crop problem, need urgent help with my beloved rooster

[Madde]

I live in Sweden so my English may not be that good but I hope you understand what I write anyway.


I need serious help.
I have made another thread in the forum but I then I understood that all the neck movements that my rooster makes have to do with his crop.
he has had problems with his crop for two weeks, it started with me noticing that he made strange movements with his head, I waited when he was feeling well, and the next morning I felt his crop and it was rock hard. then I understood that something was tricky with his crop, which is my nightmare when his mother died of her problem with crop, DESPITE the fact that we took her to the vet who emptied her crop, she never got well.

my rooster named Torsten turns 1 year old on 6 / 4-21 and is of the breed New Hampshire and he was born in a machine with his brother, and I have since day one loved him unconditionally, he is really the love of my life and I never thought I could get as close to a rooster as me and Torsten are close to each other, I know he loves me, he always wants to sit on my lap and he falls asleep because I kiss his neck and scratches his back, then he usually want to be kissed on the beak, he is so cute and I can REALLY not live without him, I really can not lose him, then I will never be able to get up again.

okay, his crop problem -
so he has for two weeks had a full crop in the morning (I check every morning before they wake up) but two days it has been almost completely empty and I got up the hope and was so happy, but then it was back to so it is now, it is HARD.

I only serve soaked pellets, multivitamin water with apple cider vinegar. I also make jucie from cucumber which I mix with water and serve in a bowl, because cucumber has a cleansing effect. and like pineapple, jucie makes it too, and they love it.

he has always pooped well, until 5 days ago, then he starts to get constipated (?) he poops like yellow green mucus mixed with a little green poop in it, very disturbing?
however, at night he barks a lot.
but I do not understand how he can be constipated suddenly, when he poops well all the time.

I give coconut oil every day, both in food and as a candy, and I massage him 4-6 times a day, I work half time so I am home from 9 in the morning, so have the whole day with him.
I usually give some mealworm as candy, because it is not hard.

BUT WHY DOES HE NOT GET GOOD ?? I've done everything I possibly can think of, except to isolate him, I can not do that because he panics without his girls, it would only stress him, IF he does not get really bad.
I notice in him that he is more off, but still as usual he is, he takes care of his girls, eats drinks, mates, dances for them, digs, everything. but I who know exactly how he behaves, can see that there is something in his behavior that is different, that he is a little more off.

please, can anyone help him?
what should I do, I have tried not to give food at 12h, etc., but his crop is not reduced, but is the same all the time, I get really crazy soon, I am constantly worried and cry myself to sleep every night.

Why I do not want to take him to the vet (there is A bird knowledgeable vet and it is 100 km from me, and I noticed that she may not be as knowledgeable as I hoped when I took my hen to her last year)
I prefer not to take him there because then he will need to be put to sleep, and there is a 70% chance of a completely healthy bird surviving anesthesia, and Torsten has since he was a child had repeated wheezing from the airways, and even became so bad that I treated him in a panic with antibiotics WHICH helped him and he recovered, but that's exactly what it is due to, I think his chances of anesthesia are not so great, and I can not lose him over a phone call and have to take his body home, it's not possible.
AND my hen who underwent surgery she only got worse and worse after the operation, until it went so far that we had to end her suffering.
I can specialize in more detail regarding the whole veterinary thing and the operation if anyone wants it but it feels irrelevant now.

Sorry for a long post, but really want to try to include as much as possible so it will be easier for you to understand the whole situation, but come up with questions about anything.
And one more thing, since November they have only been allowed to go to their chicken yard as it is bird flu in Sweden so they do not have access to anything inappropriate to eat or so.

Thank you for taking the time to read the post and try to help my Torsten, I am very grateful and it means so much.

 

[Madde]

His poop from the night

 

[Sally PB]

I'm tagging some people who are more knowledgeable than I am.

@azygous @Eggcessive @DobieLover

Can you please help?

 

[azygous]

Your English is as good as any and there is no problem understanding you. It does sound like a crop impaction, and that you've done everything you can think of to help this boy of yours. Crop surgery may be the only way to resolve this, so be thinking about that. You could do it or ask your vet to surgically remove the crop contents.

First, I suggest you try straight coconut oil not mixed with food, followed by a stool softener (not a laxative) docusate sodium and docusate calcium.

