February 29, 2015: There's Always Something

...yes there is...and this time it was chicken Auntie's fault.

A normally perky Amelia

In my exuberance to feed feed feed my 4 girls, I went into the field and collected sprigs of clover and short pieces of grass. Thinking greens were good and the new seeded pasture wasn't ready yet, I tossed all this greenage into the coop Sunday night.

Monday, Amelia was a little off and by Tuesday she was less perky than normal and not really wanting to eat much. The term "picking at her food" pretty much described her actions. I also noticed that the side of her neck was swollen...uh oh. So I googled that and found a lot of information about impacted crop, especially if they eat a lot of grass. And, where did she get grass? Yep...me, the over-feeder. 

The upshot being I had to work on getting the impaction cleared before more deadly side affects set in. I found a great resource, if you are interested...
[Dealing with an impacted crop]

Brought her up to the house and caged her in the garage. Started her on an epsom salt flush - luck to have that in the house - several times that evening.
No food. Forcing water down a chicken's throat without choking her is tricky, but I managed with what I had, an eyedropper. Also, fed her olive oil as a lubricant and massaged the neck up and down, but any attempts to get her to vomit didn't work for me.

Eating breakfast Saturday in the  "hospital"

Wednesday morning, a couple of nasty smelling green, runny poops.
Mixed scrambled egg with Ducolax liquid per the on-line instructions to keep flushing the crop and break up the mass.

Chickens don't have teeth so they don't chew. Everything goes down the throat into the crop where food is stored until digested. It is pushed into the stomach and into the gizzard before being eliminated.

My theory is the long blades of grass got stuck on the way down and formed a nasty mat in the esophagus.

By Thursday, she was slightly better and the neck bulge had gotten better.
I kept up the same routine. She is not happy being caged, so she enjoyed a little playground time standing on the garage floor or sitting on the back of the chair. But, still not the lively Amelia I'm used to.

Friday, she laid an egg! And out came more smelly, green fibers in the poo....Even a distinguishable blade of grass! Bad Auntie. Friday evening, the neck is better: some normal poos which is good. My theory being that we are successfully flushing out the grass lawn!

Today, Saturday 2-28, her neck is almost normal; the hard lumpy mass is quite smaller and her appetite returned. This morning's breakfast was some yogurt [with the Ducolax] to get some good bacteria back into her, a small amount of softened chicken food, all of which she gobbled up. I am still flushing with epsom salt water to keep moving the greens out and I am hoping that tonight I can return her to the coop with her sisters.

Yes, I have learned my lesson: no more grass blades. It is better that they clip off small amounts of grass blades with their beaks; those they can digest easier than a 2" long piece!

stay tuned!....keeping my fingers crossed that we have 100% recovery!