Well, Pheobe's limp seems to be getting slightly better, so that's good.
But NOW....... Penelope, one of the two new girls, has an ENORMOUS crop. We have been watching it over the last several days, and reading all we can on the internet about impacted crops. I went out last night after they'd been roosting for several hours to see if it was any smaller, and also first thing this morning, but it was still huge (like several golf balls). I will describe the circumstances below, but the main question is: At what point do we need to DO something??? It is not hard yet, feels like modeling clay that can be squished around.
OK, so in her old home she free-ranged in a dirt yard with no/little access to grass. She had hay/straw in her henhouse.
Here, I noticed right away she was eating some strands of the hay/straw we have in our run. I thought that seemed bad, but since she had it at home, I assumed she was used to it. Here, also, we have LOTS of grass and she's been out eating grass, bugs, etc for a few hours a day. It is short grass. There's a dish of grit in the henhouse as well as plenty on the ground.
I don't understand why she would eat more hay/straw here than at her old home, enough to cause a problem. Perhaps the stress of the move is involved somehow? But the crop is huge, it is pushing the breast feathers out in a funny way. She's on the thin side, but she's an EE and as she is new to us I don't know what she felt like to pickup "before"... perhaps she's just a thin/light bird.
So what do we do? I read that some people have force-fed flax seed oil or mineral oil.... I don't know if that would help if it's really big strands of hay in there though, what do you think?
Is there anything else we should be doing other than making sure she has fresh water and grit?
Most important: Has anyone ever had a bird with a crop like this that has recovered without intervention, or is it already an emergency?
Sheesh.
Thanks for your input,
Stacey & Olivia
But NOW....... Penelope, one of the two new girls, has an ENORMOUS crop. We have been watching it over the last several days, and reading all we can on the internet about impacted crops. I went out last night after they'd been roosting for several hours to see if it was any smaller, and also first thing this morning, but it was still huge (like several golf balls). I will describe the circumstances below, but the main question is: At what point do we need to DO something??? It is not hard yet, feels like modeling clay that can be squished around.
OK, so in her old home she free-ranged in a dirt yard with no/little access to grass. She had hay/straw in her henhouse.
Here, I noticed right away she was eating some strands of the hay/straw we have in our run. I thought that seemed bad, but since she had it at home, I assumed she was used to it. Here, also, we have LOTS of grass and she's been out eating grass, bugs, etc for a few hours a day. It is short grass. There's a dish of grit in the henhouse as well as plenty on the ground.
I don't understand why she would eat more hay/straw here than at her old home, enough to cause a problem. Perhaps the stress of the move is involved somehow? But the crop is huge, it is pushing the breast feathers out in a funny way. She's on the thin side, but she's an EE and as she is new to us I don't know what she felt like to pickup "before"... perhaps she's just a thin/light bird.
So what do we do? I read that some people have force-fed flax seed oil or mineral oil.... I don't know if that would help if it's really big strands of hay in there though, what do you think?
Is there anything else we should be doing other than making sure she has fresh water and grit?
Most important: Has anyone ever had a bird with a crop like this that has recovered without intervention, or is it already an emergency?
Sheesh.
Thanks for your input,
Stacey & Olivia
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