- Mar 16, 2013
- 45
- 4
- 26
So my little chicken youngster seems to have an impacted crop. It started doing this odd neck movement last night - the other half said he thought it was trying to crow and I admit it has that look to it ... but my first thought was like it was trying to cough up a hairball or vomit. It had that sort of neck extension and slight body wrenching where the neck kind of bends down a little (like when a goose gets all hissy) in the middle and then a little shake at the end.
So I just thought I ought to see if that was an medical issue and it sounded like an impacted crop fits the bill, so found an anatomy chart so I could figure out where the crop actually was and yup - ping pong sized solid bulge. When I tried to massage it or squeeze it, it would seemed to bring on the "hacking fit motion" and it appeared to be distressed or not like that, so I decided to not do it.
I recently (about 3-4 days ago) finished the temporary outside run and had started putting it outside in the yard during the day for it to get used to "being a bird" and outside and learn to be a chicken. So yeah, probably has had lots of grass, clover, various weeds, whatever bugs, snails, slugs, worms ... I know I've feed it a couple of grapes every few days (broken up) and an asparagus tip and a few bits of banana along with the chick starter.
I did not offer grit, figuring it would just get it out of the ground - I do not have any available, but I do have fine grain sand and grit birdcage paper that I had left over from another bird though. So maybe that was too much greens too fast without giving it any grit to help break it up?
So we weren't comfy with forcing feeding liquids, but the chick has a water fetish (seriously it thinks its part duck, I swear) and so I thought why dont we just put a couple of drops on the water, and so that way when it is drinking, it can get a little oil into it as well without aspirating it. (I hope this was a good idea)
It's pooping fine. Has energy. Still wants to eat - havent fed it today but has free access to the water (with vegetable oil). Jumping up and down from its storage tub without any issue.
Soooo, not sure if the crop filling up is normal, pretty sure the hacking thing is not. Will be keeping a close eye on it. Should I try massaging it? Up or down? Firm or gentle? Leave it alone?
So my question is - after reading that too much fibrous greens like grass is known to impact the crop - I decided that I cant just put it back where it was without it happening again. I remembered that a lot of you guys said that you use sand in the runs/coops so I went out - cleared out the grass and vegetation under the run to the dirt, and then scooped out some sand on top of the dirt ... and I was planning to put the bird out there, but then had the thought - what if sand makes it WORSE?
It WILL eat the sand - for sure, without a doubt ... so is that a bad thing if there is crop impaction? Or would that actually help the issue and grind the vegetation so that it can pass?
Is it okay to have chickens on sand?
How do you eliminate such a thing for "free range birds"?
So I just thought I ought to see if that was an medical issue and it sounded like an impacted crop fits the bill, so found an anatomy chart so I could figure out where the crop actually was and yup - ping pong sized solid bulge. When I tried to massage it or squeeze it, it would seemed to bring on the "hacking fit motion" and it appeared to be distressed or not like that, so I decided to not do it.
I recently (about 3-4 days ago) finished the temporary outside run and had started putting it outside in the yard during the day for it to get used to "being a bird" and outside and learn to be a chicken. So yeah, probably has had lots of grass, clover, various weeds, whatever bugs, snails, slugs, worms ... I know I've feed it a couple of grapes every few days (broken up) and an asparagus tip and a few bits of banana along with the chick starter.
I did not offer grit, figuring it would just get it out of the ground - I do not have any available, but I do have fine grain sand and grit birdcage paper that I had left over from another bird though. So maybe that was too much greens too fast without giving it any grit to help break it up?
So we weren't comfy with forcing feeding liquids, but the chick has a water fetish (seriously it thinks its part duck, I swear) and so I thought why dont we just put a couple of drops on the water, and so that way when it is drinking, it can get a little oil into it as well without aspirating it. (I hope this was a good idea)
It's pooping fine. Has energy. Still wants to eat - havent fed it today but has free access to the water (with vegetable oil). Jumping up and down from its storage tub without any issue.
Soooo, not sure if the crop filling up is normal, pretty sure the hacking thing is not. Will be keeping a close eye on it. Should I try massaging it? Up or down? Firm or gentle? Leave it alone?
So my question is - after reading that too much fibrous greens like grass is known to impact the crop - I decided that I cant just put it back where it was without it happening again. I remembered that a lot of you guys said that you use sand in the runs/coops so I went out - cleared out the grass and vegetation under the run to the dirt, and then scooped out some sand on top of the dirt ... and I was planning to put the bird out there, but then had the thought - what if sand makes it WORSE?
It WILL eat the sand - for sure, without a doubt ... so is that a bad thing if there is crop impaction? Or would that actually help the issue and grind the vegetation so that it can pass?
Is it okay to have chickens on sand?
How do you eliminate such a thing for "free range birds"?
Mine do that sometimes too, it gets really hard but within a day its back to normal. The tub? Do you mean the coop? There is no size on a crop, it all depends on the hardness of it. if it stays soft and mushy, you're all good, if it gets hard and stays hard for more than a day, then you should pay attention to it. 
