Does hen have obstruction somewhere downstream of crop?

[ipana]

Abbydog, so sorry to read about your hen. In truth, I don't know. BUT, since you've done so well to try things, you may be up for something else. My hen had sour crop and I was trying everything to help her. Someone gave the suggestion about giving wine and, it worked! You can use any wine, the cheap stuff will work as well. You may want to give it a try. If you have a feeding tube, you can inject 5 cc of wine directly into the crop. If you don't, you can try with a syringe into her mouth but it may be hard. Do not give her anything to eat following the wine for at least 4 hours. It might just work for you, too. Do not give more than the 5 cc as the wine has to be metabolized and these birds are small. Too much could be harmful. If you try it, be sure to let us know. I hope things turn out well for your hen.

 

[gallusdomesticus]

I'm sorry to hear about your hen. I had my favorite hen with almost identical symptoms this past summer. I took her to the vet for X-rays and it showed she had swallowed a couple of staples that had somehow passed her gizzard and were lodged in her intestines where they were stuck. Unfortunately, she died over the weekend awaiting surgery the following Monday. It sure sounds like she has something clogging up the works internally. I would recommend a trip to the vet.

 

[AbbyDog]

Yesterday i decided to try giving Dolly some scrambled egg cooked with a generous amount of olive oil with a sprinkle of grit mixed in. She gobbled it down and would probably have eaten about 5 more. I didn't want to overload her crop so i kept it at one, fed over several hours. she has also been getting baby vitamins in her water. This morning there was still a small lump in her crop, maybe about the size of a large marble- hard to tell if it is larger or smaller than before. Absolutely no poop overnight- very disappointing. I repeated the oily egg mixed with a little applesauce and yogurt- and massaged her crop a little- and now she has pooped several times- still runny but better than nothing! This chicken is SOO unhappy with being in a separate coop- she constantly tried to climb out via her water bowl and I have had to wire it to the fence to stop her from knocking it over. I did briefly let her out just so her feet could touch the soil a few days ago, and she immediately went for my other hens were grazing nearby. Back in the coop for her, the evil hen that she is. At this point, i just want to get her well enough so that I can give her away. She was a good layer which almost made up for her attitude, while she was producing!

I would not be surprised at all to learn that she has eaten a foreign object. She is voracious and always gets way more in her beak than any of the others. Too bad about your hen, Gallusdomesticus.

 

[AbbyDog]

Thought I would give an update about the condition of Dolly, the hen that seemed obstructed even after crop surgery. I went out of town on New years eve for four days leaving her in an isolation coop with chick starter to eat. When I left she still had watery runny diarrhea and she had a hard ball remaining in her crop even overnight. While away I decided that I would not be heart-broken if she didn't make it.

Well, the bright spot in my New Year so far is that Dolly's crop and poop now seem normal! There was a big pile of chicken cr*p awaiting me and a very normal looking hen. I took a good look in the coop to see if I could find any sort of foreign object that she might have passed, but didn't find any. Perhaps the grit that I gave her a week post-operation finally ground down whatever was still inside her.

Tonight, she is back in the hen house being obnoxious. I can now only hope that she puts on some weight and starts laying ASAP!

 

[juliachick]

Hi. I have a very young bird, few months, with almost identical symptoms. Only one difference and that is the crop. I cannot feel my hens crop. If you could re list what you did i would be extremely grateful.

 

[ipana]

juliachick, you may want to check some poultry sites for pictures of the chicken anatomy. Pretend that you are a chicken and you are saluting the flag with your left hand (wing). Your hand would be over your crop. If your bird is eating, the food is going into the crop first. Generally, chickens eat first thing in the morning and the last thing at night. Overnight, the crop will empty as the food is being digested overnight. That's why there is so much poop under the roost.

One thing I learned recently following a dog attack on my young pullet. We got to her just as the attack happened...the neighbor dog came over to our chicken pen. Thankfully, the bird netting helped avert the attack. Anyway, the little girl was not terribly injured but she had been traumatized which is certainly understandable. During the first 4 days, she wouldn't eat. I force-fed her through a crop tube. Her crop, though, stayed like a golf ball and was very hard. I felt certain that she had an impaction. I took her to the vet and explained the story, expecting that he would do the crop surgery. This is the information that I'm trying to get to: when a bird is traumatized, their whole system shuts down...nothing passes through. He suggested we give her a few more days to see if it would self-correct. And, by George, it did! I was glad he did not rush to do the surgery. It took her several more days to get her "land legs" back, but once she got started, she flourished. That happened at Thanksgiving. She is happy and vibrant. So, the lesson is after considering all things, give a bird some time to "self-correct." For me, I want to rush in to make everything better. I'm trying to learn to be patient. Hopefully, I will not be put to task over some injury or other trauma any time soon.

If you need help, just explain a little bit more as to how we can help. People here are wonderful in their willingness to help.

 

[juliachick]

juliachick, you may want to check some poultry sites for pictures of the chicken anatomy. Pretend that you are a chicken and you are saluting the flag with your left hand (wing). Your hand would be over your crop. If your bird is eating, the food is going into the crop first. Generally, chickens eat first thing in the morning and the last thing at night. Overnight, the crop will empty as the food is being digested overnight. That's why there is so much poop under the roost.

One thing I learned recently following a dog attack on my young pullet. We got to her just as the attack happened...the neighbor dog came over to our chicken pen. Thankfully, the bird netting helped avert the attack. Anyway, the little girl was not terribly injured but she had been traumatized which is certainly understandable. During the first 4 days, she wouldn't eat. I force-fed her through a crop tube. Her crop, though, stayed like a golf ball and was very hard. I felt certain that she had an impaction. I took her to the vet and explained the story, expecting that he would do the crop surgery. This is the information that I'm trying to get to: when a bird is traumatized, their whole system shuts down...nothing passes through. He suggested we give her a few more days to see if it would self-correct. And, by George, it did! I was glad he did not rush to do the surgery. It took her several more days to get her "land legs" back, but once she got started, she flourished. That happened at Thanksgiving. She is happy and vibrant. So, the lesson is after considering all things, give a bird some time to "self-correct." For me, I want to rush in to make everything better. I'm trying to learn to be patient. Hopefully, I will not be put to task over some injury or other trauma any time soon.

If you need help, just explain a little bit more as to how we can help. People here are wonderful in their willingness to help.

I am extremely grateful. I have had chickens with impacted crop and sour crop before but this is nothing like those experiences. If you could check my thread out and give advice acording to that info it might help me. Once again I am extremely grateful for the davice you have given me so far!

 

[ipana]

I am extremely grateful. I have had chickens with impacted crop and sour crop before but this is nothing like those experiences. If you could check my thread out and give advice acording to that info it might help me. Once again I am extremely grateful for the davice you have given me so far!

juliachick, we'd be glad to read your thread if you could direct us to it. Thanks.