Crop Impaction & Infection

[ItsChicky]

A favorite hen is struggling with a crop impaction and infection. Over the past 5 days we have attempted:

• Epsom Salt mixed with water via oral syringe
• Free access to grit and water only
• About 48 hours of eating coconut oil with crop massages multiple times a day
• Last night we gave 2 capsules of docusate sodium

All that she has passed for the past 3-4 days is the green bile poo, which she will consistently pass. Last night she did have a tiny bit of fecal matter in the bile poo, I'm assuming as a result of the stool softener. She does roost in her hospital crate at night and moves around a bit on the floor during the day. She will eat coconut oil when I offer it and she has been drinking, just not a ton.

At this point I'm hoping someone can advise me on how to keep moving forward to treat her. I've been following the popular guide that is often referenced on here, and I'm just unsure on how long I should be trying each treatment. I'm also wondering if this is the time to try to supplement her with additional hydration due to the treatments I've been given. She does not appear to be obviously dehydrated and her crop does have plenty of fluid in it along with the mass (I think long grass). Even with that said, she has drank less than 5-8 oz of water over the past 5 days, so I think supportive hydration might now be needed.

The mass in her crop is moveable, and I can feel grit in there along with what I believe is grass. I can move the contents up to the top of the crop to try to let the fluid drain, but I don't believe the fluid is draining at all. Any specific guidance would be greatly appreciated.

 

[Fluffy_Moth_With_Silkies]

A favorite hen is struggling with a crop impaction and infection. Over the past 5 days we have attempted:

• Epsom Salt mixed with water via oral syringe
• Free access to grit and water only
• About 48 hours of eating coconut oil with crop massages multiple times a day
• Last night we gave 2 capsules of docusate sodium

All that she has passed for the past 3-4 days is the green bile poo, which she will consistently pass. Last night she did have a tiny bit of fecal matter in the bile poo, I'm assuming as a result of the stool softener. She does roost in her hospital crate at night and moves around a bit on the floor during the day. She will eat coconut oil when I offer it and she has been drinking, just not a ton.

At this point I'm hoping someone can advise me on how to keep moving forward to treat her. I've been following the popular guide that is often referenced on here, and I'm just unsure on how long I should be trying each treatment. I'm also wondering if this is the time to try to supplement her with additional hydration due to the treatments I've been given. She does not appear to be obviously dehydrated and her crop does have plenty of fluid in it along with the mass (I think long grass). Even with that said, she has drank less than 5-8 oz of water over the past 5 days, so I think supportive hydration might now be needed.

The mass in her crop is moveable, and I can feel grit in there along with what I believe is grass. I can move the contents up to the top of the crop to try to let the fluid drain, but I don't believe the fluid is draining at all. Any specific guidance would be greatly appreciated.

I'd massage the crop, which it seems you are doing, and give her anti-bacterial and anti-parasitic drugs to help it out. Antibacterials are what you should start out with, though. If it continues and gets really bad, you might have to drain the crop of fluids by a vet.

 

[ItsChicky]

I'd massage the crop, which it seems you are doing, and give her anti-bacterial and anti-parasitic drugs to help it out. Antibacterials are what you should start out with, though. If it continues and gets really bad, you might have to drain the crop of fluids by a vet.

Yes we've been massaging the crop for the past 5 days. Unfortunately there are no avian vets near me. What drugs would you recommend and where would I be able to access them? I'm trying to seek advice about what I can specifically do for her

 

[ItsChicky]

Small update:

I syringed plain water into her mouth slowly, allowing her to drink while massaging her crop. Once she hit the 30ml mark she stopped accepting water so I switched to only massaging. She then started regurgitating this liquid over a 15 minute period. It measured out to roughly 6ml of fluid. She's back to resting in her hospital crate for a bit. She's grooming herself and showing interest in trying to find food, so I'm still hopeful there's a way for me to help her out of this. Any guidance would be greatly appreciated! For next steps I'm considering trying a black strap molasses flush or a ACV flush this evening (I'll keep researching in the meantime to decide which). I'll most likely attempt to give her another dose of Docusate Sodium if I don't see improvement after this evening.

 

[ItsChicky]

Small update

She is still alive. The past few days she seemed to be getting worse. I withdrew treatment, gave her some normal feed with yogurt, and tried to let her have a normal "last day". She ended up getting strong enough that I delayed it a day, then another. Last night she passed normal manure for the first time since this whole thing started. Today she still seems distressed and has a full crop, but I'm hopeful that since she was able to pass manure, she might respond to treatments better. The plan to move forward is to continue the yogurt, and attempt to give her monistat, despite still having a full crop.

I'd still love any suggestions for helping empty her crop of the long grass! I'll attempt to make her some Spanx this evening to see if that helps. Has anyone had any luck breaking down long grass in the crop with oral treatments? I could go back to trying ACV. I know in horses they'll tube coca-cola into a horse to help clear an impaction, anyone try anything like that with a chicken?

 

[Tookie]

I'm not sure what to do, but I'll tag some experts since it seems like you really need the help. @azygous @Wyorp Rock @Eggcessive

I wish you the best of luck with her!

 

[ItsChicky]

Thank you! If there's any specific medication that may be needed, my dog's vet may be willing to write an Rx for it, but I don't have access to any vet that would actually treat a chicken.

 

[ItsChicky]

For dinner I gave her a mix of yogurt, apple sauce, oils (olive, sunflower, and coconut), chick grit, some grain, and some dried oregano. No meds tonight in hopes I here back from someone on the best way to move forward in that area. I did remove the remaining food and water in her crate to hopefully get a better feel of her crop in the AM.

I did fashion a sports bra for her as well out of some old pantyhose. I realized after the fact that my pictures weren't the best, so I've underlined her crop in red to help show what it currently looks like.

She's back to roosting in her med crate for the night. I do have an alternative med crate set up (clean and unoccupied) that has a foot wide platform for roosting instead of a bar. Would switching her to that set up help flatten her crop, or is true roosting still preferred? I'll provide an update in the AM.

 

[lightm]

You are a good chicken mama.

One question: how did you serve the stool softener? Did you squeeze out the content and discard the gel capsule?

For my chicken, she suffered impacted crop for a month so do not give up on your hen.

Have you read this article? https://www.backyardchickens.com/ar...ntion-and-treatments-of-crop-disorders.67194/

I may try to buy acidified copper sulfate online and start treat her with that.

If you are comfortable with tube feeding, you may tube feed her some baby bird food mix. It can help things moving.

 

[lightm]

I have also found this thread helpful in the past: https://www.backyardchickens.com/threads/incomplete-impacted-crop-treatment-please-help.1587770/