Are Impacted Crop and Molting related?

[lisababes]

My friendliest buff hen seems to have a plugged up crop, and is having explosive BMs of mostly water. She's still quite perky, but obviously something is wrong.
Im assuming impacted crop (it was bigger than normal and not going down) so Im following much advice I've gleaned on these forums - isolate from regular food, feed liquids, oil, crop massage, smooshed tomatoes, yogurt, etc. I hope I can get her back to normal.

One thing I noticed is that many people who mention impacted crop on here also mention that their bird is molting. (Mine definitely is) Are these two things correlative? Is this because they're so needing energy that they overeat? Or something to do with eating feather hulls? Feathers? Anyone know?

 

[Avalon1984]

Quote:
I have heard the same thing but not sure about the correlation. I just had to do crop surgery on a chicken that decided to eat a bunch of willow tree leaves that impacted her crop and she survived and is thriving again. Definitely keep an eye on her, isolate her, use ACV and massage the crop to see if the blockage passes. Good luck!

 

[lisababes]

Eek, I hope I don't have to do surgery. I did add ACV to water, and will massage again tonight. Fingers crossed that her crop has gotten smaller.

How do you know when/if you have to do the crop surgery/how long did you wait/was she really sick by then? I'd like to avoid that if at all possible.

 

[tiki244]

Hi neighbor

Here is a good link

https://www.backyardchickens.com/forum/viewtopic.php?id=2919

 

[3cutechicks]

How do you know the crop is impacted and what are the symptoms?

 

[Avalon1984]

I can vary a lot between birds. Usually you will see a decrease in eating, pale comb, lethargy, obviously a huge crop that doesn't go down overnight, etc. Especially when you start smelling stuff out of her mouth it is time to act. My chicken on the other hand was bright and alert, you would have never guessed that something was wrong besides the huge crop. I brought her inside and tried to massage it out for a day at no avail. Her breath started to get bad and I just figured I’d have to act. Once I had cleaned her crop thoroughly I realized that there was no way this mass could have passed. It was half rotten already, with leaves all over and it totaled at about 2lbs. It was scary, I will not lie, but I am happy I did it. Use this only as a last resort and if you don’t have a vet nearby. Disinfecting and keeping the wound clean will be your #1 priority for days.

 

[Avalon1984]

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You are correct, avoid it at all cost since it is evasive. I knew I didn’t have a choice when the stuff was not passing and she started to smell out of her mouth. It was either put her down or try the surgery and that was after a day of trying to massage it down. It would have never passed by itself. Feel her crop and see what you can feel. Is it more grain, is it mushy? I was surprised, I swore I felt all grain but once I got the stuff out it was 10% grain and the rest was leaves and junk.

 

[lisababes]

Symptoms: larger than normal crop that isnt emptying. Cant smell anything nasty near her face, but also cant pry her mouth open much (any hints on how to do that? we even tried with two people!). Explosive water-poos. Clear, liquid, with a couple brown/white/green trailings in it. She's probably had the water-poo for a week, I isolated her from feed 2 days ago, when I noticed her crop.

I'd say her crop feels more like silly putty or clay. Not really mushy, not super hard, but you can squish it into a shape. I have been massging it and giving her yogurt and olive oil, milk, a little tomato for two days, ACV water. but her crop still is bigger than normal, and there's no solid or even brown poops.

Luckily she's still quite alert with red combs, she mostly is hungry, I think.

Im just going to keep this up, but it feels like nothing is happening. Maybe I'll give a little bit of grit.

 

[tiki244]

grit wont help at this time. I believe grit is used in the gizzard. If I were you I would do a search on crop surgeries and get a feel for how it is done. And get the supplies ready. Then you can do it if it becomes necassary.(sp?)

 

[Avalon1984]

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Sounds quite a bit like mine as well except for the smell. Mine had runny poop too and once I stuck my hand in her crop everything inside felt unusually warm, like she was running a fever from the impaction or the pain. By the sound of it you may have to make a tough call on her situation. I’d maybe watch her another day but if nothing changes I would go looking for a vet (of course, it’ll be weekend by then). I’ll be hard to reach over the weekend but if you want PM me and I’ll give you my phone # so that you can call and I can talk you through the surgery.