hen with hard crop mass - digestive issues? possible treatments?

[chickchickie]

Hi all,

My hen (6 yrs old) has had a bloated crop for the last couple of days and very loose and runny droppings (mostly clear liquid with some brown pellets). i thought it was heat maybe as it is very hot and wet where we are, but our rooster is pooping normally. her comb is also a little droopy and she is not as active as she normally is, opting to sit inside the coop, but will come out sometimes, especially if enticed with food. i attributed this to broodiness as first, but after 36 hours of trying to break it, there has been no change in behavior. she is still eating and also drinking lots of water.

yesterday morning, her crop was bloated despite not having eaten anything for a whole night and felt very gassy like a balloon when i massaged it. after she had eaten some grain and free ranged for a bit, her crop became a hard mass. i massaged her crop a little (she didn't like that) and put her in a separate cage to monitor her and put some DE and vinegar in her water as a preliminary step for possible sour crop or worms. she continued regular watery poops but after many hours without food, her crop was still hard and bloated.

this morning, her crop was a slightly smaller but still sizeable hard lump. i fed her 2 spoonfuls of yogurt mixed with DE (not too much food and nothing solid) and put her back in the big coop where she is back to sitting indoors.

any ideas what her digestive issues might be and what i can do for treatment?

 

[PD-Riverman]

Does she have access to 'grit" like on bare dirt/sand or factory grit?

 

[chickchickie]

she has access to pebbles and dirt while free ranging

 

[BYCforlife]

she has access to pebbles and dirt while free ranging

That should be enough.

 

[WannabeFarmer5]

We had a chick like that and we just massaged his crop area..... It seemed to work.
Good luck with your hen!

 

[PD-Riverman]

she has access to pebbles and dirt while free ranging

The reason I asked----some chickens are on beautiful green lawns and can not find a grain of sand to help grind her food. I never keep chicken that old---not even 3 years old---so I do not deal with symptoms like that or other problems associated with older hens----even though younger ones can have problem. Maybe some of The others can help you. Good Luck

 

[rebrascora]

If she doesn't smell sour, then it might just be impacted. I wouldn't give her DE as that can just clog things up further. Be careful about how much vinegar you put in the water as that may discourage her from drinking which is the opposite of what you want.
I've managed to clear some by just giving very sloppy feeds (usual feed soaked in water and diluted to a runny gravy) and regular massage 4 times a day. Twice I have had to resort to vomiting and twice I have had to go as far a crop surgery to physically remove the obstruction (a wad of soggy fibrous material that was essentially plugging the tract and starving the bird.) The second time I left it too late to do the surgery and whilst it was a success, the bird was too weak to recover. I would try regular massage first and perhaps careful vomiting, with plenty of recovery time between attempts, to prevent them aspirating. Sometimes being inverted and massaged can be enough to help the blockage break up, even if nothing is regurgitated, especially if it is silted debris causing the impaction. Usually they will enjoy the massage although they do not like being inverted and vomited.
Sometimes slow and impacted crop can be a symptom of a problem further down the system in which case, clearing the blockage will not necessarily help. In an older hen, this is probably more likely to be the case, but you can only do your best to clear it. Some people have success with dulcolax but I haven't tried it. That said, the times I have done crop surgery, the huge amount of fibrous material could not have moved through the system without causing a major blockage somewhere less accessible, so I'm not sure I would want to resort to trying that remedy. I got a soft ball sized wad of fibrous gunk out of a bantam pullet that weighed only half what it did. No wonder she could not stay upright and was tipping forward all the time with the weight of it.

 

[chickchickie]

update: i've been massaging her crop twice a day and put a couple of small pebbles in her yogurt in case grit was the issue. the mass started clearing up yesterday night so i've been slowly adding grain mixed with oil to transition her back to her normal diet. the mass was almost completely gone this morning and she is running around again, but i'll keep her on a sloppy-ish feed for another meal or two just to be safe. thanks for the help everyone!

 

[rebrascora]

Great to hear you have managed to shift it with just massage. She may be prone to further problems because the crop gets stretched and doesn't always shrink back leaving a pocket where debris can settle and collect, so it's a good idea to get into a regular routine of checking her.