Crop questions please help.. **HEN PASSED - GROSS CROP FINDINDS PIC**

[Crazy4Chicks]

I am sorry - I did not mean to type cedar chips - we use wood chips that come in a huge bag you can get at the TS for 9.00 for two bags. I found the thread that was posted back in Dec. she looks like my girl ( well other than being a silkie lol ) I am going to do everything I can to help her , there is no way I can take her to a vet at this time - we just have the money right now - I will give the tomatoe juice and see if that helps , worse case if this not get better I will have no choice but to cull her - I dont think I could stand to see her walking around like this forever.

thank you all for the great advice and all the links - I will keep you all posted on what happens with her


Julie

 

[dlhunicorn]

I have extensive information but it is quite a bit of reading... there is however somethings you can do yourself... a crop bra for instance in this case might help too in addition to massaging the mass to move any obstruction through (sometimes you must be vigorous) and dietary measures. Trying to correct the situation yourself will be difficult but not impossible and if you are patient you might jst obtain satisfactory results (all you can do is try ) Here is the link :
http://dlhunicorn.conforums.com/index.cgi?board=emergencies&action=display&num=1161893898

 

[CarriBrown]

Crazy-
Keep us updated on your girl. I'm so glad I ran across this thread... My BLRW, Potpie, has this problem but DH and I just joked that she had a "beer belly". I had no idea it could be a health problem. Like your girl, she eats, drinks, lays, and is otherwise totally normal. She's just one of those hens that pigs out on everything.

I read the post that Seachick started back in December and she did great re-caps of what she did and how the bird was. I'll be following what she did, and since the vet is not an option for you, you may want to try it, too. Here it is to make it easier to find (for both you and I!!):

For anyone searching for info on crop problems in the future (as I spent hours doing) here is a recap:
Initial Symptoms: very full crop that did not empty at night, not rock-hard but pliable like modeling clay, could feel fibrous material. Thin bird. "Dandruff" of flakes off the feather quills>
First treatment: Isolated bird to dog crate inside, on newspaper so she wouldn't eat any more fibrous stuff and I could monitor poop. Massaged the crop for 5-10 minutes periods ever few hours. Fed water with raw apple cider vinegar (a small splash in the waterer) and plain live-culture yogurt mixed with baby-bird-food from the pet store.
The next day her crop had partially emptied but still had some finrous, clay-like solids. Fed more of above foods, plus bread loaked with A LOT of olive oil, and later with mineral oil. More massage.
New symptoms: Perhaps due to the strange diet, her crop blew up again but different: soft, squishy, gassy and balloon-like.
Treatment: Continued with massage. Stopped the yogurt and ACV in case they were responible for the gassiness of the crop. On vet's recommendation, fed her normal food (layer pellets) soaked/softened in water. Also fed some chopped ppached egg. Continued with massage.
That seemed to do the trick.
In retrospect, I think the massage and oil probably helped move the blockage, which had been making her unable to absorb nutrients, hence the skinnyness and dandruff. She seems on the mend now.​

 

[Crazy4Chicks]

well thank you all for the help - but before I had a chance to do anything today for her I found outside in the yard -
so I took and opened her crop so I could see what was n there - in hopes os learning something to prevent this from happeing to another hen -

let me start by saying I WILL NEVER DO THIS AGAIN - the smell from her crop made me gag there was a very nasty yellowish thick fluid that came out frist ( thank god I did this in the bathtube )
I found she had eaten ALOT of feathers , there is no shavings/bedding in there, nothing really looking like food that I could tell I did not empty her whole crop because I really thought I was going to throw up - that is one smell I hope to NEVER smell again. I managed to get one pic -sorry it is gross - what looks like hay is really feathers - we have no hay/straw or anything like that here.

again I am sorry the pic is gross, and believe me I dont enjoy opening up my pets, but I did it to try and see what I could learn -- I learned to NEVER DO IT AGAIN

Julie

 

[lacyloo]

ewwww, in the bathtub, yucky

 

[Crazy4Chicks]

Dont worry I cleaned the tub LOL ( bleached the heck out of it )


Julie

 

[d.k]

*Maybe she's overloading on grit and oystershell?? Mine does that sometimes when I free-feed it-- Sorry; missed the last pg. SOMEHOW when I posted that

 

[Crazy4Chicks]

from what I pulled from her crop - there was nothing that looked like grit - and mine dont get oyster shell right now - since they have very strong egg shells - they have access to layer pellets, and the treats once a day - but there was very little that looked like food in there. just alot of feathers with really long shafts that were very hard.
it was pretty nasty in there and smelly.
the rest of the girls all look fine, but I will be doing weekly checks of everyones crops from now on - and if they look like they are staying all bloated I will try my best to help them -
this girl was like this for a few days but some of the feathers looked like they were in there for awhile, I dont know why she just starting to get all bloated now instead of awhile ago - when I might have been able to do something for her before it got to this point.

Julie

 

[SpottedCrow]

Looks like her crop was impacted from all the feathers...the yellow stinky stuff was everything fermenting...

I'm sorry you lost her.

 

[arlee453]

Sorry she didn't make it... thanks for doing the necroposy and sharing the info though, as unpleasant as it was for you - it may just help someone else in the same situation.