Help with pendulous, or spastic crop

[ChickensValM]

Will do! She certainly looks happier without it! I will try this for a little while and report back .

Did she do good with wearing the crop only at night or did you have to continue wearing it 24 hours

 

[Orangeblossomranch]

Did she do good with wearing the crop only at night or did you have to continue wearing it 24 hours

Sorry for the delay.

Here is what I have learned:

1. Once a chicken develops this condition it is best to keep it on 100% of the time.
-Small supervised breaks can be allowed, but the crop bra has to be on and properly adjusted to work.

2. Always have more than one crop bra available.
-The crop bras become very dirty, so you will need to wash often.
-Select crop bras that do not have a pattern (or bright colors), my hen's first crop bra was blue, but this one spot was picked at over and over and caused rips because it had a pattern in a lighter color.
-The fabric becomes loose with washing and continuous wearing.

I took off her crop bra to wash and to mend when she started picking at it. I went ahead and let her enjoy some time without it and she only wore it at night.

However, her crop did become larger during the day and it hung and looked generally uncomfortable. She wore her crop bra at night but her crop was not emptying completely like when she was wearing her crop bra continuously. This lasted about 2 weeks, and I decided that the crop bra would go back on 100% of the time. After a few days and some adjustments to the tightness, her crop was emptying every night.

A few months went by and I noticed that her crop was not emptying overnight--despite the crop bra.
Her crop was growing larger and it got back to being huge and not emptying at all.
I thought this was a whole different issue, maybe she had a blockage....? After all, she was wearing her crop bra.....

But upon further inspection, the crop bra felt loose and it was no longer providing support. I had washed it and mended it so often and the fabric was not as strong as before.

I went ahead and purchased 3 more. Now I can rotate them while the other is in the wash and I have a back up one once those wear out.

She has been doing great, wearing her new crop bra. Her crop is full at night and empty the next morning.

I wish I could sew so I could make more.

If I have a chance to learn, I will try out various fabrics to make them more comfortable, washable and longer lasting.

Hope this helps!