Paging Dr. Bianco...come in Dr. Bianco

The last few days, I've noticed two of the girls not doing so hot. And they both look like they have different things going on.
One of them, the only speckled sussex I have left, Victoria, (named after the vampire, not the queen,) looks awful...poor baby. She is all puffed up, and her face looks like she just wants to die. So I picked her up last night, and her entire chest felt like a water balloon...it wasn't solid, and it was the size of a grapefruit. She was practically dragging it last night when I picked her up. So I put her in a carrier, and brought her up to the farm hospital...my bedroom. I made her comfortable, and then got online to try to find out what was going on. At least with Wynonna, it was obviously her toe. I was worried, "ballooned chest on chicken," wouldn't get me too far on google. Fortunately I was wrong...
A ballooned chest on a chicken can mean one of three things, and fortunately they can all be treated the same way...The first is called "Pendulum crop" which means gas or food have built up in the crop so much that the muscles relax, and never go back...kind of like boobs after breast feeding. Another is sour crop, which is a build-up of yeast in the crop by a vitamin deficiency, and that also causes gas that balloons the crop. The last possibility, which I think Victoria may have is impacted crop. Which can be caused by eating too fast. Maybe she needs a special bowl like we have for our dogs. Bubba eats so fast he'll start gagging on the food. Anyway, Vickie must have eaten food to fast, and now has a blockage...and the lack of moisture prevents it from moving down into the gizzard. Kind of like a person eating a package of saltines with no water...
So treatment...I LOVE the different threads online by chicken lovers...I guess impacted crop is a common problem, and most of the solutions were the same.
1) Remove all food from the chicken because by eating, they will just continue to add to the backup.
2) Provide plenty of water, with a touch of apple cider vinegar....this will perk up a down chicken.
**From here on out, its kind of graphic...so don't read this while eating...or thinking about eating for that matter.**
3) Pick up the chicken, and hold it upside down. (I'm not kidding.) This will make the chicken start to vomit.
So I did it. I picked her up, and held her upside down over an old towel. Poor baby started to throw up. Too bad inducing vomiting isn't that easy for other animals and people. People would be standing on their heads instead of putting their fingers down their throats...
Anyway, it was all liquid, and she just opened her little beak and it started flowing. And my God did it stink...this sour putrid smell. I wanted to throw up myself, but the towel wasn't big enough for the both of us. I held her right side up, and massaged her crop a little bit. The "balloon" had gone down by about half. I put her in her kennel, and she began to drink water. I gave her a little break and went to do more research.
After about 15 minutes, I came back and did it again. Just a little more this time.
I read online that there are only two ways of removing the impaction...surgically cutting the crop open, or inserting a tube down the chicken's throat and pouring mineral oil down the tube. Then massage the crop to loosen the impaction, and next time you put the chicken upside down, it should start to come out with help from me, the lovely assistant. Then they should go on a diet of soft foods for a week before returning to the flock.
So this is where I am at today. I tried giving her applesauce with vegetable oil, to see if she would EAT the oil, instead of me pouring it down her throat. She didn't look good this morning, but if she can make it till I can get home, the tube feeding will be next. If I can save Vicki, I surely can do anything? One more badge for my sash...