I think we have an impacted crop...

[Eowyn2]

I noticed a few days ago, maybe even earlier this week, that one of my 6-8 week old chicks seemed to have a bigger crop than the others consistently. For a while I thought it was just enlarged because she had eaten, but the more I checked in on the chicks the more different she looked and she always had it. Yesterday I felt it, and it felt like a pretty big mass on her R upper chest, kinda irregular and longish. It's really really firm. She's not acting sick or listless, and I watched her eat when she was outside in a protected pen today. It doesn't really seem to be that tender either.

I brought her in the house tonight, gave her some olive oil in a syringe, and massaged it. I don't think I did much, but possibly an hour or so later when I repeated the process part of it maybe was slightly softer, but I'm not sure.

I'm not an experienced chicken owner and have never dealt with crop issues in my previous two batches of hens.

Do impacted crops always feel round and regular like a ball? Cuz this feels more like, I dunno, a round zig-zag. It's probably about 7cm long and 5cm or so wide, probably 2cm deep. Maybe even bigger. I feel badly that I didn't take more time earlier in the week to watch this more carefully and maybe start the crop massage earlier.

I've read a lot about Marek's here and am concerned this might be it. I didn't ask the seller if they had been vaccinated before purchasing (stupid me, I know) - I will be contacting her soon to find out. However, the pullet is otherwise acting pretty normal and certainly doesn't have any weird paralysis-type symptoms.

The one thing that is maybe slightly reassuring is that the last time I did the crop massage I heard what sounded like bowel sounds as I was doing it. And I'm pretty sure it was the chicken and not me.

Any suggestions or similar experiences? If she's not a lot better in the morning, I may consider taking her to the vet... though I have no idea if the vet ER in town has any chicken experience...

 

[pwand]

If you can tube feed water, that would help. Lots of water and massaging. Check her crop in the morning to see if its flat.

 

[CMV]

A "round zigzag" is an interesting way to put it, but accurate. I had a 4 month old bird that had something very similar. I ended up performing crop surgery on her, but found that the impaction went further down than just the crop. I was feeling not just the distended crop, but also the distended tubing from the crop to the gizzard. Sadly, I was not able to break up whatever was impacting my bird's gizzard, and she didn't make it.

Keep up with the oil and massage. I would also recommend putting her on a soft diet of yogurt and scrambled eggs to see if you can get something moving through that crop. Are you giving her any ACV? If not then, I would also add some of that to her water. The acidity may help to break up whatever she has blocking her up.

 

[Eowyn2]

Thanks for that insight, CMV. I was wondering if it was just such a badly impacted crop that it was going above and below the actual crop. Poor baby. I'm a bad chicken momma.

One more question - if I took her to the vet, would they most likely use anaesthesia to do a surgical crop disimpaction? Or would they just roll her in a towel and do it? Because I'm a physician, and while I don't have a vet's experience, I do have a vet's tools available to me, including lidocaine. (I don't know if you can use that on a chicken, however.) As far as tube feeding water goes, I'm not the kind of doc who regularly intubates people, so I'm not in the market to intubate a chicken either. I do minor surgery on people all the time though, so that's in my realm of comfort.

It might possibly be slightly smaller and/or softer in the lower region this morning. And I definitely heard more bowel-like sounds with massage. Will keep up the oil, maybe try a syringe of water too, and offer soft foods. I'll call the vet when they open and see if they do chickens. If not, I'll give her some more time and then consider doing it myself. Thanks to all who commented.

 

[CMV]

They will use an anesthetic at the vet, but if you do opt to perform the surgery just use the towel and I like to use a black child's sock over their head with breathing holes cut into it. Never use Lidocaine on a chicken. Any of the -caine drugs are deadly to birds. Tube feeding a chicken is really easy. Before I performed my bird's crop surgery I used a tube to drain everything that I could out of her crop. When I realized the tube was not going to cut it, that's when I opted to do the surgery.

 

[casportpony]

If the crop is not impacted with long grass you should be able to tube water and clear it that way. When his happens to mine I tube 60-120ml to a 3kg bird. Just star by tubing a little and add more until the crop starts to feel sloshy. As a Dr. you know how important water is to keep the digestive tract working. If the blockage is further in, like in her gizzard or intestines, not much you can do for that. For tubing water I recommend a size 18 French catheter tube for full sized birds and a size 8, 10 or 12 for chicks.

-Kathy

 

[casportpony]

If you're going to tube, weigh her and try tubing 30ml/kg, that's a good starting point.

-Kathy

 

[casportpony]

http://www.the-chicken-chick.com/2012/04/answers-from-chicken-vet-on-impacted.html

-Kathy

 

[casportpony]

This link has some good info and videos on tubing:
https://www.backyardchickens.com/t/805728/go-team-tube-feeding

-Kathy

 

[Eowyn2]

Thanks all I opted to take her to the vet shortly after I posted, and they said they were going to lavage it out. Haven't heard any updates yet. I am officially the Crazy Chicken Lady now.