Huge, Pendulous Crop...video

[Eelantha]

She seems young for pendulous crop which is due to overstretching of the crop from eating too much. Impacted crop can result from eating long grasses that get tangled in the crop. That can rot and lead to sour crop. Since the crop does not smell bad yet, her crop may just be slow in emptying. You haven’t said yet what you feed or if they get a lot of treats. Be sure you do put out grit. Many think that oyster shell is grit, but they need granite grit available.

Hopefully with all of the suggestions, she will be alright. I haven’t had good luck with the few crop problems I have seen. I did not see any problems for the first 5years, but have seen a few the last few years. Look for any other symptoms, since coccidiosis and other illnesses can slow the crop.

Concerning my own hen, I'm already treating her for just-in-case coccidiosis; I hurried to a vet as soon as I saw a tiny bit of blood in her poop.

However her diarrhea has not stopped, and her crop is just as big as before. The bloody poop did not reappear while under vet examination, so I'm awaiting the fecal test results to see what that was all about. (8 days later, still no calls....)

I give my chickens home-made poultry feed from a local farmer, it's always worked well before, no problems on that point for my layers. The one thing I didn't know about back then was grit, which is surprisingly hard to find. I only have one store coop close to my house, and it said it sold poultry grit, but when I opened the sack it was full of grains and I didn't see any rock pebbles that would belay the presence of grit in there.

As I understand, grains aren't good for chickens with crop problems, and I can't find pure poultry grit anywhere close by, so I'm at a loss on what to do on that front. (I can only drive to fetch the grit, as financial walls are keeping me from ordering some by mail or online.)

 

[Relleoms]

Sadly, I just lost my sweetest girl to pendulous crop. I’ll attach the necropsy report, but in summary, she did not get enough food even though she did not have a blockage. In my opinion, a crop bra was the reason she lived with her condition for nearly 10 months of her short 12 month life. I would also suggest not breeding her as it could be a genetic issue. Wishing you better luck with your girl!!!

 

[21hens-incharge]

Concerning my own hen, I'm already treating her for just-in-case coccidiosis; I hurried to a vet as soon as I saw a tiny bit of blood in her poop.

However her diarrhea has not stopped, and her crop is just as big as before. The bloody poop did not reappear while under vet examination, so I'm awaiting the fecal test results to see what that was all about. (8 days later, still no calls....)

I give my chickens home-made poultry feed from a local farmer, it's always worked well before, no problems on that point for my layers. The one thing I didn't know about back then was grit, which is surprisingly hard to find. I only have one store coop close to my house, and it said it sold poultry grit, but when I opened the sack it was full of grains and I didn't see any rock pebbles that would belay the presence of grit in there.

As I understand, grains aren't good for chickens with crop problems, and I can't find pure poultry grit anywhere close by, so I'm at a loss on what to do on that front. (I can only drive to fetch the grit, as financial walls are keeping me from ordering some by mail or online.)

Do you have any pea gravel and sand around your yard? If so get a mixture of it to put in the coop in a container for the birds to pick and choose from while you look for regular grit.

I am surprised its hard to find near you.

I would be calling the vet about those fecal results. That's something they can actually check via a microscope in the office.

 

[rebrascora]

If the crop is squishy and not hard, my concern would be that it is filled with fibrous material like long grass/hay/straw which gets ravelled up in the crop to become a soggy mass and slows the passage of food. It kind of acts like a sieve or in line filter, so that small particles and water can pass through, but larger stuff gets stuck and adds to the mass, stretching the crop which then becomes pendulous ie it hangs below the outlet into the gut. This then means that sediment can build up in the saggy part and eventually lead to an impaction. In the meantime the bird is at risk of a yeast infection (sour crop) although it doesn't always happen and my birds with pendulous crops and impactions have not gone sour. The bird is also not getting enough nutrients through it's system due to the restricted flow and they start to lose body condition. I once had a little bantam pekin (cochin) whose crop was so large and pendulous and her body so skinny that the crop tipped her over and she could not stand. I had to do surgery to physically remove the soft ball sized mass of soggy straw from her crop. She recovered from the surgery amazingly well and was back up to weight and laying eggs 2 weeks later but started to eat fibrous material again as soon as she had access to it.... maybe she enjoyed the feeling of fullness.... but 6 months later I had to perform surgery again and unfortunately I had left it too late and she was too weak to recover.

So the answer to your question about are there risks in not dealing with it.... most definitely, yes!

