Pendulous crop? (Video)

[My Three Chicks]

How do you diagnose a pendulous crop? Does my girl have one? (See video).

Background: My 10 month old Bielefelder loves to eat! Last week she woke up with a full squishy crop. I withheld food one day and over the next few days it essentially resolved.

Although now she seems to have what feels like a extra fold/sac of skin where her crop area is that I can feel in the morning (but her crop is empty) or sometimes she has a very small squishy pocket some mornings.

All behavior normal otherwise...she's eats a ton, obsessed with food. Still lays, active, poops normal, drinks well.

 

[Lacy Duckwing]

Does she drink a lot of water? You're saying she's obsessed with food, have you compared her eating with other hens of her flock/same breed? Example, remove food overnight and give them the feeder in the morning, does she stay eating long after everyone else?

Her crop seems a lot like how my Speckled Sussex hen, Jewels, was. Her thing was water though. She'd drink until she threw up, then still try drinking. For most of the time, she wore a crop bra, which helped a lot. Then she'd go on a week long treatment that'd help her for a time. Let me see if I can find what the stuff was called that I was giving her...

 

[Lacy Duckwing]

Ok, here we go:
I used Miconazole, which was a quarter inch as said in this article here: How to treat sour crop and impacted crop and how to know which one you're dealing with
She received that twice a day (in the morning and in the evening) for seven days straight and it was given orally. On her morning dose, I melted coconut oil in the palm of my hand, and finished filling the syringe with it of the leftover space not taken by the Miconazole.
Now, for some cases, the coconut oil probably isn't necessary, but for my hen it was. If she didn't have the oil mixed in, she'd get severe impacted crop. This week-long treatment had to be done every few months when she'd start having problems again. For any time I wasn't able to do this treatment, the crop bra worked just fine until I had the time.

The stuff I used on Jewels:

 

[My Three Chicks]

Does she drink a lot of water? You're saying she's obsessed with food, have you compared her eating with other hens of her flock/same breed? Example, remove food overnight and give them the feeder in the morning, does she stay eating long after everyone else?

I just have 6 girls and they are all different breeds. She (being a Bielefelder) is definitely the largest breed and my largest girl at 6.7 lbs. So I can't compare to same breed. But she eats significantly more than the others. I do remove food overnight. But they have free access to layer feed and water all day and free feed. They free range in my suburban backyard but she always goes back and forth to the feeder frequently. Like she just can't get enough!

Thanks for the info about the Miconazole and the instructions. Is that only for sour crop though? From what I can tell she doesn't have a sour crop (yet anyway) since there is no smell at all.

Did Jewel wear the crop bra because her crop was pendulous and wouldn't clear/empty otherwise?

 

[Lacy Duckwing]

I just have 6 girls and they are all different breeds. She (being a Bielefelder) is definitely the largest breed and my largest girl at 6.7 lbs. So I can't compare to same breed. But she eats significantly more than the others. I do remove food overnight. But they have free access to layer feed and water all day and free feed. They free range in my suburban backyard but she always goes back and forth to the feeder frequently. Like she just can't get enough!

Thanks for the info about the Miconazole and the instructions. Is that only for sour crop though? From what I can tell she doesn't have a sour crop (yet anyway) since there is no smell at all.

Did Jewel wear the crop bra because her crop was pendulous and wouldn't clear/empty otherwise?

With my hen Jewels, I never figured out what was wrong with her. I kept marking her as Sour Crop, but she never had the tell tale signs of it. The smell of her breath was fine and she never had the white spots that comes with Sour Crop. She just drank a lot water and her crop was unusually large and squishy. (The squishiness was from her drinking too much water.) She was often spitting up her water as she had no more room in her crop for it.

 

[My Three Chicks]

With my hen Jewels, I never figured out what was wrong with her. I kept marking her as Sour Crop, but she never had the tell tale signs of it. The smell of her breath was fine and she never had the white spots that comes with Sour Crop. She just drank a lot water and her crop was unusually large and squishy. (The squishiness was from her drinking too much water.) She was often spitting up her water as she had no more room in her crop for it.

Aw sweet girl. Did she do okay or did it end up causing her further issues? Hopefully she didn't succumb to it..

 

[Wyorp Rock]

Background: My 10 month old Bielefelder loves to eat! Last week she woke up with a full squishy crop. I withheld food one day and over the next few days it essentially resolved.

The squishy crop resolved basically on it's own?

I do agree, she's got a low hanging crop, but IF it's emptying overnight, then monitor it to make sure it's emptying overnight.

I'm not sure why you want to treat with an anti-fungal cream if the problem is resolved? Perhaps I'm missing something.

What do you feed? Perhaps she's eating too many treats and is lacking in protein/nutrition. Focus on her eating a balanced poultry feed that is 18-20% protein and limit treats.

All behavior normal otherwise...she's eats a ton, obsessed with food. Still lays, active, poops normal, drinks well.

 

[BlueBaby]

How do you diagnose a pendulous crop? Does my girl have one? (See video).

Background: My 10 month old Bielefelder loves to eat! Last week she woke up with a full squishy crop. I withheld food one day and over the next few days it essentially resolved.

Although now she seems to have what feels like a extra fold/sac of skin where her crop area is that I can feel in the morning (but her crop is empty) or sometimes she has a very small squishy pocket some mornings.

All behavior normal otherwise...she's eats a ton, obsessed with food. Still lays, active, poops normal, drinks well.

My flock is all Bielefelder's and they do love to eat. They all have those big crops like the one in your picture.

 

[My Three Chicks]

My flock is all Bielefelder's and they do love to eat. They all have those big crops like the one in your picture.

That's good to know thank you! I don't have any others Bieles to compare her to so was worried. But her crop seems to be clearing/emptying overnight for the most part. I can just feel a very slight remnant inside.

Do you have to do anything special for your flock? Or do they all just manage fine without intervention or support?

 

[BlueBaby]

That's good to know thank you! I don't have any others Bieles to compare her to so was worried. But her crop seems to be clearing/emptying overnight for the most part. I can just feel a very slight remnant inside.

Do you have to do anything special for your flock? Or do they all just manage fine without intervention or support?

Mine basically manage on their own. They have the coop with a attached covered run. I don't free range them. I have a feed bucket and a couple of waterers set up for them inside of the run. I go out there several times a day to check on them and to collect the egg's. Sometimes they try to crowd into the same nesting box at once, even though there are more boxes that are empty. I love my Bielefelder rooster that is in there with them. He's a good boy.