After impacted crop, chicken is pooping a lot of water and throwing up liquid

[Kat Cosentino]

Hi everyone, I'm going to give you the short version of what has been a very long story! One of my hens had an impacted crop. After much effort, it magically cleared. To my amazement, she is eating and drinking again, acting normal and gaining weight. BUT her poop is super watery and she is occasionally spitting up liquid (which she then wants to drink). Her crop cleared last Friday, so it's been four days. I just noticed the spitting up part yesterday. She has been on my porch, so I would have noticed if it had been going on before. She is drinking a lot, which doesn't surprise me since she wouldn't drink at all before (I had to give her water with a syringe). Could this be the cause? I have read about ascites, but she isn't acting lethargic. Quite the contrary! Any ideas?

Thank you!

 

[RumneyRoost]

So her crop is full at night and empty in the morning?

I would be concerned that the impaction cleared her crop but may be causing a blockage further along, which is only allowing some liquid to pass through.

Any idea what caused the impaction in the first place?

Has it been hot where you are? Is it possible she's been drinking alot/enough that her crop is always full of water during the day, and it's in turn causing runny poops?

Have you observed any worms?

 

[Kat Cosentino]

Hi, and thank you for replying! Yes, her crop fills and then empties. She is definitely passing stuff through, because there is solid matter in her poop, but just accompanied by lots of water. I did crop surgery and pulled out some pretty big pieces of twigs. But after that, her crop filled back up and was not emptying, so I thought I must have missed something. This went on for two weeks after surgery. Before this, the vet had given me antibiotics for sour crop, so when I gave her her last dose, I was sure that sour crop was going to come back since her crop was full and that I was going to have to put her down this time. Then, all of a sudden, her crop started shrinking and she started eating and drinking and acting vigorous and normal.

I have not seen any worms, and about a month ago I preventatively treated the whole flock with ivermectin. So I don't think that's it. I have had chickens for decades, and this is the first time I've had one have an impacted crop, so I'm wondering if there isn't something else wrong. It is very hot here, so it could be that she's just drinking a lot of water, but the spitting up part is odd. Also, all of my hens drink tons of water, but no one else has runny poop.

 

[RumneyRoost]

I wonder if a course of probiotics would get things back to normal?
The malfunctioning crop combined with the antibiotics may have knocked her gut flora out of whack, resulting in the runny poops.
Some people like to give yoghurt to introduce probiotics, I don't, since chickens aren't meant to process dairy. I give probiotics that have been designed for chickens/poultry. Or in a pinch you could give human grade probiotics, but try to find one that has strains that have been shown to benefit chickens.

I have one hen who drinks until her crop is so full that water pours back out if I pick her up or if she pecks at something on the ground right away.