Impacted crop - possibly ball of grass

[cyndiherzog]

HELP PLEASE!!

We are seeming to have a problem with impacted crops in our small flock. Our hens are not free range but they do get grit and oyster shells. Since it’s been nicer the last few weeks we have thrown a few handfuls of grass in the run for them as an extra treat and for the passed few days their crops seem to be extremely full and hard. We took out their food this afternoon, but at least two of them have had this problem since yesterday. I checked all 4 first thing this morning and all 4 had full, hard crops.

I tried massaging one yesterday (who we thought was egg bound but she perked right up after massaging her crop) and was able to manipulate it slightly so it wasn’t so firm. It definitely felt like it could be all grass with some grit/shells. Couldn’t get her to regurgitate anything though after 20 minutes.

Don’t want to lose our entire flock to our poor mistake. We’ve given them grass before and have never had this problem, however it was longer grass then usual. I’ve read to use a syringe to give them water, also read you can mix it with a little olive oil to help break things up. Not sure if the olive oil is true or not. Any suggestions are greatly appreciated!!!

 

[Eggcessive]

If you have coconut oil, you can chill it, and cut it into small bite size pieces for them to peck. Aim for a tsp per chicken. Mineral oil is good too, but I would mix that into some egg or food. I don’t like to induce vomiting because of the danger of aspiration. But oil and massage may help. Water is good to encourage. Sometimes crop surgery by a vet is indicated in cases where it seems serious.
MHere is some reading about impacted crop:
https://www.backyardchickens.com/ar...ntion-and-treatments-of-crop-disorders.67194/

 

[cyndiherzog]

Thanks so much! Will be off to the store first thing for coconut oil or mineral oil! hoping this helps quickly. It all started with a new layer seeming to be egg bound, but with the second day of warm salt baths I noticed her crop seemed to be full. After massaging it did she perked up tremendously. I decided to check the rest of them and 1 of the others’ was full as well. Then first thing this morning all of them were full so my concern has grown!

 

[NatJ]

her crop seemed to be full. After massaging it did she perked up tremendously. I decided to check the rest of them and 1 of the others’ was full as well. Then first thing this morning all of them were full so my concern has grown!

If massaging the one helped, then maybe it's worth doing it to the others as well?

 

[cyndiherzog]

Hope so! Went first thing to get some supplies, picked up ACV, coconut oil, and yogurt. Going to start the first round through the flock as soon as I get home and repeat a little later! Thank you so much!!

 

[cyndiherzog]

Anyone have an luck with doughy crop? The first chicken seems to be in the clear. But we have another whose crop has seemed to be impacted for a few days now. It definitely feels like a large ball of dough and we’ve tried the recipe from the article above but it doesn’t seem to be moving. We aren’t exactly expirenced with ACS and that makes us a little nervous since the article above says it can be toxic but we have no idea what else to do

 

[Kiki]

Welcome to BYC.
Sorry your birds aren't feeling well.

Have you ever dewormed your flock?

 

[cyndiherzog]

Thank you! And no we have never dewormed them. It will be a year in a week since we originally got them. We are used to our family's chickens who are down south in the middle of nowhere. The way of life there is if it dies it dies. Ours are more of pets, so we are trying to do as much as we can to help her.

 

[Eggcessive]

I would try giving water and massage the crop several times a day. Limit food to soft or mush foods, such as egg, yogurt, and very watery chicken feed.

 

[cyndiherzog]

**UPDATE
Original hen is happy and healthy!! We successfully got the mass that seemed to be a ball of grass broken up with some simple massaging, she never regurgitated anything though. Two of the other hens crops ended up going down the next day no problem, we did withhold food though. The 4th hen proved to be a bit more difficult. He crop was big! The size of a softball easily! It felt like a big ball of doughy and I was able to knead it. It changed shapes but never broke down. I started looking all over for info on doughy crop and I found an article on BackYardChickens.com on all sorts of crop issues. There was a recipe on there concerning doughy crop (pretty weird and we were definitely skeptical) but we tried it. We started syringe feeding her this once a day because we both work weird hours still. We ended up slightly aspirating her (I mean the smallest amount! Not even .1cc) and that was the end of the syringe feedings. That same night I watched many YouTube videos on I’ve feeding and the next day we went for it! Got an entire syringe full of this mixture down the tube. When we did this the mass was now around the size of a baseball. Still felt like dough, still didn’t want to give. I could also now obviously feel all the liquid we had given. Mind you she was still drinking on her own, and willing to eat if it was available to her. This morning I woke up and checked her crop and it is 100% empty and flat!


to add someone did kindly post the article in this thread! I originally used that recipe, however when we switched focus to the doughy crop hen and not just the impacted crop hen I came back for more articles and found one from a lady in 2015! The article was the same but the yeast buster recipe was slightly different! The one below is the one we tube feed. Although she was getting the smallest amount of the original one. I can’t say one worked better then the other because I honestly don’t know. It was clearly breaking down slightly from the original recipe but we were able to get a lot more of the second recipe in her with tube feeding over syringe feeding. Either way if you run into this problem try it! I would have never guessed it would have worked like it did!!

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