How long does it take to empty crop?

[Mother Bird]

Crop issues I think...how do I tell if its impacted and What do I do if it is?

 

[Bocktobery 10]

Hi, I just wanted to chime in and say instead of bread, I use raisons soaked in olive oil. Put the raisons in the olive oil and let it sit for an hour or so. Then present the raisons in the olive oil to the chicken to eat. She'll eat up both a beak full of oil and raison. Its always worked for me when I noticed one with a stuffed full crop that is enlarged. I do this several times a day and watch. Not sure if this would help you but just putting it out there.

 

[Bocktobery 10]

Crop issues I think...how do I tell if its impacted and What do I do if it is?

With mine, I notice that their crop is really enlarged, engorged. You can feel all sorts of stuff in it and it feels tight, highly packed to the point you can't move anything in the crop when you try and squish it. I find this happens with my hens when they are eating lots of long grasses.

Feed them some olive oil and massage the crop if you have concerns that it is impacted. I did this with one hen and I could feel the release and breakdown of the contents inside after about an hour of feeding her the olive oil. It may take more than that.. Just keep giving some olive oil and massage it. Hope this helps!

 

[Don P]

Make sure you add hard Granite grit free choice by their oyster shells. And yes the lousy pellets and crumbles are usually vacuumed up grain mill dust. Not much nutrition and can compact easily. Avoid GMO use only organic feed.

Use whole grains sprouted or cracked grains for feed instead of pellets and crumble. Healthier hens, and eggs are healthier for you.

Grit will reduce your feed cost on grains and give them more nutrition as they can grind up grain better. Don't say: they get out in the dirt and can find their own.

 

[ChickenMama308]

Make sure you add hard Granite grit free choice by their oyster shells. And yes the lousy pellets and crumbles are usually vacuumed up grain mill dust. Not much nutrition and can compact easily. Avoid GMO use only organic feed.

Use whole grains sprouted or cracked grains for feed instead of pellets and crumble. Healthier hens, and eggs are healthier for you.

Grit will reduce your feed cost on grains and give them more nutrition as they can grind up grain better. Don't say: they get out in the dirt and can find their own.

I heard that grit is not good for an already impacted crop, as the skin of the crop isn't very tough and if there is grit inside and you massage it, you could damage the crop. Just thought I'd put that out there as someone told me this today!