In the last three days we have lost two chickens to crop issues.
I had Rock, our lead rooster, in the special needs unit for almost a week since we noticed he seemed to have a blockage. I spent a lot of time nursing him through it, and I thought for a while that he was showing improvement. But ultimately my interventions were unsuccessful in breaking it down or dislodging it. I did a bit of an exploration after he passed to see what the nature of the blockage was, and it appeared to be just a mass of fibrous material, like hay or straw.
Here is a picture of the handsome boy in better days
We are down to one rooster now. Mr. Pink is carrying the rooster-ing load all by himself.
And then just when I thought that I had one of my little Amberlink girls back on track, I discovered today that her sour crop problem was back with a vengeance. As soon as I picked her up she started regurgitating a lot of nasty liquid, and in the process, she aspirated some of the fluid. It wasn’t long be fore she started having trouble breathing. Ugh.
I’m not sure if there is something we could be doing to guard against these sorts of issues.
Any chicken advice y’all might have is welcome.
In other news, I’ve made a start shearing the sheep, but still have a long way to go. Fiona’s fleece is pretty much a loss, but I need to get it off her to give her a fresh start. Right now her haircut looks really silly, but I’ll get her cleaned up inthe next couple days.
And Esther is really motivated to be rid of her heavy coat if it means getting some good rubs and scritches. A bit of sweet talk and massage got me as far as her neck and shoulders yesterday afternoon.
That’s enough for now.
Garden update can wait til next week, I think.
Sorry about your crop issues. No advice. I have had more issues with crops with the geese than with the chickens though. Good luck with shearing. Always an adventure.