That’s great information, thanks@lightm I have indeed dealt with a few crop issues so will pass on what I learned from others on BYC, from my research on other sites, and from personal experience. Hopefully it will help your husband.
The first thing is to figure if you are dealing with a simple blockage (can be tangled long grass for example) or if the contents have gone sour. There is an article all about that which I will link here if I can find it. But basically, you can tell if it has gone sour by smelling the chicken's breath. If she has sour crop then she will smell like a brewery or bread dough. Sour crop is a yeast infection of the contents of a blocked or slow crop. Just like grains ferment if you leave them in water on your kitchen countertop, they ferment in the chicken's crop if they don't move on through.
A topical antifungal cream given direct can get rid of the yeasts that are fermenting. If it doesn't smell you don't need that.
Typically a straight blockage will mean the crop is hard whereas if it is fermenting it means there is enough liquid in there to make it feel like a balloon full of water.
https://www.backyardchickens.com/ar...ealing-with.73607/?page=11#ams-comment-524676
For a simple blocked crop where it feels hard and you might even be able to feel grains or plant stems massage and lubrication are the main tools. I think you said he is already using coconut oil for lubrication. Massage needs to be quite firm because you are trying to break up very fibrous plugs. I have found my chickens like this process - either because it helps them or it just feels good - I press really quite hard and roll the crop contents between my fingers to try and break it up.
The anatomy is such that you should be massaging the bottom of the crop slightly upwards because the outlet into the gizzard is a bit higher than the lowest point of the crop.
Clearing the blockage from a crop that is full of liquid is a bit more scary because of the risk of the liquid coming up and aspirating the chicken. Go slow!
I have also used cellulase - a supplement you can get on line. I have not read of anyone doing that and I have no idea if it contributed to solving the problem - but logically it should help. It is an enzyme that breaks down cellulose and cellulose is what the fibrous plugs are made of.
Try and observe any poop - if any poop comes out you are winning because it means something is making its way through!
One last word, not meaning to be a downer, but often crop problems are secondary to other internal issues.
There are plenty of examples of crops getting blocked with long grass and clearing and everything is fine. I think both @bgmathteach and I have experienced that. But there are also examples where the crop issue is because of something else and that is just the first way the illness shows itself.
I am hoping for the best for you - clearing the crop of a grass plug is immensely satisfying for you and the chicken. Wishing all good luck to your husband.
Sorry to be so wordy!
so you can think of something that would work well! 
