kristine16
Chirping
- Sep 21, 2020
- 22
- 15
- 61
One of my 3 year old hens recently had an impacted crop. It was full mostly of grit but also some pine shavings. I suspected the shavings got eaten when she was in the kennel with them without food for 24 hours. I removed the pine shavings from the crate and added some of the nesting box material we use instead (aspen shavings which are long threads instead of typical small shaving pieces). She was not eating those at all.
My vet and I were able to get things moving. I can no longer feel grit in her crop. She passed some shavings initially and has been in a crate on soft foods. She has now transitioned back to regular food for a few days and is doing well. Lots of normal poops, very bright, eating and drinking and extremely tired of being in the crate. Today I tried letting her back out and she immediately started eating shavings. I took her outside and she was even finding stray shavings in the dirt to eat so she went right back into the crate.
I have 11 chickens. They get everything they need and everyone else is healthy. They get organic layer crumbles, fly grubs, minimal sunflower seeds and scratch for treats as well as fresh foods for treats here and there. Oyster shell and grit always available. Their food is also always available. Periodically I add some probiotics and electrolytes to their water. She has had those and apple cider vinegar in her water in the crate throughout this.
Why would she do this? I am hesitant to transition from pine shavings to something like straw because the last time we switched it up (just to a different brand of shavings that also included fir) we had multiple chickens get bumble foot.
This same chicken also had an episode about a year ago where I found her under the roost in the morning unable to move. My vet determined she had a mass which an egg pushed into her spine. She laid her egg and recovered completely and has not had another episode. My vet did X-rays when the impaction happened and it didn’t look like the mass was involved. She did not think the two issues were related.
Any ideas what I can do to get her to stop eating shavings? Right now my only thought is maybe give her more time in the crate to recover from the impaction (although she seems recovered) and see if that helps. She has lost a lot of weight through the ordeal. Maybe once she’s put some back on shavings will seem less appealing?
My vet and I were able to get things moving. I can no longer feel grit in her crop. She passed some shavings initially and has been in a crate on soft foods. She has now transitioned back to regular food for a few days and is doing well. Lots of normal poops, very bright, eating and drinking and extremely tired of being in the crate. Today I tried letting her back out and she immediately started eating shavings. I took her outside and she was even finding stray shavings in the dirt to eat so she went right back into the crate.
I have 11 chickens. They get everything they need and everyone else is healthy. They get organic layer crumbles, fly grubs, minimal sunflower seeds and scratch for treats as well as fresh foods for treats here and there. Oyster shell and grit always available. Their food is also always available. Periodically I add some probiotics and electrolytes to their water. She has had those and apple cider vinegar in her water in the crate throughout this.
Why would she do this? I am hesitant to transition from pine shavings to something like straw because the last time we switched it up (just to a different brand of shavings that also included fir) we had multiple chickens get bumble foot.
This same chicken also had an episode about a year ago where I found her under the roost in the morning unable to move. My vet determined she had a mass which an egg pushed into her spine. She laid her egg and recovered completely and has not had another episode. My vet did X-rays when the impaction happened and it didn’t look like the mass was involved. She did not think the two issues were related.
Any ideas what I can do to get her to stop eating shavings? Right now my only thought is maybe give her more time in the crate to recover from the impaction (although she seems recovered) and see if that helps. She has lost a lot of weight through the ordeal. Maybe once she’s put some back on shavings will seem less appealing?