too weak to survive such an operation.
Any suggestions would be appreciated.

[MrsC]

Hi Farmer John, it does sound like the symptoms of compacted crop, but you would know if it was as the crop would be hard. I'm not much help really, hope some more experienced grapes will answer shortly. Could it be that there is a blockage further down not allowing anything into the stomach? I'm no expert and I hope that your chuck is ok

[RichmondHens]

If her crop is empty, but what goes in comes up rather than going down, it sounds like a problem further down. She could have a gizzard impaction, or some other obstruction. I would get her seen by a vet to diagnose properly, but she sounds very unwell I'm afraid.

[Bramble-Poultry]

Sounds like a vet trip to me, there is obviously a blockage preventing food going down, without wishing to sound too deppresing she will die after a couple of days without food and water.

She needs proper treatment - there are many things a vet can do if he is fully conversant with chooks, an experinced vet may flush the bird or try to remove the blocakge manually with forceps, they can also be removed by incision or sometimes, it may be a simple case of antifungal or antibiotics pills/powder.

But she really doesn need veterinary care at this point.

[farmer john]

Sick Chick

Thank you all for you help and suggestions. Unfortunately Casper had an intestinal blockage and the vet said it would be kindest to put her out of her misery. The hen run seems quieter now without one of its true characters!

[Nicos]

Awww...that's a sad ending...but thanks for letting us know the outcome ( we're all on a learning curve here)
Are you thinking of replacing her( that'll liven things up for a while!!)

[broadway]

Sorry to hear that FJ but before off for Casper

[frias]

Sorry to hear about Casper.