 

[Cryss]

I have a Lavender Orpington with pendulous crop. This thread is where I found answers. Yes, get a bra right away. And follow the instructions here for sour crop. I used the three dose feminine medication in this link for the full course before I got the bra. It was immediately noticeble that she was improving. But the bra I ordered took time to arrive so she got weak again. I just finished a second routine of the medication and she is wearing the bra. I plan on a second bra so I can wash this one. I found it fits best by crossing the straps behind her back rather than tying around her neck and waist. Oh, and the 3 dose medication comes with a tube of the same medication. I cut the 3 suppositories into 4 pieces, give one piece morning and at night. When they are gone the next 2 doses are from the tube.
https://www.backyardchickens.com/ar...w-to-know-which-one-youre-dealing-with.73607/

 

[Eelantha]

Do you have any pea gravel and sand around your yard? If so get a mixture of it to put in the coop in a container for the birds to pick and choose from while you look for regular grit.

I am surprised its hard to find near you.

I would be calling the vet about those fecal results. That's something they can actually check via a microscope in the office.

Pea gravel? If you mean pea-sized gravel it might be hard to find if not harder than grit at the moment, as my spot has close to a meter of snow on the ground still, despite the warming weather (before that, it was 1,50 meter of snow, maybe a bit more). Digging gravel up close to the routes is a possibility if I take out a shovel and hack at the thick ice... hopefully the salt the city uses to de-ice the roads isn't chemical. It's 50-50 on that one.

I've been told sand is good for chicks but will pass through adult chickens without doing anything, being too small to help grind the food in their bigger crop. I haven't tried it because of that, though I do have an old, opened and dusty bag of sand in the shed. I'd planned to use it for the chickens' dusting box. Should I try sand as their grit nonetheless?

Quebec is a place of many things, but not of poultry. Finding affordable vets (if that even exists), close and reliable poultry stores, certified poultry breeders and even just basic information is a big daily struggle in the capital. Farmers have mutts and industrial chickens by the dozen in their barns for the eggs and meat, and they prefer to cull any problem chickens and hatch new ones instead of fixing them. That works for big farms... but for the tiny local backyarder who loves her chickens and wants to look deeper, to find all the ways to properly care about her birds? I almost always come up empty. BYC is the only place I've found in almost three years of searches that gives good, detailed answers to my questions... now if only I could find Quebecan backyarders that knew where to find basic chicken stuff around Quebec city, it'd be a big load off my shoulders. I haven't had much success there yet xD

The vet I saw was an industrial one, 1 hour away from home. She has no clinic; it's her technician who does the fecal tests (it usually takes a week, by vet's sayings), while the vet herself usually drives to people's homes to check their farms on the spot. I however have no farm, and stood outside her working turf, so I had to come see her instead with my chickens.

My mother did call the vet an hour ago... she landed on her answering machine, so we're stuck waiting for a reply. Not much progress there either u_u

Clinical chicken veterinaries are extremely rare in Quebec (it's a dying trend). I only know of one and her prices are too far above what I can afford to visit her. I don't know if she would accept to do a fecal examination without a rendez-vous - most Quebecan vets insist on a consultation along with exams, so I haven't tried that avenue yet. Farmers also dislike chicken veterinaries as a rule, so I have no refferences from their parts on that point. (they all tell me to kill my flock and start over.)

The closest coop I have for chicken stuff is on Île d'Orléans, and although it's a decently big one, I've found out the hard way that it does not have everything. It does not sell pure poultry grit - only grit mixed with grains. I have no idea if this mix works normally on chickens as I've only had some for two and a half years, but for a pendulous crop (or any crop issues in general), it's definitely not ideal.

 

[rebrascora]

My mother studied poultry at agricultural college many moons ago and she used to smash up old chipped or broken pottery with a hammer for her hens to use as grit. I've tried it myself and it works well and they seem to love it. Mine were at risk of getting under the hammer, they were so keen to eat it. Obviously be careful about shards flying so protect your eyes.... maybe put an old plate in a feed bag or two and then hit it with the hammer.... it's quite therapeutic if you have had a stressful day!!

 

[Eelantha]

My mother studied poultry at agricultural college many moons ago and she used to smash up old chipped or broken pottery with a hammer for her hens to use as grit. I've tried it myself and it works well and they seem to love it. Mine were at risk of getting under the hammer, they were so keen to eat it. Obviously be careful about shards flying so protect your eyes.... maybe put an old plate in a feed bag or two and then hit it with the hammer.... it's quite therapeutic if you have had a stressful day!!

Uuuh, all my pottery is plastic and styrofoam-made. I've only got one or two ceramic containers, and those ones are painted. Does painted ceramic pottery work just as well, or is the paint too dangerous for the chickens?

 

[rebrascora]

I would be wary of anything with bright coloured paints as dyes sometimes contain toxic elements like Chromium and Arsenic.

What about ceramic floor tiles or kitchen or bathroom tiles?

 

[Cryss]

Grit is basically bits of rock, mostly granite. Do they have acces to the yard? If not maybe dig up some dirt with small stones for them to scratch and discover.