Roseanne Rosanna Danna has little ?rocks? in her chest

[Chicken Boo]

I went to check on the girls this morning and Roseanne just stood there next to the fence while I was spreading out some BOSS and oatmeal while everyone else was eating up the treats. This is not her usual behavior. She was extra easy to catch but she did walk but did not run. I took her inside and started feeling around. Everything was fine except that it feels like she has a clump of ?pebbles? under her skin on her chest. The feel like they are 1 - 4 mm, hard, some are loose and there seems to be a clump of them stuck together. I put her in the "chicken hospital" (a small dog crate) with some water, oatmeal and cabbage pieces. After she realized it was there, she ate well for a couple of minutes and then is just standing there. Feeling the "pebbles" or anything else on her did not seem to stress or hurt her.

Roseanne is an australorp,
~9 years old,
hasn't laid an egg for at least 2 years (as far as I know),
otherwise seems healthy (pretty, shinny feathers; perky comb; alert; weight normal),
lives with 22 other hens and 1 rooster in a large henhouse and run,
gets to free range at least 3 afternoons/week (usually 4-5).


A quick search did not find any threads that could identify the "pebbles". Anybody have any idea what they are? Should I worry? Due to her age I am not going to do anything expensive for her, but I will do what I can to make sure she is comfortable.

 

[Chicken Boo]

Has anyone ever heard of this?

 

[Imp]

Just a guess, but is it on the right side, in the crop? Maybe an impaction?
Is the crop full? hard?
Did it go down overnight?

Imp- Good luck

 

[KimberlyJ]

The pebbles that you are feeling are grit. We feed chickens grit to aid in digestion. However too many of them are not good. The crop should empty over night. I would separate her (which you've done) and feed her only small anounts of easy to digest foods like scrambled eggs, yogurt, cooked pasta. I would remove all her food a little before sunset and then check her crop in the morning. If it's empty I would gradually increase the amount of food and type until she's back on a regular chicken diet.

IF it's not empty in the morning, you have a more serious problem of impacted crop. I just had a hen with impacted crop, after three weeks in the house and regaining 1/4 of her body weight she is back in the coop. But it took alot of effort and a trip to the vet's....(I refused x-rays and surgery tho) Re-introducing her to the flock has been hard too. I could feel a lot of pebbles in her crop in the begining in addition to the wad of food.

If possible weigh her, she may loose a lot of weight while she is getting better and having a base line will help.

Good Luck, let us know how she looks in the morning.

 

[Chicken Boo]

Roseanne was squawking to get out by midafternoon. She just stood there for a little while then ate her yogurt, oatmeal and layer feed with zeal. We let her back out with the flock in the yard and was happily acting normal. I guess she just had one of those moments of general malaise. She is still acting normal. She is old (8 or 9 years old). Normally, she and my other older bird do not go exploring the rest of the yard as much as they used to and as much as the younger girls do.

Thanks for you advice.