Crop problems, not sure what it is...

[Merchris]

Hi all, I hope someone can help us out. We have a little bantam hen that keeps getting a very full crop. It's about the size of a raquetball, which is pretty large for a little hen. This has happened quite a few times, and my husband will go out there and squeeze her to get some of it out. Sometimes it smells, sometimes it doesn't. Today however, she seems rather blah. I found her just laying down when I went out earlier, so I picked her up and she walked around and then seemed interested in food again. I'm not sure if I should let her eat or not. I'm thinking not. I've read some of the other posts on this, but I'm not sure where else to go on this. When we feel her crop, it feels very grainy, just like there is a bunch of food in there. We keep her in a closed in cage with 7 other bantams, and they don't have grass to eat or anything. They have their grit, crumbles, and water. I just don't know why this keep happening with her. I don't want to lose her, so any help you can give would be great. We have to do everything ourselves as there is no vet here that sees chickens.

Thanks so much for any help.

 

[zowieyellowflame]

I am no expert, but I have a hen that eats like this... she looks deformed after a big day of eating. I think the crop is meant to expand, and be big. Infact, some days my entire flock looks deformed. Their crop feels grainy.
My 2 cents....

 

[aveca]

SOUR CROP

This is compliments of practical poultry mag, I buy both backyard poultry and practical P.

You might want to search out this info for pics to illustrate exactly haw to do this. Some of the pics are pretty yuckey but I had to do this many years ago with a hen that we never bred due to this re-occuring problem with just her. Do look it up out on the net for yourself. It is called treating sour crop as it will get sour, you will know they will have a sour smell to their breath. If this is what chicken farmers do:

They pick up the chicken,.... gently and I mean gently massage the crop area, do not squeeze it if it is hard they give one eye droper of mineral oil they will not want it, but it is nessesary to help loosen compacted material and proceed the next day with the next step, lean forward and tilt the bird forward head down toward the ground for no longer than 30 seconds as to not cause chocking and they will expel stuff, give a rest and reassurance then do again if neccesary.

some chickens eat rough material and then have difficult time processing , it is more common in your younger chickens who tend to be real hungrey and gourge themselves.

Please research this for yourself, IMPACTED CROP, SOUR CROP TREATMENTS Read instructions carefull and follow step by step using the illustrations and or photos.

I would follow up with what would be what is the best feed for a bird with this problem recurring, It has been quite a while, I cant remember it all.

 

[Merchris]

Well, we have massaged and sqeezed her many times before, and we're getting ready to do it again, I'm just worried because this morning she keeps laying down. I'll pick her up, and she'll walk around again, but then I find her laying back down and I don't know if it's because she is so front heavy right now. She's a very tiny chicken and her crop is huge. My husband said she was normal yesterday morning, but then she filled right back up yesterday and now she just doesn't look so good. I gave her a little yogurt last night, but this morning she's not really interested. I massaged her a little this morning and she did a chicken burp, so I'm thinking it's getting sour again. It's just that we seem to have to squeeze her a lot. Should we change her food or something? I don't want to loose my little Molly. We've had her since she was an egg.