BAH! another impacted crop I think.

[sheeshshe]

I lost my sweet Yogurt this spring due to impacted crop. Her sister Pouncer I believe has it now too. Both buff orpingtons. I have 2 other buffs as well but I got them separate. I wonder if the 2 I got together are more susceptible to it for some reason? Heneyways..... I go to massage her crop and I feel like there is a hard as a rock area almost as big as a golfball. she gasps when I try and break it up. (I noticed that her bum looks exactly like Yogurts did when she had impacted crop. bum going in and out and in and out and all the feathers are a big mess) All I can think of is when I gave them the sunflowers from my garden to eat the seeds, she ate too many and they balled up into a large clump? Is that possible? I don't know what to do to help her. I don't think I can massage it out, it doesn't seem to do anything except move around in there. I am kind of just hoping that it will resolve on its own, which I doubt.

she's still acting mostly normal. Only every once in a while I see her sitting up on the ledge of the run.

 

[sheila3935]

when my liitle roo got impacted crop from eating long stands of grass, I gave him lots of olive oil then massage crop. Didnt let him eat anything for a day the later the next day he passed a large clump of grass. You can also surgically remove the impaction. I personally wouldnt do that I would take her to the vet. I know it is expensive but when I take on animals I believe its my responsibility to provide health care for them. My daughter just spent 100 dollars to have a tumor removed from her pet rat. The vet can remove the impaction alot better and safer than we can.

everything works out ok

 

[sheeshshe]

yeah, BTDT with the crop surgery. I don't want to do it again.

although I waited too long to do it with Yogurt. By the time I figured out what really was wrong with her it was too late. I thought it was egg bound the whole time. well, I got some oil into her and tried to massage but the lump kept moving around on me. so I kept trying to massage it out, she kept gasping for breath when I did it. I hope I wasn't having her aspirate stuff.

I need to separate her from the others I guess. I just dont have anywhere to put her. perhaps I could put her in the basement? its the only room I have in here, too much baby stuff taking up space in this place!

 

[swordgeek]

Have you tried changing her diet, in addition to the massages?

I spent a fortune at the vet's on an impacted crop on my crevecoeur, Blackie, last spring. At the time, she was an indoor chicken, and I didn't realize she wasn't getting enough grit or something (and had overeaten when left under my bird feeder unsupervised). Poor girl! She didn't eat for days, and oop was almost non-existent. I thought she was dying, and didn't know what was wrong with her. Multiple meds, the vet him sticking a long tube down into her to start breaking up the impaction, filling her with mineral oil, all sorts of ickiness.

I massaged, I fed her olive oil and Ensure (yes, the human drink) and her meds in syringes for weeks. It was sheer hell. But he never mentioned surgery. Seems like it took a few weeks to go back to normal.

Then we went away for a week this summer, and when I got back, I noticed her crop was starting to look big again, and she wasn't getting around too well. My pet sitter didn't notice anything wrong. By now, she was an outdoor chickens again, so I suspect it was because he was feeding them all sorts of dry bread as a treat and none of the lovely greens and veggies they're used to. I got to work immediately, dosing her with some olive oil, massaging her, switching her from layer pellets to crumbles, and feeding all the birds large servings of moisture-laden greens and fruit, but cut up into teeny bites, lots of yogurt, and AVC in the water. Anything that would make her start moving stuff through! She cleared up in a couple of days. I never separated her - it would have been too traumatic for her, and she'd worked too hard to get herself back in the pecking order. It's not as though it's contagious, right?

 

[sheeshshe]

right. she's not contagious. her vent is just going in and out ad in and out like Yogurts was doing when she had the impaction. and it doesn't help that my kids keep giving them more sunflowers from the garden every time I turn around!!!

OK, so please give me the line up of what to give them.

Buy some plain yogurt? fruit? what type of fruit? what else?

do I take out their pellets and just feed them this for a few days? put in more grit?