Can a hen pass plastic pices

[chickie momma di]

I caught my hen eating small plastic pices out of the garden yeaterday. Hubby said he saw her do it a couple of days ago. I'm worried that she won't be able to pass the plastic. I havn't seen any in her waste but yesterday after thinking about it a bit I checked her crop (had to check anatomy chart first) and noticed that it seems full, a little swolen like a ball. It moves arround when i manipulate it. I'm gonna try some veg oil & massage to see if that helps and to seperate her and with hold food for a day and see if that helps. worried she might need surgery though. Still acting normal at this point. Hope I'm wrong.
Any suggestions would be appreciated.
O does anyone know of a chicken doc in the attleboro ma area?
Just in case.
Why is she doing this? Eating the plastic that is.

 

[LynneP]

Before getting too energetic, what are those plastic pieces? Do you have a pic? Bread soaked in vegetable oil may keep edges away from inside of crop and intestines if she will eat it.

If they are going to pass through you should start to see bits within 6 hours.

A vet may need to conduct surgery if it is possible for the plastic to cut the bird internally. If you go to a vet try to take a piece with you.

Funny how they will try to eat almost *anything*. Oh my.

 

[chickie momma di]

Don't know how to post pics yet but,
some are small pices of plastic plant pots like you get from the store dime size or smaller. assorted other things came from city compost center mixed in w/my black gold. tried to take as much out as i could find but she diggs it up. pices from soda bottle, cigarett pack, candy wraper. one thing looked like a pice of a dunkin doughnuts cup top. i had to put her in her run yesterday cause she just wouldn't stop! it became a contest as to who could get to the pices 1st me or her and she would bite me for them. will be doing a through screening of the yard on wed. not that is a mess but they find everything! we never had this problem w/her before. she just started laying again about a week or so ago after hatching and raising hopie her chick who is now 2 mos old. finally put all her weight back on and looks good. we want to keep her that way. love her dearly. i think we're gonna start w/some olive oil & with holding food overnight to see if it (the lump) goes down. then ??????????

 

[mypicklebird]

The crop is supposed to have stuff in it, do you have other hens to compare to? NORMAL full crops will fell like a squishy orange. Some are bigger. It should not feel like a rock, and it should not be full of air. Feel her crop at night when she is roosting, then feel it in the morning BEFORE she has any breakfast. If it still feels like a ball, she is probably impacted. If it is empty, it is not.

 

[chickie momma di]

thanks i'm gonna try that. she did feel the same this am as last pm though. that's what concerned me and i didn't know not to feed this am so how long should it take to go down? it does feel like an orange but smaller.