Help! Swollen crop

[Kirsten D]

Hi, I've been following for years but have never registered or posted before (normally I'm patient enough to find the answer in an old thread). One of our beloved hens (a blue leghorn) has a terribly swollen crop. I originally thought she just went broody about 2 days ago but I just picked her up for a cuddle and all this clear liquid poured our of her, she seems absolutely miserable and I looked at her crop and it's huge (photo attached), it's very soft, almost like it's filled with fluid. I gently massaged it for a few minutes but I'm really worried she's in pain. Is there anything else I should do? We don't have any vets locally that will deal with chickens and my husband is away. Your advice is hugely appreciated.

 

[Tlmcq]

Welcome to BYC! Sorry it's trouble that brought ya here. Does she have free access to grit? If not that is first thing. Continue to give her water, but hold off on food and massage crop. She will not be hungry with a full crop. Here's a link that may help in regards to crop issues
http://www.chickenvet.co.uk/health-and-common-diseases/digestive-problems/index.aspx

 

[rebrascora]

That crop is extremely distended and discoloured and if she is refluxing when picked up, it sounds like even liquids are not going through. Did it smell bad when the liquid came up? If so then you are dealing with sour crop. If it didn't then there is a blockage somewhere. With luck it is just in her crop but if it is further through her system then there is not much hope. I would vomit her to remove some of the contents (at the moment her crop is too full for massage to achieve anything). There is a risk of her aspirating some of it whilst she is vomiting, but there is a risk of that just massaging it at the moment because it is clearly full of fluids.
Is she very skinny around her breast bone? Just wondering how long this has been going on and therefore how much time you can afford to mess about with it before taking drastic action....
There are YouTube videos that show you how to vomit a chicken..... watch a few so that you don't follow a bad example. Give her plenty of breaks in between inverting her to vomit, so that she gets a chance to breath and recover. Once you get some out and it is less full, then start massaging it to try to break up the blockage. Massaging for 10mins 4x a day should help and only give her liquid feed with a vitamin supplement and perhaps a little olive oil.
If it is sour (smells bad) you will need to treat her for a yeast infection.

Some people have had success with a stool softener like Dulcolax. If you can't get it shifted after a few days, then surgery may be the final option. If you cannot find a vet to do it, there are You Tube videos and I can speak from experience in saying that whilst cutting into a live creature is scary, the crop surgery is not desperately difficult and very rewarding when successful.... I used super glue to reseal the crop incision after removing the impaction and it works amazingly well....Hopefully your girl's problem will resolve before you require such drastic measures.
Good luck

Barbara

 

[Kirsten D]

Thank you Timcq, yes she has access to grit and water. Thanks for the link

Rebecca when she vomited yesterday it was clear and it did not smell but I can't imagine that would be the case now that it's been full since at least yesterday.

When I picked her up she wasn't too skinny around the breastbone but maybe more so than normal. I will try and vomit her now.

 

[Kirsten D]

Ok, her crop was about 2/3 to 1/2 the size this morning. Still very fluid filled but I could also feel a lot of what seemed like grit. I vomited her 3 times, it does smell now. Initially it was clear but the last one was like muddy water. It is now about 1/3-1/4 the size of last night.
I have shut her downstairs in the coop away from the others with access to food and grit.
I will massage 10 mins 4 times a day but how often should I vomit her? I didn't want to keep going until it felt empty as I was worried I would overdo it and she would aspirate (she seemed fine afterwards, but there's such mixed reports about doing this to hens I'm worried I'll make her worse)?
I will get a probiotic today and does anyone have any thoughts on ACV or yoghurt or some other type of fungal cream?

 

[rebrascora]

Hi again.
Well done for getting some of it out. If it smells bad you will need to treat her for a yeast infection.... sour crop. ACV may work as a preventative but is unlikely to deal with an infection. I have read of people using treatment for human vaginal thrush and breaking the tablets up and giving the chicken half a tablet orally twice a day. Others recommend Acidified Copper Sulphate I believe....I have not needed to treat for sour crop, so do some research before you try these medications. Active bio yoghurt may help in the mean time you can mix a few crumbles into it. Do not give her solid food even with grit as this will just clog things up. The best thing would be to ferment some of her regular feed and feed it as a sloppy mush.... or soak some pellets/crumble in water until it is a runny consistency. Add some vitamin supplement like Nutri drench or Rooster Booster or Save a Chick.
Now that you have made some space in her crop by vomiting her there is no need to continue with the vomiting, it was just to ease the pressure on it and make space so you can move the contents about inside it with massage. Really work it with your fingers to try to break up the sediment that will almost certainly be blocking it. Work from the bottom upwards, because it will be the bottom where the outlet is that will be blocked. Be firm but gentle and be guided by her response. If she is agitated and uncomfortable you are being too rough. She should quite enjoy it but you do need to be quite firm to break it up. Once you feel that things are moving a little, you can also try a stool softener.

Good luck and keep us posted.

Barbara

 

[Wyorp Rock]

Hi @Kirsten D Welcome To BYC.

I see you have received some good advice - it sounds like your girl has a sour crop - you may find the information in this article helpful http://www.backyardchickens.com/a/impacted-slow-and-sour-crops-prevention-and-treatments

 

[Poultryman120]

Good morning,

Your hen has a dropped crop. The tissues that hold the crop in place have torn. I would feed her less at a time but more often. I recall hens lasting years with this condition as long as they don't suffer further injury to the pendulous crop.

Regards,

B

 

[Kirsten D]

Good morning,

Your hen has a dropped crop. The tissues that hold the crop in place have torn. I would feed her less at a time but more often. I recall hens lasting years with this condition as long as they don't suffer further injury to the pendulous crop.

Regards,

B

That's great news, she did seem perkier today. I hope she makes it, she's a quirky wee thing and I'd miss her terribly if something were to happen. I'm off to get some probiotics and monistat tomorrow though bc it's does smell, so I assume it must be sour.