Chicken chest feels like there is hay stuck????

[CorralitosSunflower]

So I am new to the chicken thing and have only two. One of them is a little over a year whom I love dearly. She was a happy chicken until I got her a "buddy", free ranging all day and laying an egg a day. When I introduced her new friend a 3 month pullet she immediatly stopped free ranging and laying eggs altogether. She now and has spent the last two months in the nesting box and rarely moves. I put her down and she will eat and drink a bit and than mosey right on back to her nesting box. I just noticed today when picking her up to get food and water that it actually feels like there is straw stuck in her chest!!?? Could this be? I used it as bedding material for them until today when I switched to wood chips after panicking over her. Do chickens eat straw? can they digest it? What if anything should I do for her?

 

[Hangin Wit My Peeps]

I have heard of chickens eating lots of straw/hay and getting crop impaction. I hope this is not the case

I never used straw/hay because of all the horror stories I have read here. I sure hope she is ok and that someone here can help ya out. Open her mouth a bit and see if you notice a bad smell? There should be no smell but if there is a bad one then that's what it is

Good luck! There is a crop impaction surgery thread and how to do it if you are able to do something like that.

 

[Hangin Wit My Peeps]

Oh I believe I have read someplace that you can pour olive oil over their food to help get the impaction to move.

 

[BirdMom]

Sounds like she went broody. She's been broody too long, it's time to break her of it. Close off the nesting box so she can't get into it for a few days, search for posts on here about breaking a broody, or get her a few chicks to raise.

Is there a lump in her crop, or are you maybe feeling her bones because she may not have been eating enough all this time of being broody? Do you have a picture?

Good luck, hope she gets better soon if she's got a crop impaction. Do a search for that, too, there's tons of information on byc about it.

 

[BarkerChickens]

Sounds like she went broody (re: the nest sitting). As for the crop, sounds like an impacted crop. You'll need to separate her and limit her food to bread soaked in olive oil. The reason is that bread is soft and easy to digest, while the olive oil is meant to "lube" up the crop to help the impaction pass. Impacted crop can be fatal if not treated. If you do a search on here, you will find many posts on how to treat it.

Good luck!

 

[Hangin Wit My Peeps]

If she is broody you will here a funny clucking from her. And she will seem all puffed up. Could be broody and if she is just put her in a cage for a few days with food and water and she should snap out of it. What type of chicken is she? They won't lay eggs if they are broody so could very well be. But then again most won't lay while they are not feeling well either.