How large of an object can pass through the crop?

[raroo]

My girl has had a somewhat impacted crop for a couple days. Soft food is passing, but slowly. She's normal and voracious for her soft meals like normal, not dehydrated, active and perky. I've been performing the standard oil/massage procedure, I've dealt with a few impacted crops before this.

I couldn't seem to find what was blocking the crop, but this morning I got in there pretty deeply and I felt an object about the size of a marble, along with some grit settled at the bottom of her crop.

The object feels solid and irregular shaped, I'm not sure what it could be.

I'm wondering if she will be able to pass this object, or if it will have to be surgically removed. Has anyone else had a large object successfully pass through the crop?

I will take her to the vet if she needs surgery.

 

[LynneP]

Are you sure it's a foreign object? Is anything missing that it might be?

The crop can pack things very tight, and if the size of a marble should pass through, provided it is smooth. If food, consider what I have written here:

https://www.backyardchickens.com/web/viewblog.php?id=7693-sick-hen

Some hens will actually eat a rock. You have some time,and can use olive oil for calories safely. Even if it is a stone, acidic foods like diced tomatoes will help. See what you think after reading the text, okay?

 

[raroo]

Thanks for your reply.

I'm fairly certain it's not food. She hasn't had anything but soft pellet and oil mush for two days. She is able to eat her normal daily amount in small increments throughout the day.

Her crop feels soft and mooshy when it's expanded after her meal, it's not hard and impacted.

I've been giving her ACV and yogurt as well to keep the good bacteria going, and she smells normal.

I was baffled at what was blocking her crop because it didn't feel impacted, it is just oversized and soft, and the soft mash meals are passing, just very slowly. Her crop swells up to the size of a baseball after her soft meals, and after two days her crop has had food in it in the mornings after fasting overnight.

Her crop feels absent of anything solid except the object I found, as well as the bit of grit down there too. If the size of the object should be OK to pass, I'm worried as to why it hasn't yet. I know it's not the grit that blocked it, because I ration it daily as she has had an impacted crop from eating too much grit before.

I suppose it could be a rock she ate, but I'm not sure. I'm constantly with them when they free range and usually when she pics up rocks she just drops them.

I guess I'll just keep massaging her and giving her the soft meals. I'll take your advice and give her some diced tomatoes too.

How many days is it OK to keep this up? Is it OK as long as she is able to get food and pass it? I've never had a blocked crop go for longer than two days. This is frustrating!

 

[Glenda L Heywood]

Here is what I would do
Sour crop can be caused by any thing toxic to chickens
it can be from feed that is spoiled
it can be from botulism
it can be from grass forming a ball in the crop and not able to go thru

also one lady wrote her hen ate a filter tip from the cigarette
of which she had to give it two crop surgery sessions

with that said maybe your hen picked up something when free ranging

so here is the flush if it is grass she may have a wad of grass balled up in the crop that can't go thru the crop hole
you may have to flush her out
CROP FLUSH
first use the flush
1/2 cup of baking soda
1 pint of warm water

Here is what I always did for the crop problem
I took the 1/2 cup of baking soda
and disolved in the pint of warm water and with a
childs ear syringe filled the syringe with the soda water mixture.
Now I held her out from me and slwoly put the syringe to the back of her mouth and squeezed the water solution into the crop.

Then with my fingers came up under the out side of the chest of the bird. Starting below the crop and brought my fingers up so as to expel the impacted sour feed and what ever.

I did this till the water was gone - three times. Then I took and put her in a cage
alone and fasted her from feed for 24 hrs.

Then the next day i mixed the milk and two slices of bread and 1/2 small container of yoguart. and fed her this.

The next morning when I went out to give her the
bread/milk/yoghurt mixture, her crop was completely empty for the first time

So then as I havd put the chicken on a fast
I still feed the bread/milk/yoguart mixture this twice a day for a week
then the bird could be put on crumbles
DO NOT feed it any whole grain for quit a while

Also give the bird
1 tbsp of ACV in pint of water
as the ACV will help the gut restoration for good gut flora

CROP SURGERY???
AT WORST SIDE you may have to do this: A
friend of BYC made this up for impacted crop surrgery
more professional than mine

Items Needed:

Betadine solution
Isopropyl Alcohol
Gauze Pads
Razor blade or Exacto-knife
Tweezers (surgical - if available, find at Vet Supply or Pet)
Hand Towel
Sutures or Heavy weight Thread
Sharpie sewing needle that will accommodate thread
Scissors
Antibiotic ointment
access to warm water, preferably a kitchen sprayer

To perform the surgery, a "surgeon" and "assistant" are needed. The assistant holds the bird, wrapped in a hand towel,from behind being sure to keep the wings secure and unflapping.

