impacted Crop-The causes and preventions

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nccatnip

nccatnip

Songster
12 Years
Aug 5, 2007
772
2
151
Piedmont area NC
Want some education on impacted crops:
How and why does this happen?
For those with lots of experience- how often does it happen?
Can it be prevented?
What is the outcome of a chicken that has suffered an serious impacted crop? Will it need isolation?
 
From my experience...

How and why does this happen?

Often it is due to lack of grit and or consumption of long strands of grass or things with high proportions of lignin. For example, eating hay or grass clippings.

For those with lots of experience- how often does it happen?

I have only had this happen once in 10 years, over a few hundred chickens. And this happened to a bird that hatched out on day 25 and was a little weakling to start with.

Can it be prevented?


Don't feed grass clippings as they are often too long, and be sure grit is available.


What is the outcome of a chicken that has suffered an serious impacted crop? Will it need isolation?

If it remains impacted, it will effectively starve. If though a surgery, it should probably be isolated till exterior wounds heal to prevent infections and infestations by maggots if in the summer.
 
From what I've read ( PLEASE correct me if I'm wrong) it commonly begins with sour crop and progresses from there. Sour crop is the mushy, stinky precursor to impaction and I think there is a way to get them to regurgitate the yucky stuff, but I don't know what it is. If anyone does, maybe they can teach us.
 
A girl on another group I belong to did a crop surgry on her chicken a few months ago, she didnt post pictures but the bird did great. She followed the directions in "The Chicken Health Handbook" by Gail Damerow. She followed step by step and was very pleased with the results. Thats when I went to buy the book. I wouldnt have the guts to do something like this myself. but I have done other type surgry casterating hogs, goats, and even assisting a C-Secton on a pig WITH A VET.

I also wanted to mention, (gail damerow probably has something about this also) but I think it was Storys Guied to Raising Chickens tells you how to casterate Roosters!
Looks pretty simple and not much to it.

Interested in reading more things about the cause and prevention of impact crops.
Thank you.
 
yes...a proper castration and the bird will in effect be just as "clucky" as any hen
 
Crop problems happen for many reasons. Often it begins in the intestinal tract due to something they have eaten that they shouldn't (like cat food) which then causes the system to back up and then food collects in the crop causing it to ferment then the lining becomes inflamed thus restricting the further passage of food. If the food sits in the crop too long, it will begin to rot causing sour crop, which is usually secondary to the real issue. Also, crop problems can be a symptom of other underlying issues including congenital problems. Other reasons for crop problems include: lack of grit, too much grit, eating hay or cut grass, gorging (restricted feeding), eating something that's not digestible and too large to pass through to the gizzard, lack of water, tumors, and........ anything else?
 
How do you tell when a bird has this impact crop?

Sometimes when I pick up my birds I can feel the big buldge and feel all the grain.

The nly grass clippings they get are from there own picking at the grass.

I guess I am lucky so far <knocks on wood> to not have any major issues with my birds!
 
Is there any remedies anyone recommends before surgery is required?
I've heard massaging the crop can help pass it but is there anything else? Especially to soften it up to pass better?
 

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