Impacted crop, impacted gizard, sour crop.....differences in each?

[PoultryPedia]

If this info is helpful to others in the future:

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Believe it or not, you can use Super-Glue. Follow the instructions on the tube for glueing two surfaces together. It works, it really does.

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I echo this request! Help a new mama out please

Never fear--That is completely normal! Sometimes a crop can REALLY bulge out after a bird's had a big meal, & sometimes can feel a bit hard. If it seems like the bird may have a serious problem, take away food for a few hours or check the bird first thing in the morning before it starts eating, and see if digestion has made the bulge of food disappear. If so, the bird is doing fine.

 

[chilehd]

Hi,

We are new here, like the site and have gotten a lot of good information here.

Today we had an unfortunate occurance concerning one of our best hens and thought we should share it as it is a bit different than other peoples problems and yet we though it should not be that uncommon...


We have a very happy, healthy flock of about 35 hens which we allow to forage two or three times a week. The pen is covered, dry, the coop ample, bedded with hay.

We had been away since Thursday night. Upon arrriving home this afternoon (Sunday) one of our Black Sexlink hens appeared lethargic, unable to stand, dull of coat, and her wattle was much reduced and pale. She was about 7 mos old, and to be honest, had been quite succulant. We handled her. She was emaciated, and listless. Her keel was prominate and she had virtually no breast meat on her. Handling her crop she suddenly became agitated and vocal. After calming her, tried the same with simular results. She was obviously in great pain. Her crop was somewhat enlarged (full but not engorged) and felt like a hard baseball. She had difficulty breathiing, gasping for breath.

Not knowing he ailment we put her down and immediately cut open her crop. Her crop smelled putrid. The crop contents were a hard mass. At the bottom, at the opening to the esophocus, were some hay stalks 5-6 inches long, folded over (like a U) stuck there. I had to pull them out (just a bit) to remove the mass. At the top of the crop was food we had given her Thursday morning which was sour, rotting and breaking down. It was rotten and runny. The muscles around the crop had turned from a nice heathy pink and purple, to white and infected looking.

So, we believe our hen died because straw had lodged in her crop and she could not pass it. The food above the straw rotted, and caused her to become infected. It seems the only recourse we would have had was either to kill her or to cut her open and to remove the obstruction. We may have attempted that, but we had been away and found the problem too late.

She was a good, friendly, productive bird. It is too bad that had to happen.

 

[spectakula]

Hi chilehd,
I m so sorry to hear about your hen, very sad news. Let me tell you a little story about my experience and maybe if you are faced with this again you can act without having to put your babies down. I have hens and one inparticular I though was just being a greedy hen. As the days turned into weeks I noticed her crop was very enlarged. I tried days and days of giving massage and oil to try and get things moving, even went to calling the vet. They wanted $700 to fix her up , of which i could not afford. I was devistated and thought i had looked up every website possible. I woke up one morning and was looking again and came across a site that explains if full detail how to operate on your hen. I was so nervous but it was my last resort. I bought a scaple and everything i needed. This site said that the hole cut could be super glue as that was what they used to use in the war for wounds. Anyway I cut her open and removed about a kilo of rotten food and at the base of it all , was all rotted grass and straw ect. she went on the mend and felt pretty good, but the glue wouldnt hold and i seemed to be gluing her everyday. She healed well, and i let them back around the yard to free range. This turns out to be the biggest mistake. she got impacted crop again but this time i acted swiftly. I cut her open again and I got A sutcher kit from a friend that is a nurse. three stitches and she was closed up after being emptied again. I have kept them in a large coop with no feeding straw and no access to grasses. this was about 4 months ago, and she is back to the girl she was before, one of my best layers. Operating on your chicken is not the most pleasant thing but if you are anything like me I will try anything before i have to make the toughest decision in putting them down.
If you want to know more you can add me on face book. [email protected]
Regards and good luck if it happens again.

 

[texasgurl]

Did you use anesthesia or sedative? Just wondering how you got her to stay still. I'm glad she is okay! You saved her life!

 

[spectakula]

I used no sedative, it took two of us to do it, we put a towel lover her head which seemed to make her calm. you have to have a very sharp, sterile scaple to do this. The towel seemed to subdue her and she didnt even flinch really when we cut her, it was when i ended up stitching heras the super glue would not hold in the end.

