Impacted Crop, Barely Pooping

[User4477]

I have a 9 month old hen with a possible impacted crop. About 4 days ago her crop seemed a lot bigger than usual one night before they went to bed. I waited to see if it would empty in the morning and sure enough, it had gone down considerably and it felt like she just had a few things in her crop. I usually leave their food in their coop at night so I figured she may have eaten some before I opened their coop that morning. I left it alone, but her crop kept getting really big at night and in the afternoon so I stopped leaving the food inside and checked on her crop yesterday morning to feel a hard pingpong ball mass in her crop. I gave her olive oil and massaged her crop for 30 mins until it felt like I broke most of the lump into small pieces. She didn't poop at all within that time and I hadn't noticed her pooping. I massaged her 2 more times yesterday.

Today, her crop was not empty this morning, but the lump was a lot more malleable and squishy. I gave her more olive oil and massaged again for about 30 mins. She also didn't poop within that time frame.

I put her back in her coop/run that she shares with one of my roosters and she is drinking a lot of water and I noticed some yellow-ish substance come up from her mouth as she was drinking. I hadn't smelled anything off about her, which is why I didn't think she had sour crop until she did that.

She also hasn't laid an egg in 3 days and barely poops. I attached an image of her poop, which looks like diarrhea. Her vent isn't obstructed or anything.

The thing is, she eats a lot of wood shavings from her coop and I think that's what may have caused the impaction.

I don't have anywhere to isolate her either, so I've been giving her and the rooster watered down crumbles to eat.

I'm not sure what my next steps are. Should I keep massaging her crop? I was thinking of giving her coconut oil crumbles and possibly stool softener next.

I was also thinking if I should remove ALL the wood shavings from their coop so she'll stop eating them?

Is it okay that I'm still providing food? She does eat some.

 

[Wyorp Rock]

Do you provide grit?

I would treat for impacted crop along with sour crop if she's got yellow liquid coming from her beak.
Do you notice any lesions or pasty material inside the beak?
She's not laid any eggs in a few days, I would also get some calcium into her. Feel her abdomen for any bloat or fluid.

It's not uncommon for chickens to eat a little bedding here and there. If she's eating a lot of bedding, then take a look at what you feed to make sure it's a nutritionally balanced poultry feed. She may need something extra in her diet or it may just be boredom depending on how much space she has.

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

 

[User4477]

Do you provide grit?

I would treat for impacted crop along with sour crop if she's got yellow liquid coming from her beak.
Do you notice any lesions or pasty material inside the beak?
She's not laid any eggs in a few days, I would also get some calcium into her. Feel her abdomen for any bloat or fluid.

It's not uncommon for chickens to eat a little bedding here and there. If she's eating a lot of bedding, then take a look at what you feed to make sure it's a nutritionally balanced poultry feed. She may need something extra in her diet or it may just be boredom depending on how much space she has.

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

I hadn't been providing grit (which I now regret), because they don't free range and I only feed them their normal feed. Also, their run has dirt with tons of pebbles/rocks so I figured they could eat that as grit.
I don't see any pasty material or lesions in her beak, and I don't feel any bloating, mostly just her keel bone as it's becoming more prominent.

I want to give her oyster shell but I'm afraid it will just get stuck in her crop and cut her when I message her, but I don't know.

I've been feeding her DuMor Chick starter and grower and Purina all flock crumbles.

This morning her crop was still completely full, and while I can break apart all the contents in her crop so it's not hard, it's just not going down

 

[User4477]

Do you provide grit?

I would treat for impacted crop along with sour crop if she's got yellow liquid coming from her beak.
Do you notice any lesions or pasty material inside the beak?
She's not laid any eggs in a few days, I would also get some calcium into her. Feel her abdomen for any bloat or fluid.

It's not uncommon for chickens to eat a little bedding here and there. If she's eating a lot of bedding, then take a look at what you feed to make sure it's a nutritionally balanced poultry feed. She may need something extra in her diet or it may just be boredom depending on how much space she has.

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

Her abdomen actually does feel a little bloated, could she be egg bound? What kind of calcium can I give her?

 

[Wyorp Rock]

If she's pooping, then likely not bound, may be having some issues with her reproductive system. You can find Calcium at stores like WalMart or CVS. I would give her 1 tablet a day for 3-5 days.

Keep working on the crop, if you are able to break up what's in there, but it's not moving, then you may need to give her coconut oil twice a day instead of once. Read the article I linked, you can also give 1 stool softener to see if that helps get things moving. She may have a partial blockage in the digestive system which isn't allowing the crop to fully empty.

 

[User4477]

If she's pooping, then likely not bound, may be having some issues with her reproductive system. You can find Calcium at stores like WalMart or CVS. I would give her 1 tablet a day for 3-5 days.

Keep working on the crop, if you are able to break up what's in there, but it's not moving, then you may need to give her coconut oil twice a day instead of once. Read the article I linked, you can also give 1 stool softener to see if that helps get things moving. She may have a partial blockage in the digestive system which isn't allowing the crop to fully empty.

View attachment 3009365

Thank you so much, I got her the calcium and dissolved it in water and fed it to her via a dropper. I gave her coconut oil and massage 3 times yesterday, and again this morning. Still not pooping very much at all, and her crop is doughy now, still not emptying. She's getting thinner and her bones are more prominent but she's still pretty perky in spite of the circumstances.
I tried giving her a dulcolax stool softener but the gel capsule is too big for her (even though it's small) and she keeps trying to break it up with her beak, which she can't., so I guess there goes that idea.
When I feel her abdomen, I can feel what feels like an egg on her left side. Her vent looks normal though. Hopefully the calcium gets it moving

 

[Wyorp Rock]

She should be able to swallow both of those with no issues at all.

Does she have any blockage or lesions inside the beak that prevent her from swallowing? If not, then pop the pill directly in the beak and let her swallow it.

 

[User4477]

She should be able to swallow both of those with no issues at all.

Does she have any blockage or lesions inside the beak that prevent her from swallowing? If not, then pop the pill directly in the beak and let her swallow it.

Thank you, I managed to get her to swallow the dulcolax but it didn't seem to do anything.
Three days ago I managed to almost completely empty her crop, except for two semi-small solid pieces in there that I can't seem to break up. She's still hardly pooping, but I attached pictures of the poops she has managed to pass. They seem tough and dry which I assume is just the contents of the impaction passing.
It seems she has a partial impaction at this point, it's just two small marble-sized pieces that I've been working on for the past 3 days.
Still no egg also, but I assume if she was egg bound she would have been dead by now. Unless there's still a chance she could get egg bound...

 

[Wyorp Rock]

You're giving the coconut oil twice a day?
I would give her wet feed to eat as well.
The poop is very dry.

 

[User4477]

You're giving the coconut oil twice a day?
I would give her wet feed to eat as well.
The poop is very dry.

Yes, twice a day with at least a 30 min massage each time.
Interestingly enough, I've only been providing mushy wet feed this whole time, and she's been drinking water too, so not sure why it's this dry