As described in a separate post, I have one younger hen who has been struggling with a slow crop for coming up 2 weeks during a molt. A trip to the vet last weekend resulted in no diagnosis of impacted crop but curiosity from the vet as to whether a virus that I think took 3 hens from my flock in the spring might be affecting this one as well - or possibly a new virus wreaking havoc.
This theory seems somewhat supported by the fact that I have another hen who has developed crop issues over the last 4-5 days. She is a 4-yr old Easter Egger and her crop was very small in the morning the first few days, hardly the size of a small prune plum, so I thought she might just be feeling off with her molt and supported her with bedtime and morning massages and a bit of coconut oil. Suddenly, yesterday, her crop was bigger at bedtime and really hadn't reduced by this morning. I massaged and let her run with the flock for the day but by afternoon she was quite inflated but fought like a tiger when I tried to massage her. I fed her some hard boiled egg and she was craning her neck up when she was swallowing it.
She is willing to let me massage her in the dark of night in the coop, and tonight her crop felt unlike anything I've felt with my hens before. It was a very round ball sitting WAY high on her chest, like 3-4 inches above where I'd expect to find it. I have only 4 years of chicken keeping experience and haven't dealt with a lot of crop issues but the odd time I have, it's always been so much lower.
This hen is part of my original flock and is the love of my chicken-keeping life. She's smart and feisty and will fly into my arms for a snuggle when she wants to. My younger hens were all hit hard with whatever virus came through in the spring, but my older flock has been fine (one stopped laying, but she also grew spurs last year...). As so many others have noted, molting is so hard on them and I really wonder if another virus has come through and caught them in a weakened state.
This hen is so resistant to handling and treatment other than on her own terms that I'm uncertain how much I will subject her to, but I will probably isolate her tomorrow to at least get a sense of what is coming out of her and to give her crop a break from grass and hard pellets. She's on 18% layer pellet with the rest of my flock, and the only treats they've had in the last week are a few meal worms to boost them during the molt - which this particular hen has absolutely no interest in.
Anyhow - curious if anyone has any comments on the crop seeming so high up in her body. Her crop has never felt very hard or very squishy over the course of her crop issues the last 4-5 days - not doughy either. Just somewhere in the middle but not moving. And I did worm the whole flock with Piperazine last weekend.
This theory seems somewhat supported by the fact that I have another hen who has developed crop issues over the last 4-5 days. She is a 4-yr old Easter Egger and her crop was very small in the morning the first few days, hardly the size of a small prune plum, so I thought she might just be feeling off with her molt and supported her with bedtime and morning massages and a bit of coconut oil. Suddenly, yesterday, her crop was bigger at bedtime and really hadn't reduced by this morning. I massaged and let her run with the flock for the day but by afternoon she was quite inflated but fought like a tiger when I tried to massage her. I fed her some hard boiled egg and she was craning her neck up when she was swallowing it.
She is willing to let me massage her in the dark of night in the coop, and tonight her crop felt unlike anything I've felt with my hens before. It was a very round ball sitting WAY high on her chest, like 3-4 inches above where I'd expect to find it. I have only 4 years of chicken keeping experience and haven't dealt with a lot of crop issues but the odd time I have, it's always been so much lower.
This hen is part of my original flock and is the love of my chicken-keeping life. She's smart and feisty and will fly into my arms for a snuggle when she wants to. My younger hens were all hit hard with whatever virus came through in the spring, but my older flock has been fine (one stopped laying, but she also grew spurs last year...). As so many others have noted, molting is so hard on them and I really wonder if another virus has come through and caught them in a weakened state.
This hen is so resistant to handling and treatment other than on her own terms that I'm uncertain how much I will subject her to, but I will probably isolate her tomorrow to at least get a sense of what is coming out of her and to give her crop a break from grass and hard pellets. She's on 18% layer pellet with the rest of my flock, and the only treats they've had in the last week are a few meal worms to boost them during the molt - which this particular hen has absolutely no interest in.
Anyhow - curious if anyone has any comments on the crop seeming so high up in her body. Her crop has never felt very hard or very squishy over the course of her crop issues the last 4-5 days - not doughy either. Just somewhere in the middle but not moving. And I did worm the whole flock with Piperazine last weekend.
