Advice? Can’t get rid of her sour crop. Clay like lump

[micstrachan]

Hmmm... unless the syringe itself was pretty warm, seems like it would harden to me. I don’t see why not, but be SUPER careful, as I think aspirating oil could deadly.

 

[micstrachan]

Oops. Didn’t see @azygous post. What do you think of melted oil since OP is good at syringing?

 

[colette peters]

It does sound like impacted crop. I urge you to keep trying to treat it because an impaction can start to ferment, and then you'll be dealing with sour crop as well.

As @micstrachan points out, coconut oil is a lot easier to get into a chicken beak when it's in solid form. Try to get at least a teaspoon down her. When you massage, use two fingers and work the hard lump as you would a tight muscle cramping.

You can give more coconut oil after the first dose doesn't seem to break up the lump. If the second dose of oil fails to do the job, get a stool softener capsule and pop it into her beak along with more oil. This time let her rest for about thirty minutes to an hour. Then massage. This time you should be able to feel the lump begin to dissolve. Keep massaging until you no longer feel the lump.

@azygous Thank you. I’ve tried the stool softener but diluted it with water and syringed it and don’t think it worked. But I’ll try your way tomorrow. It’s really hard to get anything out of those capsules. But I’ll try anything.
I did notice today the impact seems to be getting lower than before. I massaged 4 times today. Maybe that’s why??
I’ll see in the am where we are at.

Today I did syring the copper water in her, because she refuses to drink. If she does drink, it’s not very much.

 

[colette peters]

@azygous what can I feed her that She’ll eat that’s substantial during this process of condiment and impacted crop? @micstrachan thinks she’s not eating enough by the pic I posted of her poop.

 

[colette peters]

Hmmm... unless the syringe itself was pretty warm, seems like it would harden to me. I don’t see why not, but be SUPER careful, as I think aspirating oil could deadly.

I’ll try the frozen first and see where we are at.

 

[micstrachan]

Colette, my go-to for a really sick hen is raw egg. Yeast busting foods like kale can be good for sour crop, but now that it seems more like an impaction, I’d stick to soft stuff. You already tried damp feed, right? I’d try it again. Hopefully the coconut oil and massage breaks this thing up.

 

[azygous]

Often a chicken with impacted crop won't feel much like eating, but they do tend to drink lots of water. Chickens can go a few days with no food, I would just offer her very soft, liquid food such as Greek yogurt, raw egg as @micstrachan suggested, or soft boil it, baby food is good. Don't force her to eat, though, at this stage. Once the impaction is cleared, she'll get her appetite back pronto.

By the way, when you massage, do it in an upward motion, aiming for the "drain" at the lower one-third of the crop. This raises the contents toward the emptying spot.

 

[colette peters]

Often a chicken with impacted crop won't feel much like eating, but they do tend to drink lots of water. Chickens can go a few days with no food, I would just offer her very soft, liquid food such as Greek yogurt, raw egg as @micstrachan suggested, or soft boil it, baby food is good. Don't force her to eat, though, at this stage. Once the impaction is cleared, she'll get her appetite back pronto.

By the way, when you massage, do it in an upward motion, aiming for the "drain" at the lower one-third of the crop. This raises the contents toward the emptying spot.

@azygous Thank you.
Woke up this morning and the crop was sour and full like a ballon. I got a lot out and she seems to be feeling better.
I put out a raw egg and she has no interest in it. She will not drink anything. I’ve been monitoring her for 12 days all day.
I’ve tried monistat, lemon, cayenne, cinnamon, ginger mix, copper water, crumble mush, plain yougurt, ACV, EVO
Pretty much everything. I did try the coconut oil frozen and she kept rejecting it so I warmed it up and syringed it and got a teaspoon down and massaged for about 5 min upward. Still feel the mass. I’ll try again in an hour.
I did cut up finely a Brussels sprout and she devoured it.
But I am at a loss! I can’t seem to get this to pass. I’m open to anything as you can see. All your comment are so helpful. I check my emails just see your response. So thank you
@azygous @micstrachan

 

[chickengoggles]

I am a complete newbie, so take this with a grain of salt. One of our easter eggers ate a bunch of hay, which got stuck in her crop. I syringe fed her water and water/plain yogurt mix several times a day for days, massaging the crop each time. Eventually the holiday weekend ended and I took her to the vet. It was much smaller by the time she saw her, but still had zero appetite. She gave me a liquid steroid, and three or four days later (plus the original three days) she started eating again. Hers never got sour, though. I hope it resolves for your hen soon!

 

[azygous]

As @chickengoggles pointed out, a crop impaction of hay can be one of the most stubborn of all. I've read similar conclusions to threads on impacted crops that it required multiple days and continual massaging to get those to break up.

When I treated a Cream Legbar hen for a hugely impacted and sour crop, I went at it in a very aggressive manner, almost obsessive. I gave her double doses of coconut oil followed by ten minutes of massage, then introduced more oil immediately, and did more massage. A couple hours later, after no luck, I popped an entire stool softener capsule into her beak, followed by two more teaspoons of coconut oil. This time I let her rest for about an hour and did a massage, and I kept at it until I finally felt the huge mass begin to break up.

I kept up the massage for ten or fifteen minutes until her crop was mostly clear of solid matter. Then I started the treatment for sour crop right away.