Huge crop/ slow crop problem! Please help!

[applethechicken]

Low calcium levels can affect everything from ovulation to contractions facilitating laying. These functions can also affect crop function when the oviduct is blocked for a period of time by a slow egg or double ovulation in a single cycle. Sitting more than an hour in a nest before getting the egg out is one indication she may be headed for egg binding at some point, especially as she ages.

The treatment for this is a boost in absorbable calcium such as calcium citrate. I give one tablet at the first sign of such a reproductive tendency. Two or three days of calcium citrate often "resets" the cycle to normal. This is also used when a hen appears to be suffering from an egg binding episode by increasing contractions to expel the egg. I get this at Walmart and keep in in my run.

This is strictly for reproductive crises, not meant to replace oyster shell or egg shells as it's much too high in calcium to give long term.
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I have that. Ill give her a pill. Do I need to break it apart? How do I feed it to her? it seems pretty big

 

[azygous]

Shove the entire pill into her beak. She'll surprise you and not choke.

 

[applethechicken]

Shove the entire pill into her beak. She'll surprise you and not choke.

Just did that, and she took it well! I'll keep doing that for the next two days and see.

Also, here is a very recent poop. She is pooping every hour or so. I don't think she drank much water after this morning, and she's flipping through the grit a lot.
I gave her another massage. Its still around a golf ball size, but I feel like its very slightly smaller than this morning. Its more squishy/ pliable than this morning, but there are some areas of it that are less pliable than the others.

When should I give her something to eat? She seems hungry. Scrambled eggs, yogurt, wet mash?

 

[azygous]

Have you wormed the chickens yet? I may not be able to see that latest photo of cecal poop clearly, but it appears it may have worms in it. Can you look at it closely and see what you think? Normally, cecal is pure "chocolate pudding". If you haven't wormed yet, it may be time. That can affect crop function if worms are clogging the intestines. I would use Ivermectin or Safeguard to include cecal worms.

 

[applethechicken]

Have you wormed the chickens yet? I may not be able to see that latest photo of cecal poop clearly, but it appears it may have worms in it. Can you look at it closely and see what you think? Normally, cecal is pure "chocolate pudding". If you haven't wormed yet, it may be time. That can affect crop function if worms are clogging the intestines. I would use Ivermectin or Safeguard to include cecal worms.

No, I haven't wormed any of them yet. I don't think that's cecal poop, since there's no bad smell. Seems just like an oily poop? I use a stick to move it around and it doesn't seem to be worms, just some short but tough pieces of grass.
I attached another picture of her poop from 12:15. She's pooping every hour.

For deworming, how much ivermectin/ safeguard do I use? Which one is better?

 

[applethechicken]

this was 10 am's poop, which was before the last two pictures I sent.

 

[applethechicken]

And this is 1 pm's poop, the most recent one. Im not sure if its cecal or not, since there's no bad smell. But there is some short straw in there. Does this mean whatever is stuck in the crop is going down?

She seems like she doesn't have a lot of energy, should I feed her a little bit of wet mash and yogurt?

Also, is it fine for her to lay in this crate thing I have for her? I think she might lay today, but she's on the metal rack because she would eat dirt/ the cardboard if she was on that, and I don't want her stepping on her poop.

 

[azygous]

This is why I don't trust photos. Often they don't represent reality.

If you have a wormer on hand, I would go ahead and use it. If not, you can skip worming for now.

 

[applethechicken]

This is why I don't trust photos. Often they don't represent reality.

If you have a wormer on hand, I would go ahead and use it. If not, you can skip worming for now.

I don't have a wormer on hand. But I was thinking of doing it sometime soon. Ill skip it for now though.

 

[applethechicken]

Here are some poops from this afternoon and this evening, before I put her in the coop after it got dark. Some of them have a normal poop shape, so that's good. I also found some short yellow grass in there.

She also laid an egg around 5:30. I think the calcium supplement definitely helped!

For food, in the afternoon, I fed her some wet and mashed pellets with coconut oil and spices, and some pieces of cantaloupe. In the evening, she ate some more of those wet pellets and steamed eggs. all were less than a tablespoon, just to give her some energy and nutrients.

I also massaged her several times this afternoon. I would say in total about an hour of massage time throughout the day. Sometimes I would just hold her so my hand is like a crop bra, when she's squirmy.

And her crop is about the size of a ping pong ball. Still the same texture: stiff dough but doesn't hold its shape. No bad smell from her beak either. But since she's pooping, and it didn't get larger throughout the day (got a little smaller), I think whatever is stuck is going down.

Tomorrow morning I will bring her to my garage again, and basically do the same as today.