fuzzi's Chicken Journal

[fuzzi]

Zack went after my feet again tonight, but I suspect my holding and treating Lydia upset him. I looked down at him, said quietly "What are you doing, Zack?" and stood there until he gave up after a few forays, probably lasting about a minute. No pain, no harm.

 

[fuzzi]

Lydia's crop is still hard this morning, but she's active. Another member suggested feeding her coconut oil that has been chilled and solidified.

 

[fuzzi]

After reading a couple articles and comments about crop issues I chopped up two hard-boiled eggs, put one tablespoon of the mix in a dish and drizzled it with coconut oil. I distracted the flock with watermelon slices while I offered the egg/oil mix to Lydia. She gobbled it up.

 

[fuzzi]

I checked on Lydia about an hour or so after offering her the eggs/oil mix. Her crop felt softer! She ate some more eggs/oil, but when she said "No more" by resisting I put her down and let the other hens eat the rest of the eggs.

 

[Wyorp Rock]

Lydia's crop is still hard this morning, but she's active. Another member suggested feeding her coconut oil that has been chilled and solidified.

I prefer to give coconut oil chunks. Good idea drizzling it over her food.

Hopefully the crop will clear, it can take days depending on what's causing it to slow. I saw you had a thread and others had already answered giving good links and instructions.

 

[fuzzi]

I'm not feeling optimistic any more.

Lydia's hiding in the back of the brooder, has been all afternoon. I herded her from underneath about 5pm, to check her out, and her crop seems better. However, I can feel a sharp bone between her legs. It's as if she is shrinking in a matter of hours. I offered her food, she's not interested. I don't know how much more I can do, should do. I'm trying to help but she's not responding.

 

[fuzzi]

I read in a thread to tempt a chicken's appetite with canned cat food, so I decided to try it.

When I offered her crumbled egg with a little coconut oil she wasn't interested, but when I offered an open can of Friskies turkey giblets paté she started eating, ate about 15 beakfuls.

 

[fuzzi]

 

[Winderdear]

View attachment 3913837

Poor little darling. I’ll keep her in my prayers. I wish there was more I could do to help you, but I’ve never dealt with impacted crop before. I hope she’ll feel better in the morning.

 

[Wyorp Rock]

I'm not feeling optimistic any more.

Lydia's hiding in the back of the brooder, has been all afternoon. I herded her from underneath about 5pm, to check her out, and her crop seems better. However, I can feel a sharp bone between her legs. It's as if she is shrinking in a matter of hours. I offered her food, she's not interested. I don't know how much more I can do, should do. I'm trying to help but she's not responding.

How old is she? I forget.

What's her poop like?

I'd make sure she's drinking. If the crop is still firm in the morning (check before she's ate/drank), then give the coconut oil, but then I'd also start treating as Sour Crop. Miconazole or Clotrimazole can be given. Give her 1/2 inch of the cream twice a day for a full seven days, even if she gets better, finish the treatment.

Hydration and then offer food. IF the crop feels impacted. Give 1 (one) stool softener (stimulant free), just pop the gel pill right into the beak. This can sometimes help break material up.

It all sounds like a lot, and maybe it is. I've done all of this with mine before and things have worked well. Sometimes there is very often an underlying condition that still needs to be addressed in order to resolve the crop problem. Worms, Coccidiosis and infection are the 3 more treatable underlying conditions. Reproductive disorders, not so much.

So start there, check her crop in the morning, if it's still full and hard, give the coconut oil, but work your way through the other treatment options. Try to get a really good look at her poop too.

You can have an impacted/slow and/or doughy crop and it be Sour too. Think of it this way - an impacted crop is relatively slow (or sometimes not moving much at all). Food/water can make it a bit doughy, but if it's not moving (slow) very well, then it's going to eventually turn Sour. SO! Just saying, some feel like they can only treat as "just impacted" then they move on to "just doughy", work on it as a whole. Does that make sense?