Impacted crop and alarming poop (photos)

Freyja

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TL;DR:
alarming poop from our 5yo ailing hen, Lucy. What does it signify? Is something going on in addition to impacted crop?
What can I do for her? Photos at end of post.


The details:
Lucy is our 5yo BR hen. She hasn't been laying for some months, but has been avid and healthy, always very chatty, and a little spicy. She and our other hen are finishing their molts, feathers coming in nicely, but both girls still have pale combs.

I noticed the last week or so she seemed to have trouble eating grape treats cut in half -- other hen would gobble, Lucy would toss on ground and pick at them instead of eating in one piece. If she tried, it seemed that she had a bit of trouble, that it wouldn't go down right away, that she would move it around in her mouth, but I didn't know if I was imagining or if she just preferred smaller bites.

This morning, she didn't come out of the coop. I went inside and she was laying on the dropping board, not even on the roost. I put her in the run and she went straight away to the water and drank. No food, just sipping. I went away and checked back in 20 mins, and she was still sipping water. Went inside to call vet. When I went to load her in the crate, she was laying down by the water. I noticed then that she had a very full crop.

Vet diagnosed impacted crop (no sign that it is sour), gave her a bit of water, and massaged crop. Crop initially had been solid and hard, and then massage broke it up. Lucy regurgitated a bit during this procedure but I don't think it was very much. When I felt her crop at the clinic, it felt granular. Vet prescribed Baytril (generic) and a liquid diet to start tomorrow (no food today). X-rays were an option but I was not able to do that.

When I got her out of the crate at home, there was a lot of liquid with blood spots on the pad. I gave Lucy her med and set her up in a dog crate in the living room. She found the water right away and was back to drinking. Eventually she laid down near water, but must have gotten up at least once because I found a bloody poop at 9pm -- this one was bigger and different composition (solids, yellow, blood, and clear liquid) than the one in her travel crate. It looks alarming to me.

It's been many years since I had a hen with an impacted crop. I have read about using oil (coconut or olive) and massaging the crop to break up the impaction and hopefully move it out, which I will start tomorrow. She did get some massage at the clinic and I did some again before I put her in living room crate (not with oil, though).

She is resting now and my inclination is to leave her be -- it was a stressful day for her. But if it's best to work on her crop now, I will.

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Crate pad when arrived home (marble for scale)


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9pm poop
 

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I'm just guessing the "red" poop is from the grapes. Don't give her grapes for a day and see if that continues.

Looks like a grape to me. Do you still have it to check it out?
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Your vet is treating her so we can't give advice counter to that. The Baytril could be adding to her weird looking poops, as will a water diet.

I will give you a couple of helpful crop articles though that might help you understand it and what other things you can do.

https://www.backyardchickens.com/ar...w-to-know-which-one-youre-dealing-with.73607/

https://www.backyardchickens.com/ar...ntion-and-treatments-of-crop-disorders.67194/

Hopefully, she improves quickly for you!
 
5yo BR hen. She hasn't been laying for some months,

and she went straight away to the water and drank. No food, just sipping. I went away and checked back in 20 mins, and she was still sipping water.
Can your vet run a fecal float to see if she needs deworming?

I'd check her crop to make sure it's emptying overnight. If she's having a hard time picking up feed, look inside the beak for any lesions or canker.

The yellow urates along with the blood clots could indicate something going on with the liver and perhaps something reproductive. She's not been laying for months, I would assume she stopped long before she molted correct?
 

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