Can a chicken get a large squishy crop from overeating????

My hen doesn't have a stinky mouth but her crop never seems to go all the way down and is always squishy and not the right consistency.

She proably has a slow crop which means her crop is clogged but not enough to completely stop the flow of the good from crop to gizzard. Have you checked it early in the morning to see of it has emptyed any.

Hens rule said:

She proably has a slow crop which means her crop is clogged but not enough to completely stop the flow of the good from crop to gizzard. Have you checked it early in the morning to see of it has emptyed any.

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Thank you for responding! Yes, I have checked it in the morning after I quarantined her and her crop had gone down almost all the way... But the second I leave her to decide for herself how much she can eat she seems to stuff herself til she looks like she is waddling around with an orange in her crop. And it's not hard it's squishy. Any suggestions on how to unclog it? I did vomit her, give her yogurt, and Epsom salt water but she still goes back to swollen and squishy.:/ Maybe I'm not keeping her quarantined long enough???

Be careful with the vomiting, even if you mess up a small bit it can cause aspiration.

My hen Speedo had the same problem about a month ago. It was a slowish crop and after a few weeks of massaging, yogurt, freshwater and dewormer it went away. When was the last time she was wormed? Sometimes worms can cause these problems, in my case for speedo it may have been or because she ate so much grain. When speedo had her Slow crop I didn't quarantine her at all because of no where to do so, I'm not saying that's good but the shorter amount of time away may or may not have caused it to stay impacted longer. It does sound like a good idea to keep her separated though to prevent potential bulling from the others and so she can get to water or food when she needs to.

Also since yogurt is dairy it slows down normal crop action... Which pretty much means it slows down the crop, just don't give her too much.
She is probably eating way to much because of something (I don't know exactly what) and stuffing her self beucase of hunger. I had a hen who did this after a vet emptied her severely impacted crop. Sorry about my long answers.

I have never wormed them... They are about 18 weeks old -how often are you supposed to worm them? Well, here's the update: I haven't intervened wth her in a few days and her crop is enormous. Still. She doesn't seem to be gaining weight like the rest either. Poor girl, she is the sweetest one too.

Awe, I hope she feels better.
I think chickens are suppost to be wormed 1-2 times a year. I only wormed my hens once and they are between the ages of 2-5.

Try massaging her crop and keeping her from eating. You can give her a little olive oil and water before you massage her crop.

Was she " sticky" on her head? I had a snake once that came in the coop at night and killed 1 rooster and 1 hen...just by strangulation I guess. They both had saliva on their head as the snake tried to eat them but of course they were too big . Sticky head was the only " trace" the snake left on them.....We found the snake.

Sometimes certain chickens will have chronic slow crop. You can buy a "crop bra" which will hold up the crop, and puts constant pressure on it so that the food moves through quicker.

http://www.hensaver.com/Crop-Bra.html

ClaireDL said:

Was she " sticky" on her head? I had a snake once that came in the coop at night and killed 1 rooster and 1 hen...just by strangulation I guess. They both had saliva on their head as the snake tried to eat them but of course they were too big . Sticky head was the only " trace" the snake left on them.....We found the snake.

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I didn't notice any stickiness on her head and she's had this for a while, but thanks for the suggestion

Chickenchick11 said:

Sometimes certain chickens will have chronic slow crop. You can buy a "crop bra" which will hold up the crop, and puts constant pressure on it so that the food moves through quicker.

http://www.hensaver.com/Crop-Bra.html

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Yea, I guess I'm gonna have to give in and get her a bra for that enormous crop of hers! My husband is gonna give me a hard time about it bc he thinks it's so ridiculous for people to dress their pets up in clothes. But this is for medical reasons, haha!! I hope it helps, I read somewhere that once it is stretched to a certain point , it will forever be too loose. I hope not... Thanks

Chickenchick11 said:

Sometimes certain chickens will have chronic slow crop. You can buy a "crop bra" which will hold up the crop, and puts constant pressure on it so that the food moves through quicker.

http://www.hensaver.com/Crop-Bra.html

Click to expand...