HELP!! Extremely large hard crop - no other symptoms; eating, drinking and passing faeces normally

[Battle Ex-Batts]

Hello,

I was wondering whether anyone would be able to shed some light on my current situation...

I have three rescue hens - from BHWT - one of which has previously presented signs of a crop impaction, initially I aimed to treat this with initiating vomiting, then regular doses of Liquid Paraffin, massages and Daktarin Oral Gel incase of any bacteria. This originally seemed to help but after a few days I was noticing that she was waking up in the morning with a huge crop. I contacted my local vets again (I had previously been there to make sure the treatment I was providing was suitable) and booked for her to have her crop surgically emptied. This went smoothly, not much was found, a little straw and liquid-y crumble. She recovered and healed well but is now still waking up with an absolutely huge crop, it is an odd shape, makes her slightly unbalanced and I would say is at least the size of an orange. She shows no other signs or symptoms along with the large crop, still has a great appetite, defecates normally and exercises and exhibits natural behaviours such as; dust bathing.

I would appreciate it if you would be able to give me any advice or ideas on what could be the issue here, as I have researched and researched and am absolutely lost of what to do next.

Many thanks in advance for any comments!

Jo X

 

[Wyorp Rock]

Hi @Battle Ex-Batts Welcome To BYC

Do you have photos of your hen and how her crop looks?

I'm glad that you have a vet that will treat chickens and has helped you along the way. Without a photo, I can only guess, but suspect if her crop is odd looking and still full in the mornings, even after surgery, she may have a pendulous crop - you could try a crop bra to see if that makes a difference.
You can purchase crop bras online or @azygous shows you how in the following link:
https://www.backyardchickens.com/ar...w-to-know-which-one-youre-dealing-with.73607/
Here's another very good article about crop problems too:
http://www.backyardchickens.com/a/impacted-slow-and-sour-crops-prevention-and-treatments

Let us know how she's doing.

 

[azygous]

I agree with my friend @Wyorp Rock that this sounds like pendulous crop. Hens with poor muscle tone can have droopy crops, and the problem is that the "drain" isn't precisely down at the bottom, but about a third of the way up, so the crop never wants to empty.

Eventually, the contents will begin to ferment and a yeast begins to grow, causing the hen to feel miserable. You can treat the yeast infection, should this become a problem for your hen, but because the crop refuses to empty, the yeast will keep coming back. Impacted crop can also be a problem since its difficult for the contents to empty.

The solution to pendulous crop is a crop bra, an elastic support system you customize to your hen. I show this in the article linked above. Hens with pendulous crop can get immense relief by wearing a properly adjusted bra, and they can lead nearly normal lives as long as you keep the bra properly adjusted so the crop empties.

 

[Battle Ex-Batts]

Hi guys,

Thank you both so much for your input! I will try to get a photo this morning, just to add - her crop isn’t drooping at all by the look of things. To me she also looks like she may be having problems with her reproductive system (as most ex batts do), she has a stance similar to a penguin with her tail down a bit, compared to the others she looks odd - as I say she’s still eating and pooing fine. This morning she actually had passed an empty egg sac which is a bit of a worry

 

[Wyorp Rock]

Hi guys,

Thank you both so much for your input! I will try to get a photo this morning, just to add - her crop isn’t drooping at all by the look of things. To me she also looks like she may be having problems with her reproductive system (as most ex batts do), she has a stance similar to a penguin with her tail down a bit, compared to the others she looks odd - as I say she’s still eating and pooing fine. This morning she actually had passed an empty egg sac which is a bit of a worry

Thanks for the clarification. With this last bit of information, I would agree with you that she is having some repro problems. Crop issues can be a symptoms of internal function decline.

I'm assuming you are in the UK since you mentioned getting the ex-batts from BHWT since you have vet care, you may want to have them re-evaluate her to see if a Suprelorin Implant may be beneficial. Of course, this is if the reproductive problems are caught fairly early.
https://poultrykeeper.com/reproductive-system-problems/suprelorin-implant-for-chickens/