Hen's impacted crop (?) not getting better

[dustbath]

I've been treating a hen for an impacted crop for over a week and it doesn't seem to be resolving. I'm hoping someone with more experience can suggest something or give some advice.

A little over a week ago, I noticed that one of my New Hampshire Red hens had a large "growth" in her crop area. It felt hard and she seemed to be craning her neck occasionally so I have assumed it is an impacted crop.

I read some posts on the subject here and started giving her egg saturated in olive oil once or twice a day, waiting 10 minutes, and massaging the crop for 15 minutes. Despite doing this for over a week, there is still an egg-shaped and egg-sized smooth-feeling mass in her crop that doesn't seem to be getting smaller. I can move it around in her crop (at least I think it's her crop) and the stuff around the mass is soft.

She is still interested in food and as active as the other hens. She behaves more or less normally. I think she's about 2 years old but I'm not sure. I've had her for about 18 months and I think she started laying soon after I got her.

Am I doing something wrong? Is this something else (sour crop? tumor?)?

Any advice would be welcome!

 

[dustbath]

Does this sound like impacted crop? If so, is it normal to take so long to go away? Is there anything else, short of surgery, I could try? Thanks for any feedback!

 

[Eggcessive]

I wouldn't be feeding her much if she has an impacted crop--mainly water and massaging her. I really don't have experience with it, but at this point I think you should get her to a vet to get the mass taken out with crop surgery. It can turn into sour crop, and that is harder to cure. Here is a link with a video showing the surgery done by a vet: https://www.backyardchickens.com/t/858803/impacted-crop-surgery-with-video

 

[dustbath]

Unfortunately, I don't have a vet around here who will perform surgery on a chicken and I can't do it myself. The swelling etc in her crop doesn't seem to be getting worse, just not better. It did get softer around the mass in the middle after the first couple of oil-massage treatments but since then hasn't changed much.

Could this now be sour crop? Does that involve a mass in the middle?

 

[Eggcessive]

Sour crop usually is big and squishy lick a balloon, and they sometimes throw up foul smelling brown liquid or have bad breath. There can be either a fungal or bacterial infection. If the crop is hard, it would be more of an impacted crop. Here are a couple of good links to help you:
http://www.the-chicken-chick.com/2012/04/answers-from-chicken-vet-on-impacted.html
http://www.tillysnest.com/2012/01/crop-issues.html

 

[dustbath]

Thank you! These links were very helpful. It looks like a "pendulous crop" but I think I'm going to try treating her for sour crop with an antifungal first and then following the pendulous crop treatment.