Can you manually help a rooster Puke up a Large Object Stuck in his Crop?

[elcgoodman]

For the last 2 days our rooster has been inside because we could tell he was suffering from something. We've deduced that he has an impacted crop, and possibly sour crop. All day his crop has felt very gritty "like a hacky sack," my sister says. Just now we felt a very large (to be in a chicken's crop) object. It is about 2 inches long and maybe an inch in diameter, and very solid feeling; we can't tell what it is. Maybe a large bolt? Or a rock or bone? It does not seem like something that will be able to pass through his system, is it possible to help him throw it up? We were thinking of lubing up his system by feeding him oil, and massaging it up and out, perhaps with the help of some needle-nose pliers or tweezers at the end. Sounds terrible, but it seems like it could be the cause of his impacted crop.
I can't tell what all the gritty feeling stuff is. A friend of mine who has raised birds for decades stopped by today and said it felt like grain in his crop and that he needs some grit. I bought some laying hen grit and sprinkled some on the floor and in his food but he's hardly touched it.

Any thoughts on our expelling plan are much appreciated! I really don't want to take him in for surgery...

 

[casportpony]

I actually did this once before... it wasn't easy, but it can be done.

-Kathy

 

[elcgoodman]

Wow, it's castportpony! Someone just referenced another thread for me to read that someone else had written about crop tube feeding and she had gotten a lot of her info and inspiration to try it from you

So, any tips for me about the process?

 

[casportpony]

I would start by tubing just fluid, like 30ml, just enough to loosen the feed, grasses and object. Then very carefully I would start massaging it up and out. The only risk I can see is if ithe object puts pressure on the trachea as it comes out, then you'd need to work very quickly, lol. IMNSHO, this should only be attempted if the bird is stable enough for the procedure, otherwise the stress could send him over the edge.

 

[casportpony]

The tube looking thing on top is the trachea, below it is a large, red crop tube in esophagus. You can see how a large object might obstruct the airway as you back it out.






Crop


Crop








-Kathy

 

[elcgoodman]

All right, I don't have a tube so I'll have to go the slow route and syringe little bits until I've gotten 30 mL into him. Then should I tilt him forward (or almost upside down?) to massage it out? Do you think some oil is a good idea too? I will wait until morning when he seems to be perkier. He is walking around and pecking at food occasionally so I'm hoping he'll be up for this and we're ready to act quickly. If we succeed at getting it out, what should we do for him/ provide him with immediately afterwards?
Other than surgery, this seems like my only option. He can't live with it in there forever can he? And he seems like he's only going to get weaker if we wait longer.
Thanks Kathy

 

[casportpony]

The sooner you get it out the better. You can also use aquarium tubing instead of a feeding tube/catheter, just take a lighter to the end of it to soften the edges. No oil, risk of aspiration and lipoid pneumonia way too high, IMNSHO, lol.

I'm no expert, but I think if the object clears the crop it will cause a blockage that will require surgery and if somehow it makes it all the way into the gizzard he will not survive.

-Kathy

 

[casportpony]

Oh, I would not tilt him forward, you don't need any of that fluid draining out and into his airway.

-Kathy

 

[casportpony]

Update?

-Kathy

 

[elcgoodman]

This morning we couldn't locate the large object. My husband thinks that we may have mistaken it for some bony part of his body, but I don't think so. I was feeling for his breastbone when we located the object and it wasn't that. So we decided not to puke him, just tube feed him to help give him energy so he can try to work things out himself and continue gently massaging his crop. (He wasn't eating or drinking anything on his own today). For his tube feeding, we blended up about 60mL of: raw egg, some yogurt, a little cayenne, electrolyte water, and some of the lentil+oats schlop we'd made. I'm afraid the large object is going through his system and there's nothing we can do now. Also, his crop is starting to feel stretched out - possibly pendulous

I know that's not a good sign. Also, 45-60 minutes after tube feeding he began pooping out large amounts of very fluid looking, yellow, mucusy poop. It had already been looking like that most of the time we've had him in, but this was just about 3x as much. It seems like it must be what we just fed him because he hasn't eaten much of anything else for the last 24 hours. Seems like it's moving through too fast, I'm wondering if he's even absorbing any nutrients.
I am trying to not lose all hope for Moby, and at the same time not getting my hopes up too high that he will survive. Thanks for your support, next time we have a sick chicken I think we'll have more confidence that we can do something to help sooner, not to mention have more supplies on hand already.