Could it be the start of an impacted crop?

[nakstk]

Today I noticed one of my hens doing this head bobbing or rather pulling her head into her body repeatedly. She is still eating and drinking and her poop looks normal. I had her drink some ACV with water. I felt her crop and it is full and bigger then the other hens. Its just feels full not bloated or mushy. She is not acting sick but she just keeps bobbing her head.

 

[OregonChickenGal]

Sometimes they'll do that to adjust the food in their crop. Feel her crop tomorrow morning before she eats. That's when it should be empty. If it feels full then she probably has a impacted or sour crop.

 

[top of the hill]

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My girl just got over sour crop and did the bob and weave neck thing, thats how I noticed the issue. Remove the food from the coop tonight and check her first thing in the morning. If its still full and hard, it may be impacted and you should seperate her immediatly to control her food intake. Massage her crop regularly and give her olive or mineral oil to try to clear the impaction. You were right to give acv water as it is good for them anyway. no harm in keeping it out for all to share. Just make sure its a plastic waterer not metal. If its sour crop its a slightly different ball game, my girls crop felt like a water balloon and took nearly 2 weeks to clear. Let us know how it goes in the morning.

 

[nakstk]

Her crop was still full this morning. I put her in a crate by herself in the garage. I massaged her crop. I dont have any mineral or olive oil right now. I have to go buy some. When I put her break in the acv for a second and let it up some brown liquid came out her mouth. I am thinking its the little pine shaving bedding I am using in the nest box. Its new but left over from when they were chicks. At about 3.5 months old I had another chick get sour crop and she made it through with massage and acv. This time I am going to try the mineral oil. I havent seen her poop today.

She is still not acting sick like my other one did. So hopefully I caught it in time.

 

[nakstk]

After many crop massages and mixture of mineral oil, AVC and a few acidophilus pills being fed in small amounts. It took about 6 hours but she finally started to poop again. Shes pooped 3 times and her crop has gone down a little bit she is still doing the head bobbing thing, but she is still not acting sick. I will check her crop again in the morning.

 

[nakstk]

She still has a full crop this morning and she is still acting normal. This is so odd.

 

[top of the hill]

Just curious, is it squishy or hard?

 

[nakstk]

It feels like a bean bag. It is pliable but at the top is really squishy. She had no food only water and mineral oil all day yesterday and she didnt poop for 6 hours. She pooped 3 times before bed last night and only once today. Her crop is still full like the size of a baseball this morning. It's so confusing because she is acting very normal otherwise. She is walking normal, cleaning her feather like normal even squawking like normal. but she is still doing the head bobbing and not pooping normal sized poops they are smaller in size but look normal.

 

[nakstk]

Crop is still full and about the size of a baseball. No food today just water. She is really doing the head bobbing more frequently. She has poop 5 times today and it STINKS so bad.

She still is not acting sick besides the head bobbing.

 

[THELMA]

sometimes when the contents of the crop breakdown you can end up with sour crop as the food has been lodged there so long so you need to keep an eye on that.