Crop emptying very slow, full in morning, likely blockage - looking for advice.

[Cinnaminute]

I think Helga's in the clear now but I'm still going to keep up some treatments with her and keep a close eye on her but today she gets to return to her normal flock life!

Thank you so much Lillith37 and Wyorp Rock! We wouldn't have gotten this far without your help and this wonderful forum!

Yesterday morning her crop was even smaller. It felt like a tiny little sack of rocks. They do have some spilled grit and oyster shell in their roosting place that I need to clean up so she might've had some in the morning. Gave her some coconut oil to lubricate her system and some probiotic water again. She didn't want to stick around because she needed to lay so I let her outside into their run. She got to spend all day out there as normal and when going to roost, I checked on her and her crop felt like everyone else's: full of food for bedtime.

This morning her crop was almost flat but not entirely. I felt it and there were a few pieces of grit/oyster shell there (not as much as yesterday). But that's when I noticed it feels like she has something hard in there that's a bit bigger than grit. About dime sized. Feels just like a bigger rock. When I was feeling around trying to figure out what it was, it seemed to make her uncomfortable. She stood there for a moment and moved her neck around a tad to readjust her crop. I don't know if it was the object bothering her or me. Her crop might be a bit sore from her ordeal or perhaps I was messing with it too much for her liking.

It's possible she ate something strange out in the yard. I always pick up any found trash on the property but it's possible they find something before me. I've already had to stop two different hens on two different occasions from eating a piece of broken lattice and a piece of some old garden plant tag. They seem to target white trash. So maybe she ate something like that. We also have had a ton of toads the past couple months. I haven't witnessed anyone eat any live ones. I've just seen the girls fighting over dead toad bodies and bashing them on the ground, but they never eat them. Don't think I want them to eat them anyway, so I pick them up and toss them. Who knows why they died. But this got me wondering...

When chickens eat things like toads, mice, lizards... how long before the bones pass? I imagine that mouse skull might be in there for a while, right? I wonder if Helga ate a toad...

Anyway, enough rambling from me. I think this will be the final update unless she has a flare up or something of note to share. Thank you again so much!

Some pictures of Helga in their run (please excuse the mess, fall cleaning has put me a bit behind on other chores):


I love her large red wattles. Helga and Leslie are the only two like this. They also have no beards or cheek muffs like the other Crevecoeurs.

 

[Cinnaminute]

Hi, I just wanted to update once more now that it's been 2 weeks. I have a little extra info to share.

So September 21st (day after my last post) her crop was a tad squishy in the morning. It was thankfully pretty small in size, though. September 22nd was the same; a little squishy but small. However, while she was eating her mush feed and probiotic water... she "barfed" when she leaned down to take a bite of food. The stuff that came up just looked like watered down feed so that was normal. However, I saw a piece of very brittle plastic(?) in the puke:


I think this is the clue as to what clogged her up. This is probably the large hard pieces I felt in her crop and what probably caused the initial back-up.

Anyway, after that she finished eating and I'm assuming the rest moved out of her system. Every morning so far, from Sept. 23rd to today Oct. 5th her crop has been empty. She poops normal and her crop is nice and full of food every night before bed.

I hate how the rains have been unearthing pieces of trash relics from who knows how long ago. I've found glass, plastic, even a restaurant cup + straw when I was digging out my garden spot. Horrifying, really. But that mystery is solved. I'll have to be extra vigilant in my trash pickup duty after heavy rains from here on out.

 

[Wyorp Rock]

Oh dear, yes, it could have been pieces of hard plastic that was causing the problems.
Hopefully those have finally passed. The gizzard *should* be able to grind that type of material up if the pieces are not too large and she has sufficient grit (crushed granite).

I'm glad you figured it out, but yes, it's interesting what heavy rains can churn up at times.

Thank you for the update.