Are these photos of an impacted crop?

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I'll keep this in mind... I just thought I'd be safe using it in the run spread on the ground. In the coop and nest boxes I use wood shavings only. I guess I'll need to find something else that will work for keeping the winter mud more manageable. Thanks.
 
I used straw outside to keep the chickens busied when it is snowy (half the year here, it seems
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) and they don't seem to eat it. What I have gotten out of impacted or sour crops were pieces of grass mostly. I don't feed them clippings, it is just where they go out and eat grass. It was two Welsummers I got as started pullets last spring. I ended up losing both of them after a few months of treating and retreating and one I did surgery on but she developed and infection and I put her down finally. The other pullet, I would get her cleared up, she would be okay to put back out with the flock and in a couple of weeks she would have sour crop again. I think part of it was from where she got so stretched out in her crop that it just wasn't contracting to push the food through any more and so it wasn't clearing completely. I would see her crop filling up and it was always runny, stinking gunk with a lot of mucous and gas. After a few times of treating her with yogurt and ACV and taking away grains or anything else, I finally gave up with her. She was over 6-months old and never produced and egg and wasn't about to for a long time, there was hardly anything to her.
 
Sorry that happened Minnie, I have never thought much about the chickens and grass being a problem but I know my goose isn't suppose to eat long strands of grass because of crop problems. When I first started with ducks I used straw for bedding , but as you probably know if you have ducks or geese it is not very good bedding so I switched to pine shaving years ago and sure do like it much better.
 
https://www.backyardchickens.com/forum/viewtopic.php?id=435506 Check this out. I just went throught the same thing with my cochin. I performed the surgery as a last option and She is alive today because of it. The stuff that came out of her was unbelievable! There was no amount of massage and oil that would have loosened that! It was packed with hay which I also put down in the pen when it rains to prevent mud. Their nest boxes also have hay. Before winter I removed the hay and put down a truck load of sand which works great. Sylvia is now 5 days post-op and doing fantastic! The link is to a description of our issues and all the support and suggestions we received from concerned members of BYC. Thanks to them I was able to pull this surgery off. My friend actually filmed it! I hope your girl gets through this. I feel it is better to act sooner while the hen is still strong. If she gets real skinny and frail she will have a much harder time.
 
Update... she is still in the crate. I am feeding her peeled tomatoe this evening and of course she has water available. She has something still in her crop. She is pooping plenty and it looks normal except for a bit oily (she had olive oil yesterday we put into her crop so that would make sense).
 

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