1. Approximately 1/3 of the way down the crop, located on the right the breast; push back the feathers and have the assistant hold the feathers away from the site. Place a few drops of betadine solution on a gauze pad and clean the dermis of the crop at the site of the incision.

2. Wipe the area with an alcohol pad. Allow to dry.

3. Holding the skin slightly spread, cut through the outer dermis with the cutting tool. The opening needs to be only 3/4" - 1" in length. (The incision that we made was more horizontal than vertical.) The skin is fairly tough, so you may have to apply several strokes. The tool will pass through the outer dermis and you might encounter adipose (fat) and then flesh before entering the crop.

4. Once the crop has been opened, material may start to be seen through the opening. Place the bird over the sink and massage the crop so that the contents move towards the opening. The surgeon can grab the contents and dispose in the sink. Once the material is removed, rise the site thoroughly with warm water. Additional material may come to the surface, massage the crop to feel if there are any additional contents. (Tweezers may be needed to remove blades of grass or in our case a cigarette filter.)

-Be careful not to tear the skin around the site with the massaging.

5. Rinse the site again. Pat dry with a gauze pad. Take a minimum of a dime size dose of antibiotic ointment and "pack" the site - lightly smearing the cream or ointment into the site.

6. Thread your needle, cutting a 12" section of doubled thread. Knot the end, leaving a 1/2" tail. Place 3-4 stitches through the dermis, catching the lining of the crop. End the stitches with a knot on the opposite end from which you started.

7. Allow the "patient" to recuperate isolated from the flock. Use newspaper for bedding, offer water and withhold grain. Offer plain yogurt 6-8 hours after. Yogurt and mash/grain can be offered on day 2. Water at all times.

8. Keep an eye on the incision, being sure that their is no tearing or redness. The stitches can be removed 7 days after surgery. Apply antibiotic ointment to the site.

We put our girl back with the flock on day 4, watching her closely.

I hope that this helps for future reference.


and the surgery you probably won't need but will include
keep us posted how your helping her

 

[Glenda L Heywood]

I for got to mention that I don't think the rock can go thru the hole
the BYC member posting the surgery
had a hen who ate a filter off a cigarete and they had to do the surgery
I imagine a vet would charge quite a sun to do crop surgery

hope it all comes out okay

 

[raroo]

Thanks for the info.

Unfortunately, I don't trust myself to perform either the flush and especially not the surgery. I will deal with a large vet bill if I have to. We have a large animal vet who treats poultry so that's what I'll do if it comes down to it. Hopefully it won't.

Her crop is not sour, and she's still pooping and able to slowly pass her soft meals. I checked for the object again and couldn't find it. It has either eluded me again or its breaking down, I'm not sure but I'll give her a bit longer to see if I can clear this up. Arrrrrrrragh I want to bang my head against a wall.

 

[Glenda L Heywood]

the flushing is quite simple
do you not have any one around that has a strong disposition as it is so easy to do
and would help clean out the crop
but give her time she may pass every thing

 

[raroo]

Oh it's just that I would be worried about having her aspirate, either while putting the fluid in her crop, or while bringing it up. I couldn't forgive myself if I accidentally killed her in the process, as lots of people seem to feel that its a risky procedure. I'm uncertain, but would feel better to have a professional do it. I agree I should learn eventually though.

If her crop is still blocked by tomorrow morning I'm going to phone the vet and make an appt. If he flushes her crop maybe I can watch and see how its done and it will give me more confidence to do it myself one day.

Also, I have felt the object in her crop again, I'm certain that that is what's causing the blockage, preventing the grit to pass and the whole works stopping things up. After days of oil and massage she is pooping, passing the soft food, but the grit remains in the bottom of her crop, and she hasn't had any since tuesday evening.

I'm guessing that if this thing has been blocking her crop for days now and not even the grit can get through, then it's not going anywhere anytime soon on its own.

 

[Year of the Rooster]

Quote:
My barred rock ate two cigarette butts in one day when she was only 6 weeks old.. and she's still here today laying medium brown eggs?

They just passed right through I guess. She never had any problems after that. No impaction or sour crop..

 

[raroo]

I WISH she would just pass the stupid thing. This will be her third impacted/blocked crop. She's got a penchant for it. Maybe some birds are more susceptible than others. I guess I'll find out what the heck she ate tomorrow...