Hen shaking her crop and acting weird. (Updated with recovery!)

[The Welch Chickens]

Just tickled at the photo, her Sister Hen is a bit jealous over the coconut oil pieces.
Mine LOVE coconut oil, so if I'm treating a hen, I usually take a few little frozen pieces and let the others have some too. I know it's not necessary, but it won't hurt them and then they don't complain quite so much

Yup, her sisters were quite jealous! That photo didn't catch all the other hens around the cage and even on top
They got some scrambled eggs to keep them busy the next time I massaged her. It was a lot easier without them all staring lol

 

[The Welch Chickens]

I just did the fourth round of coconut oil and massaging. Her crop seems to have gone down slightly, but there is still a mass in there. She doesn’t really have an appetite for the oil chunks anymore. I haven’t yet seen her drink, but she might have when I was not there. I tried to give her some yogurt, but she doesn’t want that either. She is only pooping a little, every once in a while. She is still making that adjusting motion with her crop/throat.
I think I should give her the docusate sodium stools softener. I have some on hand, it’s a gel pill. Should I give it to her? @azygous

 

[azygous]

Yes, time to give the stool softener. Pop it directly into her beak following a massage. Wait an hour and do another massage to push out whatever has softened. This often clears the crop. But I must warn you that long grass is sometimes impossible to clear out of the crop without crop surgery.

 

[The Welch Chickens]

Yes, time to give the stool softener. Pop it directly into her beak following a massage. Wait an hour and do another massage to push out whatever has softened. This often clears the crop. But I must warn you that long grass is sometimes impossible to clear out of the crop without crop surgery.

I tried for 45 minutes, but she would not take the pill. Is there anything else I can do?
@Wyorp Rock @Eggcessive

 

[azygous]

Chickens will not "take" a pill any more than a cat or dog or toddler will. You have to pry open the beak and stick it in. There is no problem swallowing.

 

[The Welch Chickens]

Update:
We put her to bed with the rest of the flock. She was really anxious to get on the roosting bars with her sisters, so I didn't get the last massage done as planned. I'm pretty sure she'll be fine overnight, though. She seemed to have perked up a lot since this morning.

Conclusion of today: Her crop emptied quite a bit throughout the day, thanks to the coconut oil and massages. She ate a few bites of yogurt, but didn't want a lot of it, so I just left her alone. Her droppings were tiny and full of grass all day. She didn't pass many of them. She also spit up/threw up a bit of brown liquid after her massages. There were pieces of grass inside it.
She also ate both doses of miconazole.

What is the first step tomorrow morning? Should I still withhold her food? (It's meatbird crumbles, for the molt they are going through)
I'm assuming she should be caged again tomorrow?

 

[The Welch Chickens]

Morning update:
Her crop was still full, but not as full as yesterday! She got a bit of yogurt after we put her in the cage. I hid a stool softener pill in the yogurt and she ate it. She ate the Miconazole cream when I sprinkled some boiled egg on top of the dose.
She also pooped a little in the cage. I’m so glad she’s passing some of that grass from her crop.

Is it a good sign that she throws up a bit after being massaged? I’m not holding her upside down or anything. She just spits up on her own. (At least, she did so yesterday, but not yet this morning as far as I know)

 

[azygous]

She's spitting up because of the way you're massaging. I'm going to stick a diagram of chicken anatomy here so you can see where the crop drain is. When you massage you shouldn't massage any higher than the drain. Massaging above it pushes the crop contents upward where they then regurgitate into the throat. We want to avoid that because she could aspirate.

 

[The Welch Chickens]

She's spitting up because of the way you're massaging. I'm going to stick a diagram of chicken anatomy here so you can see where the crop drain is. When you massage you shouldn't massage any higher than the drain. Massaging above it pushes the crop contents upward where they then regurgitate into the throat. We want to avoid that because she could aspirate.View attachment 3733377

Ok. I think I took the instructions for massaging slightly upward a little too far.
Thank you for adding the diagram, that was really helpful.

 

[The Welch Chickens]

I massaged again about 40 minutes ago. I also fed her some more coconut oil. Her crop seems to be getting smaller, but it is still hanging low like a pendulous crop. Do you think I should make a crop bra to keep it up while I am not there massaging? @azygous