Compacted crop?! Please Help!

[BossyBantam]

Hi, I am almost 100% sure one of my bantam hens has a compacted crop. I have no idea how long she has had it. She acts almost completely normal, except for an occasional weird head bob. I have tried massaging and holding her upside down. She made these strange burp noises but nothing came up. I feel awful for letting this happen. She is skinnier then normal, so she must have had it for a while, and she still tries to eat. I have her separated with a bowl of water.

 

[BossyBantam]

So, we ended up doing surgery. Two good family friends came and did mostly all of it. One is an EMT and one is a nurse. Bossy is sleeping right now (Bossy is the hens name). Right after surgery she tried to preen herself,which is a good sign i guess. I hope she gets better!

 

[AustralorpsAU]

Hi Welcome To BYC. Glad you joined us.
Check out this article
https://www.backyardchickens.com/a/impacted-slow-and-sour-crops-prevention-and-treatments

 

[BossyBantam]

I’ve squirted water in her beak and massaged some more to try and break up some of the stuff in there. I really don’t know what else to do. Help?

 

[chickcrack]

I suggest you seperate her so you can monitor poop. 1/2 tsp epsom salts in 1/8 cup of water syringed into her beak slowly. Get as much of it into her as you can. Remove her food and give her plain water only. She will be very thirsty after this treatment. Can you feel a hard ball in her crop? The crop massage is good. Keep doing it. I can't see where you are located. Is it night there? If so I would do this treatment now and try to leave a dim light on for her so she's able to drink through the evening. Feel her crop in morning and if it hasn't gone down give another treatment. There's other great tips in the article attached above to try but I have found this one works great. Let us know how she's doing.

 

[BossyBantam]

Thank you for the suggestion, I am going to try that right now. She has been separated for about 24 hours. Her poop actually looks almost normal, which is kind of confusing. This morning I massaged her crop and fed her some granite grit.

 

[BossyBantam]

Thank you AustralorpsAU for the article link, it is very helpful. I have been doing some of the things listed there.

 

[AustralorpsAU]

Thank you AustralorpsAU for the article link, it is very helpful. I have been doing some of the things listed there.

You're very welcome

 

[CuzChickens]

I have heard that as a last case resort, You can use a sterilized box cutter knife and cut a 1/4 inch slice in their crop and gently remove and rinse the crop and then use surgeons glue to put it back together. I am not sure if that is a good idea or not. I have just heard it.

 

[BossyBantam]

I have read about that also. I’m not sure I could do it, I’d be to worried about hurting her. Unless the other stuff I have been doing doesn’t work, then surgery is plan B.