Get two teaspoons of coconut oil into him followed by the stool softener. Wait half an hour and massage, focusing your finger tips on the center of the hard mass. Keep massaging until you feel it begin to break up. Give more coconut oil and keep massaging.

A molasses flush, one-four cup warm water with a teaspoon of molasses stirred in, given to the rooster to drink can help flush the rest of his system. After doing this, is he's still constipated, and if there's still a hard lump in the crop, he may need crop surgery. I can instruct you haow to do it or you can take him to a vet. The surgery is usually low risk.

 

[Madde]

Your English is as good as any and there is no problem understanding you. It does sound like a crop impaction, and that you've done everything you can think of to help this boy of yours. Crop surgery may be the only way to resolve this, so be thinking about that. You could do it or ask your vet to surgically remove the crop contents.

First, I suggest you try straight coconut oil not mixed with food, followed by a stool softener (not a laxative) docusate sodium and docusate calcium.

Get two teaspoons of coconut oil into him followed by the stool softener. Wait half an hour and massage, focusing your finger tips on the center of the hard mass. Keep massaging until you feel it begin to break up. Give more coconut oil and keep massaging.

A molasses flush, one-four cup warm water with a teaspoon of molasses stirred in, given to the rooster to drink can help flush the rest of his system. After doing this, is he's still constipated, and if there's still a hard lump in the crop, he may need crop surgery. I can instruct you haow to do it or you can take him to a vet. The surgery is usually low risk.

thanks for your reply!
the situation right now is that i have taken him into a cage where he only has access to water and gravel. and the first night he emptied about half of his crop.
I gave some cottage cheese and mealworm for breakfast then fasted the rest of the day, the crop became soft when he drank water and I have massaged several times, despite that it was not emptied last night ..
I gave for two days a remedy that speeds up his stomach and he started pooping normally again. he made a lot of adjustments with his crop during the day he started pooping normally.

what should I do now? just keep massaging and not give him food?
and once his crop empties, how do I proceed with food? and how long after his crop works should he be inside? he gets so stressed when he hears his girls out there and has a hard time calming down, and prefers me to be with him all the time

 

[Madde]

My baby boy

 

[Madde]

 

[azygous]

You are doing just great treating this lovely boy, doing all the right things.
He may have a bit of yeast in his crop feeding on the remainder of the material in the crop. It may need a bit of help to pack up and leave.

Here is an article I wrote with a discussion on how to treat yeast. https://www.backyardchickens.com/ar...w-to-know-which-one-youre-dealing-with.73607/

 

[Madde]

You are doing just great treating this lovely boy, doing all the right things.
He may have a bit of yeast in his crop feeding on the remainder of the material in the crop. It may need a bit of help to pack up and leave.

Here is an article I wrote with a discussion on how to treat yeast. https://www.backyardchickens.com/ar...w-to-know-which-one-youre-dealing-with.73607/

it feels nice to hear!
I try to get in him a foot fungus cream that contains the same ingredients as the one you use in us, 2 times a day.

in the morning his crop is very small but not empty so it has been since Thursday morning.

but what I find unpleasant is that every time he drinks water, and then bends his head, it flows out through his beak. yesterday he sounded hoarse because there had been water in the airways .. do you know why it happens? he does not have bad breath and the water does not smell because it has just come down into his crop and then up again.
getting worried ...

and why does not the last little thing in his crop empty? it is so frustrating to come in every morning and have the hope that it will be empty but is always the same "ball" in there.
what should i do as the next step?

how often should i give food?
how often should i massage?

should I give more medicine that softens the stool? thought about if they help his crop in any way?

 

[azygous]

He may have an obstruction farther down in his gizzard causing the regurgitation. Do you have coconut oil? It's the easiest oil to use. Chilled slightly, it becomes solid and you can form balls that you can slip into his beak and let him swallow. Try that and then massage the crop focusing on the lumps. Try to break it up with your fingers, but be gentle. If he regurgitates when you do this, do not continue the massage.

Later, when the crop is mostly empty, you can give him a molasses flush. One-fourth cup of warm water with a teaspoon of molasses. Give it to him with no other water source until he drinks it all. This will stimulate his intestines to move material through and out of his system.