Impacted crop advice

[TurtletheCoturnix]

Thank you. Right now I really do suspect gizzard impaction. The first few days of treatment it was just crop impacted, but now its the gizzard too. I'll try the molasses flush tonight.
Edit: Her crop, after having drunk some water, is just soft and mushy. No hard things in the crop.

I just have a few quick questions:
How do I get it into her?!
And, if I get it all in her, will it work immediately? Or does it take a while for the blockage to burst?

 

[azygous]

Try offering it to her as you would water. She may surprise us both by drinking it all on her own. If that doesn't work, try syringing it into the esophagus by inserting a pencil thin 1 ml syringe along the inside of the right side of her mouth. You will know you are in the esophagus and not the airway if she doesn't cough and gag. This is simple and safe. Just take it slow.

Depress the plunger slowly, and refill as many times as it takes to get all the liquid into her crop. Do not massage with this treatment.

How fast it works is up to your hen and how badly she's blocked. It could be relatively soon, an hour, or it could take overnight. Place her someplace where the runny poop will be absorbed and not get all over her or your house. It can end up being quite an impressive amount of diarrhea, which is what we're aiming for.

 

[TurtletheCoturnix]

Actually, I'll do it tomorrow morning. Two hours ago I just gave her a teaspoon of oil and water...
I just don't understand how syringing it into their mouths' work. Do I pull on the wattle? She doesn't like it, so it's hard for her to be still.

 

[azygous]

You can pull down on the wattles or you can bring your fingers around from the back of her head and pry open her mouth from the sides.

It might be easier to tube it into her. That way you only are inserting something into her beak once. You would need plastic tubing such as you would use for aquariums. I use oxygen tubing a friend has given me after he replaces it with new. Then you just need to insert the syringe into the tubing. https://www.backyardchickens.com/th...d-pics-for-visuals-very-detailed-post.805615/

I also was able to buy a tube feeding kit from my vet for only $3.

I hesitate to suggest any other method of getting the fluid into her crop, such as saturating a piece of bread, due to her crop already being full of solid stuff. It might help if someone held her and her beak open while you put the liquid in. Once her beak is held open, she's unlikely to clamp it shut. Chickens aren't like crocodiles and alligators.

 

[TurtletheCoturnix]

Thanks, I'll try that tomorrow. I'm so worried about her though. Does the molasses flush have a high chance of working, or does it depend on the chicken?

It's been a week with no nutrients. Does she have a chance of surviving? She's very skinny. She doesn't have a lot of energy.

And, if you know, how does the molasses flush work? Does the molasses give her major diarrhea and hope the grass comes out too? I guess it just depends on how much grass is stuck in there.

 

[azygous]

The molasses flush has a better than even chance of working. It works just has you picture. The idea is to create a bout of diarrhea in hopes of it carrying the grass down and out.

Since this has been going on so long, though, it's going to be a "keep-your-fingers-crossed" thing. I'll stick around, and you and I will figure out something if it doesn't appear the flush is working.

 

[TurtletheCoturnix]

Since this has been going on so long, though, it's going to be a "keep-your-fingers-crossed" thing. I'll stick around, and you and I will figure out something if it doesn't appear the flush is working

I almost give up on this chicken. Her crop hasn't really gone down, still impacted, and she didn't drink any molasses water on her own. I gave her 6 mL of it yesterday, left for work, and came back and checked on her poop. No diarrhea. Her poop is mainly water and a few specks of green stuff. I don't know if it's grass.

I am going to try to force some coconut oil down and massage her crop. What is really annoying is that the things in the crop isn't going down, and she doesn't really drink a lot of water, so I don't know what to do.

 

[azygous]

Are you agreeable to try the stool softener again? This time pop the whole capsule into her beak after you give two teaspoons of coconut oil. Let the stuff work for an hour, but make fresh water available because she could get thirsty.

After the one hour of rest, hold her in your lap with her tail against your chest or under your arm pit. Locate the center of the mass and make very small circular strokes confined to just the hard lump, but be gentle. Focus on getting the lump to break apart. Massage for fifteen minutes or until your fingers get tired.

If you don't feel the lump begin to break up after massaging, give two more teaspoons of coconut oil immediately, followed by another massage as soon as your fingers are able to do it again.

This may trigger the diarrhea as the lump breaks up and goes down, so watch out for that. You don't want to be in the line of fire when it goes off. Maybe wear an old towel over your chest and lap while massaging just in case the bomb goes off prematurely.

 

[TurtletheCoturnix]

I'm not sure about the stool softener today. I forced some mineral oil down her this afternoon but read on the warnings section that mineral oil cannot be given with stool softener.

I might try it tomorrow, but one problem is that I am worried that I am going to choke her if I force her beak open and put the capsule in. Is there a chance of the pill choking her? And how will I get her to eat the coconut oil?

 

[azygous]

Okay. Try just the coconut oil. The only way a chicken can choke is if you squirt something into the center of the throat where the airway is located. Slipping a tiny pill into the beak won't cause her to choke. Anything place on the tongue will automatically be swallowed with no problem.

Chill the coconut oil if it's presently liquid. You don't need it to be real hard, just not liquid. I break off little half inch chunks and put them right inside the beak. She will easily swallow them as they will liquify almost immediately from her body temperature. You don't need to wait after getting two teaspoons of oil into her. Massage immediately.