Hi from Dundee, UK. Sharing impacted crop treatment.

[nestleaver1]

Hi all, having spent nearly a year trawling the net and this site for useful chicken advice, I finally have something to add myself!
My chicken had an impacted crop with the 'putty-like' consistency sometimes reported. I had her booked for surgery but had a eureka moment that cured it overnight.
The squishy, putty-like texture confused me - I couldn't work out what they might have eaten that could end up like that. Then I realised: gluten. Wheat gluten is very elastic and once the starch has been washed away, it forms a stretchy ball that is very difficult to break up. It's pure, long-chain protein and needs enzymic action to solubilize it. I remembered that fresh pineapple is meant to contain active proteolytic enzymes so bought one and persuaded the unhappy chicken to eat a tiny bit and drink some of the juice. Next morning, the impaction was gone.
I tested the theory by making some gluten balls from wheat flour and soaking them in water/apple juice/processed pineapple juice or juice from a fresh pineapple. The ball in the fresh juice broke up and dissolved completely in a few hours while the other 3 stayed as a squishy ball and did not change consistency. The processed juice would be pasteurised and the enzyme inactivated.
So if your poor chicken has a putty-like impaction, probably from eating pasta/bread, try fresh pineapple (papaya should also work) before cutting her open!!
Thanks for being a great forum and I really hope this helps some sad chickens.
Cheers, Kate

 

[Kevin565]

 

[1muttsfan]

Hi and welcome to BYC from northern Michigan , glad you joined in

 

[4-H chicken mom]

Hi and from Ohio. So glad you joined.

 

[weimarmama]

&

from Alabama. Glad you joined us. Thank you for sharing with us

Glad to hear she's doing better.

 

[Habibs Hens]

welcome to byc

 

[sumi]

Hello and welcome to BYC! Thank you for sharing.

 

[Fierlin1182]

Hello and

That sounds like a pretty cool method, very smart! Thank you for telling us! And there are another couple of facts that might come into handy goodness knows where, I am an avid collector of those

Don't hesitate to ask any questions you might have, and enjoy the site.

 

[DeniseL]

Welcome to BYC! Thanks for sharing your experience. Enjoy your chickens!

 

[SheriSchmeck]

A late welcome and thanks for that idea. It's very logical!

I came across this thread because I currently have a pullet that has had sour crop for a few days. Her crop was huge! I've been feeding her egg & yogurt along with ACV and water. I cut out the yesterday so she was only on yogurt. I added some garlic as a natural anti-fungal.

This morning her crop is small. Yay! That's the good new, but it is putty like, which is the not-so-good news. I suspect grass, since she has just started roaming and grass is new to her. She may have eaten more than she can handle.

So now my care is switching from sour crop care to impacted crop care. Fortunately she has been pooping and seems in good spirits and, overall, good health. I'll be adding olive oil to her diet and working on loosening it up. Since she can poop, I may only need to soften and dilute the contents; I may not need to empty the crop. Time will tell.

I'm not sure pineapple (or papaya) will work for her, since she hasn't eaten any gluten foods, but I like your approach and will keep this in mind for the future, just in case!