Impacted Crop, maybe?

[EggHunter_66]

I was given a hen about a year ago and once we had her home we noticed her crop was much larger then our other birds but I wasnt concerend to much. As time went on we noticed it was getting bigger and bigger. It makes her walk funny because its so big. She looks healthy other then that and she eats & drinks. At that time I did do an on line search of what her problem could be and the only thing I could find was "impacted Crop". SO after reading up on it I did what the information said to do. The crop did shink a little...just a little.
Well just a few minutes ago my husband just had to go out and save her from some of the other birds because they had her pinned and were picking on her....NEVER did that before!
So now she is in a create in the house and once again I am on line looking for help for her.
Her crop is very large like it has been for a year, its not hard but very mushy. If it wasnt for that she would look like a healthy happy bird. I am letting her relax right now and then I will take a couple of pictures of her and post them.
Any suggestions on what might be going on would be GREAT!!!

 

[aoxa]

Do you give your hens grit?

I would deny her feed tonight overnight and see how it is in the morning.. Grit helped my girls out a lot.

 

[seminolewind]

Some hens are real piggies with food and stuff their crops, and their crops stretch and become real large. I had one that did that last month. Like Aoxa said, see if she empties overnight. If not, start with the massages and olive oil.

 

[EggHunter_66]

Thank you for such fast replies!
No, I dont give grit all of my birds are free range and I was told they wouldnt need it...is that true?
I will hold back on feeding her today, what about water?

 

[Tracydr]

Depending on the type of soil you have, you may not have enough granite in your soil. If you have a fine clay type soil, you probably need grit. However, if she's already impacted, this may not help.
It may have caused it, especially if she also came from somebody who wasn't feeding her processed feeds so that she was mainly foraging without the proper grit to digest whole grains and grasses.

 

[OregonChickenGal]

Quote:
Grit in the crop will do nothing, it is a holding area. Grit in the gizzard is where the grinding action occurs.

 

[EggHunter_66]

So she spent the night in the house and I withheld food. The size of the crop really hasnt changed and it never does even over this past year. Now on feeling it this morning it did feel slighlty different then yesturday afternoon. Yesturday it was slushy, today it feels....oh do I explain, compacted is the word I want to use I think...lol. Its not so slushy as it was but you can still feel and move the food around, its not feeling hard though. I have been keeping an eye on her poop, she did have 4 but very small ones. They were white and pea green. I will try to attach 3 photos when I am done writing this, lets hope I remember how to do it because it has been awhile since I last done that!
Should I still with hold food another day?
Thanks!!!

 

[EggHunter_66]

Update: I even withheld water last night and gave it back to her this morning, well just a second ago she threw some up...I thought chickens could'nt throw up? SSsooo what does that mean?
HELP

 

[seminolewind]

Hi, don't withold water. It will help keep the crop food moist. I would separate her (for ease of treatment). Only give her water, and mush food, like applesauce, yogurt, bread soaked in oil, mush made with feed. Massage her crop from top to bottom several times a day, keep that lump broken up.

She looks like she has stretched out her crop. You may have to order her a crop bra to limit the stretch in the crop. Or she will stretch it out again.

 

[Johnnyschick]

I have Red Sex Link who developed the same issue back in July. I noticed one night that she was making funny head motions so I did some research @ figured out she an impacted crop. I separated her from the others, massaged her crop (which felt like it was full of sand) and gave her some olive oil in her water. I took her to the vet the next morning and they surgically cleaned out her crop. She was put on antibiotics for 10 days in case a bacterial infection caused the issue and was returned back to her sisters about 3 weeks later. She still makes funny head motions and has a distended crop but she eats fine, poops fine and seems happy. The vet said we might just have a "special chicken". Although she did stop laying around that time and has not give any eggs since. We just figure that's the way it's gonna be with her and don't worry about it so much anymore. Believe me, we were plenty worried at the time, especially when the vet told us that if she has crop stasis and the crop just isn't working there is nothing that can be done about it.