Anything wrong with this?

[kjducharme]

Thank you!! This may sound dumb (and I admit great ignorance, new to chickens!!) but how would I tell the difference between an impacted and a sour crop? Hers is very squishy, can feel some solids (sometimes more than others)...I'll try to explore more posts, I did see the one post to surgically remove an impaction!

 

[kjducharme]

So, I read about both and sounded more like a sour crop, so my DH and I spent the last hour irrigating her crop until clear fluid came back out. Copious amounts of grass came out. We put her through the ringer, I don't think she's very happy with us, but I've got her inside in a dark box w/ only supplemented water (w/ vinegar) and plain yogurt as recommended by many. She was still squining (? a whiny-squawk...) but had calmed down quite a bit, unless I'm reading her wrong and she's dying!! Any way, we'll see what the morning brings, if she doesn't make it I'll be sad, but feel better that we tried to do something for her and she didn't just starve to death. (DH and I sure got a laugh about adding this one to our list of disgusting things we've done for our dog and kids, cleaning up dog/kid poop and puke, pulling grass from dog's bum, raisins from toddlers bum, and funniest/most disgusting of all...expressing our dog's bum glands which squirted all over the bathroom and shower curtain and nearly had the two of us throwing up!!! Aye!!!).
Any other suggestions are gladly welcomed!!! Thank you all for your help!!

 

[sben451]

I have a BLRW hen with a very similar problem. I'd be interested to know if your remedy proves helpful. I tried massaging her crop twice a day for several days. Next day it would look smaller, then later in the day, her crop would look huge again. I searched and found "pendulous crop" which seemed to be the correct description of my hen's symptoms. She really looked like there was a water balloon under the skin. I haven't done the massages in a few days and noticed today that her crop looks pretty big again. She seems to act normally, otherwise--eating and moving around just like the other hens. I also read about the crop surgery, but my hen's crop didn't feel hard--it felt squishy. So I don't know if it's really impacted. I noticed online that there are "bras" for hens with similar problems.

 

[kjducharme]

Oh my, chicken bras???

She is much better this morning, standing and active as she was before. Yours sounds similar to Ladybug's, always felt very squishy like a water balloon, but when I'd massage, she would have sour burps and would vomit often. I was very surprised that when we irrigated that we got so much crud (mostly large wads of grass/feed mix), so I do now think she was plugged up. She is drinking and did eat some yogurt (it was all over her beak!). I can still feel a firm golfball-size something in the crop area, I'm too ignorant about chicks to know if I'm feeling stuff in her crop or her gizzard; I felt it last night but I couldn't work it out and irrigation was coming out clear water, so I was doubtful that what I was feeling was further impaction. Anyway, I plan to feed her water and yogurt (I mixed olive oil in with it), and may give her some apple sauce as some others had posted.
Oh, BTW, I simply used a bulb syringe (we have young children and had some extras) to irrigate; would irrigate her upright, massage her crop to break things up, then hold her by her feet w/ one hand and back supported w/ other (DH did the holding while I did the "dirty work") and massage her crop downward up her neck, many times I'd have to help her work the stuff up as it would kind of get stuck in her throat, sometimes would have to pull it out of her mouth...it was pretty disgusting. She was surprisingly compliant throughout the whole ordeal; I really felt sad for her and all the vomiting, but knew that it was best for her; she was really starting to look bad, I don't think she was getting much nutrition.
Once she starts to eat regular feed, we will be sure to feed her more grit (we just started adding oyster shell to all of their feed) and perhaps keep her from ranging so she doesn't eat so much grass...??? I hope this is not a recurring problem!!
Thanks so much for your input, very interesting about the pendulous crop...I'll be interested to read more about this.

 

[seminolewind]

My hen has a huge crop and when I see her I think "what a burden to carry". It's hard like play-dough. I'm wondering if the weight is preventing it from emptying. When it's empty, it's pretty saggy.