Gritty crop?

[Kyguylal]

Hi all,

I have a 1 year old Golden Comet hen.

A few days ago, I noticed that she's been isolating herself from the flock when in the run, just digging holes. She also didn't come running when I gave them scratch grains. When let out in the yard, she scratched around with the others perfectly fine.

I felt her crop and its was hard and feels gritty.

I took her inside last night and the crop didn't empty over night. She is pooping a bit and drinking fine.

I've been massaging her crop and she's readily eating coconut oil and plain yogurt.

It doesn't feel like a large mass, maybe the size of a golf ball and I can break it up by massaging. I felt my other hens crops in the morning and they didn't feel like this.

Very gritty like full of pebbles and it doesn't feel like the my last case of impacted crop.

Any suggestions?

 

[DobieLover]

Hi all,

I have a 1 year old Golden Comet hen.

A few days ago, I noticed that she's been isolating herself from the flock when in the run, just digging holes. She also didn't come running when I gave them scratch grains. When let out in the yard, she scratched around with the others perfectly fine.

I felt her crop and its was hard and feels gritty.

I took her inside last night and the crop didn't empty over night. She is pooping a bit and drinking fine.

I've been massaging her crop and she's readily eating coconut oil and plain yogurt.

It doesn't feel like a large mass, maybe the size of a golf ball and I can break it up by massaging. I felt my other hens crops in the morning and they didn't feel like this.

Very gritty like full of pebbles and it doesn't feel like the my last case of impacted crop.

Any suggestions?

Crate her to control her food/water intake and monitor her poops.
Remove all food.
Keep lots of fresh water.
Keep feeding her the coconut oil and administering water (tubing is best but you can carefully syringe water into her) and doing massages about every 2-3 hours until the crop completely empties.
Then keep her crated another two days and feed her nothing but a wet mash made from her normal feed to make sure that her crop functions correctly then you can let her back out to range with the flock. You can keep her crate right in the coop or run. That will keep her happier than isolating her. She doesn't need to be isolated from the flock, just in a controlled setting.

 

[Kyguylal]

Crate her to control her food/water intake and monitor her poops.
Remove all food.
Keep lots of fresh water.
Keep feeding her the coconut oil and administering water (tubing is best but you can carefully syringe water into her) and doing massages about every 2-3 hours until the crop completely empties.
Then keep her crated another two days and feed her nothing but a wet mash made from her normal feed to make sure that her crop functions correctly then you can let her back out to range with the flock. You can keep her crate right in the coop or run. That will keep her happier than isolating her. She doesn't need to be isolated from the flock, just in a controlled setting.

Great thank you. She's drinking on her own and started pooping out some of the rocks. After she ate a bunch of coconut oil paired with massages, the crop doesn't feel as tight now.

I have her just with water and some globs of coconut oil for her to graze on. I'll keep this updated.

 

[Kyguylal]

Update: The crop did not empty overnight.

She is very hungry and looking for food. She drinks water perfectly fine and has been pooping out water and a few pieces of gravel regularly.

Should I keep witholding food and doing the same in hopes that the rest of the gravel passes?

 

[Kyguylal]

Update: Things have started moving. More sand and gravel have come out. Crop is emptying. Id guess it will be empty by tomorrow morning.

 

[Kyguylal]

Update for if anyone comes across this and has the same issue.

Crop emptied overnight after three days of coconut oil and crop massaging. Some plain yogurt got things moving well.

She's enjoying her mash feed now and passing it just fine. I'm mixing in prebiotic and electrolytes and going to keep her inside for another day.