 

[Tara Cox]

I just wrapped mr Rhode Island in a towel and tilted her head down and pointed her body vertical to the ground and massaged her crop towards the head and out poured liquid that smelled bad. I repeated this twice and then more came out. I now have isolated her with only water and vegetable broth. She already seems better but the crop is still larger than normal so I will repeat tomorrow giving her time to rest. Nice to know I can go awhile without feeding her giving her time to get back to normal. Thank you for having information out there since I have not been able to find a vet in our area to treat chickens.

 

[spectakula]

I am glad you got to your chicken before you had to open her up.. thru my chicken being so sick I have looked into the causes of sour rop and more so impacted crop. Its seems she either has a defective tube to her stomach or a growth that has narrowed this, It seems I am going to have to cut open my girl again but afteer this time she will be kept seperate and only be allowed mash,,,I will never put her down. Good luck with yours and as i said your lucky you got to it fast I tried your method but nothing would budge. As for a vet, they charge through the roof, like i was quoted $700 AUD to get her operated on, when really if you can handle it you can do this yourself. I am glad your chickken is looking better, keep up the good work

 

[spectakula]

Be very careful uing super glue LOL, I ended up sticking my chicken to the table after three attempts of trying to keep her glue together, Now i got suture needles from the internet and three stitches and she is fixed. I am going on the third time I am needing to open up my hen and will never use glue again, It doesnt hole long as the area gets so moist....

 

[PoultryPedia]

Super-glueing moist areas can be an unsure & difficult thing sometimes.

I've had good though limited experience with Super-glueing wounds. I'll put here my recommendations based on my experience & best figuring.

How to Super-Glue cuts or wounds

1. First, apply direct pressure to stop any serious bleeding. If what you are pressing with sticks to the wound, when removing you can reduce possibility of re-starting bleeding, by dribbling a little water to loosen dried blood.
2. The edges may be fine to glue as-is. But if needed, you can snip off any bits of skin that seem like they will just stick out and not heal, or trim the tips of any feathers that are in the way.
3. Clean the area a bit with a damp Q-tip. Rinse the wound out with saline solution (such as the kind used for contact lenses) or a little Betadine mixed with water. Wait until the area is mostly dry before glueing (but don't introduce germs by blowing it dry with your breath, though you could try a blow dryer with a not-too-hot, very gentle setting).
   Tip: You can make saline yourself by boiling 1 tsp non-iodized salt in 2 cups water. To speed cooling, pour into another container after & put in freezer.
4. Then just follow the instructions on the tube for glueing two surfaces together using that specific super glue (such as whether to dry applied glue a few seconds before pressing two surfaces together, how long to hold the two surfaces together afterward, etc).
5. After a couple minutes, you can put some triple antibiotic ointment similar to Neosporin (Choose one that does NOT include "pain relief") on the glued spot. It may be helpful to apply the ointment a few times over the next few days, also, though it isn't always needed. Watch & see if the ointment seems to cause the glue to come unstuck. If so, it may be better to only apply near rather than on the cut, or to not apply any.
6. If it looks like a significant infection occurs, give Penicillin for 4 days. Visit this link for info on giving Penicillin.
   Tip: Medicines such as Duramycin, Sulfa meds, etc. will not help with wounds.
7. If the wound is on moist tissue (such as on the bird's crop, which can be especially challenging) and opens again, you might have to reapply super-glue 2-4 times a day for a few days & try to minimize bird's movement. Or you might want to add a few stitches, as well.

• If glueing comes apart: Some of new connecting tissue may tear, but hopefully enough won't that the opening will gradually be healing. Having the wound closed most of the time should also be helping surrounding tissues to maintain their growing in correct shape & position.
• If food is seeping from a wound on a digestive organ, you should research additional care that may be needed.

Caution: Do not glue puncture wounds because doing so would greatly risk trapping bacteria inside.

 

[rubychix]

After 3 days of oil, massage and lots of water, I tried the "pump water into her" method which produced some vomiting, finally. We directed a small, steady stream from the hose and filled her crop, then I held her by the feed and massaged the crop--she was remarkably cooperative. She's now resting comfortably apart, with just water and a bowl of yogurt.