Impacted crop

[Michelle2639]

One of my girls appears to have an impacted crop. It's softball size and hard. I've never had to deal with this before. She's my anti-social hen too, so it's a bear to handle her. I don't know if I feel comfortable doing anything invasive but I have read to try giving them oil and massaging the crop a couple times a day. I'm going to try that. Is there anything else I should try and how long should I give it before I make the decision to cull? Thanks

 

[speckledhen]

In my article I have covered all kinds of reasons why a crop impacts. However sometimes the symptoms have to be treated first before one can diagnose the cause of the issue.

Yes, absolutely, however, folks need to be warned that even if they successfully fix the impaction, the bird may still die if the reason was beyond the crop. I always like to make sure to assuage the guilt of the chicken keeper--guilt is a condition we all have in this hobby. No need for people to beat themselves up unnecessarily.

Sometimes, there is just nothing you can do but treat symptoms and hope it is not something more sinister than what you were trying to fix. Only trying to educate people, as I always do.

 

[TwoCrows]

Take a look at this article on impactions and how to treat them......https://www.backyardchickens.com/a/impacted-slow-and-sour-crops-prevention-and-treatments

Definitely read the section on using Dulcolax tabs. These will clear out even the most stubborn impaction.

I hope you can get it cleared out soon!!

 

[speckledhen]

I have to interject something here, though. Many times, an impacted crop is not the true issue, only a symptom of a more serious underlying one. The crop is a barometer of how the body is working. It is just what we can see for ourselves. Crops can stop working, causing an impaction, not necessarily an impaction causing the crop to quit working.

I've cleaned out crops and they never did work again because the problem was not really the crop but the system of the bird was failing due to some underlying issue, like reproductive cancer or other internal issue or highly advanced pendulous crop where the muscles just do not work any longer (common in some lines of blue Orps I used to raise). Just an FYI.

 

[casportpony]

I have to interject something here, though. Many times, an impacted crop is not the true issue, only a symptom of a more serious underlying one. The crop is a barometer of how the body is working. It is just what we can see for ourselves. Crops can stop working, causing an impaction, not necessarily an impaction causing the crop to quit working.

I've cleaned out crops and they never did work again because the problem was not really the crop but the system of the bird was failing due to some underlying issue, like reproductive cancer or other internal issue or highly advanced pendulous crop where the muscles just do not work any longer (common in some lines of blue Orps I used to raise). Just an FYI.

I agree 100%, the problem is usually not the crop, but something else.

-Kathy

 

[Eggcessive]

Dulcolax is a stool softener.

Read here....https://www.dulcolax.com/stool-softener.html

Sorry about the confusion, but when I see Dulcolax, I would buy the bisacodyl, the laxative, since I worked in hospitals for years. It's really confusing when companies have such similar names on products. I feel more comfortable with saying doccusate sodium or colace for the stool softener. It just makes it less likely for a wrong product to be used. Two bisacodyl tablets would bring a big football player to his knees, LOL. I have personally witnessed this.

 

[Michelle2639]

Ok, I gave her the stool softener at 10:30am and I've massaged her crop a few times since then. She has pooped a little. I haven't seen her drink anything but I'm keeping an eye on the water level. Here's a couple poop pics. Definitely not normal yet but the crop is feeling a tiny bit squishier.

 

[purplesquirrel]

One of my girls appears to have an impacted crop.  It's softball size and hard.   I've never had to deal with this before. She's my anti-social hen too, so it's a bear to handle her. I don't know if I feel comfortable doing anything invasive but I have read to try giving them oil and massaging the crop a couple times a day. I'm going to try that. Is there anything else I should try and how long should I give it before I make the decision to cull? Thanks

I had an impacted crop for the first time about a month ago!
I panicked and thought she was going to die, and the only vet was going to charge me hundreds of pounds and I don't have any money.

SO!
This is what you want to do....(and I had no idea before, i read so much stuff)

* You need to bring her inside, preferably in your bedroom so you can keep an eye on her, I spent the whole day with my hen, so it's pretty important you do this to keep an eye on her.
Make a bed for her in a box with clean bedding, and water in a bowl, NO FOOD...if she's still trying to eat.

* Hold her in your arms and use a syringe (I only had a pipette) and force feed her Luke warm water.
If she refuse to take it and gets too distressed, just sit with her and keep her calm and secretly drip warm water onto her beak, she'll get confused about where it's coming from and constantly swallow it.

* Next, hold her on your lap! tail facing your chest, and massage her crop! roll your fingers around the solid mass as if 'playing the piano' in a wave motion with all your fingers, using your index finger to massage as hard as she will take, to break up bits, as if breaking up balls of hard soil.
She won't be alright with it after a while but just talk to her, give her some more warm water, and do it again, for 10 minutes at a time (it gets tedious)...

* then do the same process using olive oil! lots of oil, keep dripping it on her beak and when she goes to lick it! stick as much in her mouth as possible when she opens her beak, obviously at 3-4 seconds intervals so she doesn't choak. Massage and repet. Basically you want to fill her with as much liquid as possible to flush it through and also helps you to massive and dissolve the clumps of whatever it is inside.

* then let her rest for maybe half an hour! then use cider vinegar as it is very acidic! and works like stomach acid and will break the food down in her crop.
Mix with 2/3rds water and start the process all over again.
Then with warm water, and then massage. Then let her rest for half an hour to an hour...

The key here is massaging as much as possible, and fluids.
The hole in the crop to the stomach, is not at the bottom of the crop sack, it's sort've 1/3rd up, so massing with a pushing and slight lifting motion helps a lot, after I had researched in detail the crop. Don't just massage direct downwards.
Use your index finger and thumb to wiggle and break bits up.

After a couple hours of me doing this, my hen started doing HUGE old, big poos filled with tangled coarse grass and bindweed, she popped so much, she even got hungry and I fed her pellets, but with lots of water, and only a small amount.
By 12 hours so she was totally empty. And a very happy chicken!

Massage and fluids is key!!!

 

[speckledhen]

X2 I had a BA with all kinds of slow and sour crop issues all her life. She wore a crop bra during these times with issues to keep the crop from stretching out too far. Once the crop gets too stretched they get pendulous.

Ladyhawk's veterinarian had consulted with us both about the issue. It's definitely a genetic thing with these Orps, passed on from mother to daughter. He said he could do a "crop tuck" but the muscles would eventually just go back to their flaccid state and it would lead to death anyway. LH has had several daughters of my Suede with a hen who suffered from this thing. She lost one blue Orp hen not long ago, at the same age as the hen's mother also died from it. On my 4 yr old hen, Smoky, her crop just completely quit. Even empty, it refused to function any longer. Sad, but one of those things that there is really no true cure for, only trying to bolster the poor dear up as long as you can.

 

[casportpony]

From:http://www.hopkinslivestock.com/oral_dosing_article.htm
The hole at the back of the tongue is the entrance to the trachea - Nothing should ever go in there!


The tube being used here is a size 18 french that is 16" long


-Kathy