Are these photos of an impacted crop?

[madimorg]

Well I checked on her this morning when I went out to open up the coop and let them all into the run. She still has this and it doesn't really feel like it's gone down any. I can’t believe how large it is. When I feel it, it doesn't feel all that hard but it also isn’t squishy. Their run has straw on the ground spread all over (I did that for the winter to keep it from being too muddy) and the coop has wood shavings (the large bags of shavings you buy at Tractor Supply; not cedar). I'm wondering if this is maybe what is in her crop. Do you think I should try to make her bring this up thru her mouth or do an oil treatment or is this something that should be dealt with surgery right away? She does still have an appetite and hasn't lost any weight yet. This morning when I went out she was the first one to me to eat snow off of my boots. I wish I'd brought her in last night and kept her overnight as someone suggested so I'd be able to tell if she'd pooped any; such a simple smart idea but I never thought of it or saw the idea til this morning. I've got a call in already to my vet to see if I can get sutures and a scalpel just incase I need them. What would your first plan of attack be on this?

 

[mypicklebird]

If it is straw in her crop (they will eat this if they run out of food or if they think it is grass), you will not be able to move it out with oils, liquids, massages, vomiting her. She needs surgery. Before you do surgery- pull her out in the evening, put her in a carrier or box ect overnight- with no food. See if it goes down, and check her feces. If feces are small and dark dark green +/- white urates, she is not passing food. If she has normal sized green to brown poop and her crop is going down, you just may have glutton with a huge stretched out crop. Make sure her crop is actually impacted before doing/having surgery done. All of the oils and massage treatments will do is help break down hard food material or move out too much grit. ACV/wine treatment may help with sour crop. A bunch of straw moves for nothing & no-one other than a scalpel and hemostats/tweezers! Better to do surgery sooner than messing around with oil and massage as the hen slowly loses weight and condition.

 

[madimorg]

We have her in the house now... she has pooped in the crate that I have her in. It looks completely normal. However the crop is still just as big. She is feeling thinner at her breast bone area also. Still not sure what to do exactly... I hate to rush into a surgery if it's not really needed. I do not have food and water available for her right now in the crate.

 

[madimorg]

We haven't done surgery yet. Last night we finally decided that we'd first try the oil and pushing the contents of the crop up and out of her mouth. We used a syringe with a tube on it and putting the tube down her throat gave her 3cc of olive oil. After caressing the crop for about 3 minutes we then mixed up baking soda and water and using the tube and syringe gave her 6cc of the water. We wrapped her in a towel and my husband used his hands to push the crop contents up while I held her head in a downward angle with a pan beneath her. We did this twice and an amazingly large amount of yuck came up... we could tell her issue was straw that she had eaten. When finished we gave her a small amount of water down the crop again mostly as a ways to make sure that all the gunk in her mouth was out. She didn't seem that bothered by the entire process. The crop still had a bit left in it but nothing like it was. We just didn't want to put her thru the entire procedure for a third time and cause her stress. She spent the night in a crate with only water available. This morning upon checking her over the crop seems to have gone down more and she is still popping. After work we'll reevaluate her.

 

[silkieroo]

That is awesome!!

Please keep us posted!!

 

[terrilhb]

 

[Minniechickmama]

After having two of these this summer, I recommend that you keep her separated until you know the issue is resolved. Like someone else said, if it is straw that is binding up in there, you will end up doing surgery. If her crop is squishy and gassy feeling, you don't need to give her the oil to make her vomit. What IS really important is when you do make her vomit, that you have her completely head down. I hold them with their 'belly' side up and their head pointing down and that seems to work the best with the least amount of force to get the gunk out. I would do this 3 times a day until you know all of the contents are cleared. Feed her ONLY water with a little apple cider vinegar in it until her crop is empty. Trust me, if you rush these things you just have the whole cycle repeating itself.
Good luck.

 

[Zoey]

Feed her chopped tomato , the red color will get her going, they love tomato, and the acid from the tomato will help break down what ever is in there .. after it has sat in there a while, i'd massage the lower end of the crop, and try to break up any mass...

Don't feed her anything else, more food in the crop will just rot, and you'll end up with sour crop, get it mostly empty first.. if after 2 or 3 days, take her to the vet , you don't want her to starve to death slowly... this is what happens when they are impacted ...

Read through this ..

http://fowlfacts.proboards.com/index.cgi?board=afflictiondiseaseff&action=display&thread=1188

 

[Miss Lydia]

I have read so much on here about crop problems and straw I don't think I would ever use straw as bedding, course I guess they could do the same with pine shaving but I haven't heard of it.

 

[Zoey]

Straw isn't a good choice, as when it gets damp it quickly molds and can cause aspergillosis, and if you have mites, they can hide in the tubes of straw, avoiding any powder treatments to the coop/ housing.. it also clumps together, making it hard to pick up a small area of droppings... And lastly when they eat it , it is very hard on them...

Also never offer grass clippings, when they eat it in it's natural state, they tear off little peices, when you clip it, they must eat the whole long peice, and can birds nest in the crop, plugging them up...