Bantam hen choked to death? Why?

[Sunny Side Up]

I volunteer at the Poultry Tent at our county fair. Yesterday was the day to bring our birds in. One man had a lot of pretty little bantams, little Dutches. Suddenly one of the other volunteers yells to me "Do you know how to clear an impacted crop?" I went to see and the little hen was already limp & lifeless. Her crop didn't feel too stuffed, but her beak & throat were filled with crumbles. The owner said it happened because he feeds his birds moistened crumbles & they weren't used to them dry. ???!?!?!??

His other birds were doing fine. This man has shown birds before at our Fair, I asked him "Why don't you get your birds used to dry crumbles if you know you're going to show them here?" My own bantams, & everyone else's birds, do well on dry crumbles, at home I feed dry pellets.

What caused this hen to die? The dry food? Impacted crop? Was she too hungry & bolted the feed? What could have been done to remedy this if noticed in time?

 

[Feathered Wings]

Sounds too me like it was that she was too hungry and ate the dry feed to fast.

When i have been gone all day and late for feeding my chickens are seriously hungry and sometimes i have one just stuff themselves and choke.
The thing i do in those situations is to take the chicken turned it upside down and remove the feed from the mouth then squeeze out the feed in the throat.

 

[Barnyard]

I agree with Feathered Wings on everything she just said!!

 

[skyedobb]

Totally agree. Or if he (or anyone else) knows their birds are used to wet, should bring some oil or water with him/them to add to the food. If bird is choking, just like human, and food is visible in mouth, remove it!!

 

[Sunny Side Up]

This hen was so tiny, a dear little blue-grey (lavender?) Dutch bantam, I don't know how you would clear out a mouth & throat that small in a hurry that wouldn't make things worse. Especially since it wasn't my own hen & the situation took me by surprise.

 

[jeslewmazer]

I have had chicks gobble the crumbles down if they run out of food when I'm at work. I make sure they have plenty of water available first then give the feed. Some of my bantam chicks would get a stuffed throat and plenty of room in the crop, so I would dip their beaks in water and massage the food down and re-dipping their beak until the food goes down or they start to get it down themselves.
To remove food you could try to use something small like a straw and genitally try to move the food. Maybe?

That is my personal experience, don't know if that helps any.

 

[KKatknap]

Quote:
How very sad.

Not your fault - sounds like she was already gone when you got to her. At least you'll know what to try if it ever happens again.

 

[Year of the Rooster]

This almost happened to my rooster. I saw him flailing on the ground and breathing hard so I went and he had crumbles in his throat and mouth. I used my pinky and get as much food out as possible and I massaged his throat for a few minutes. After a bit he started swallowing it and everything was fine. That's one reason why I prefer pellets...

 

[silkiechick05]

My silkie did this just last night. I was about to leave and heard a deep cough. I opened the door and he had his head low and mouth open. I grabbed his sides and pushed really hard (and short, like the hiemlich maneuver) three times and he was fine. He too was eating dry crumbles