Impacted crop mysteries...

[jimni]

Hi all,

I have a year old chicken who I noticed had a swinging crop whilst climbing around the run I built.

She's bottom of the pecking order, so at first I thought she'd just gobbled as much food as she could when she go the chance. I gave the crop a feel and it was definitely mixed corn and layers pellets. I figured I'd take the food away and see how much had digested over night.

The next day, the crop was still quite full, so I took her in to quarantine, suspecting pendulous/impacted crop.

In quarantine, she had 3 days on water, with me giving her olive oil and a crop massage 3 times a day. This REDUCED the blockage, but did not remove it. You could definitely feel solids in there, like the pellets were still whole (you think this was grit?). Poop was watery (as you'd expect) and any solids that did come out were in the form of black toothpaste.

I'm now thinking "well, the digestion is moving, just not very well".

On the morning of day 4, she'd laid an egg overnight and eaten it. She's hungry. Not wanting to give her soilds, I make her up some Harrisons Recovery Formula with olive oil, which she gobbles up. The lump is still there and is about thumb size. Wanting to give her nutrients to aid her organs, but not overfill her, I stick to the formula on this day.

Day 5 and the size of the lump hasn't changed. Poop is the same. Now I'm thinking parasitic worms. I'd ordered some Flubenvet layers pellets days before I noticed the crop. They arrived on this day. Not wanting to give her solids, but wanting to medicate her, I boiled some water and made a mash from them. That was what I fed her on this day.

Morning of day 6 and her crop feels normal BUT STILL FULL. It's contracted, as if the muscles work, but hasn't emptied overnight. The poop was pretty much of the same amount she'd eaten for breakfast, but dinner was clearly still in there. Impossible to feel for the lump, so Harrisons and Olive oil for breakfast it is then.

The plan today is to not feed anything other than formula today and monitor throughout the day to see if the lump is still detectable.

She is absolutely perky, inquisitive, talkative, friendly, with a beautiful bright red wattle and comb. Just looking at her, you'd think nothing was wrong. I don't want to keep her caged up too much, but don't want her eating things that will make matters worse.

How long do I keep this up?

 

[Wyorp Rock]

swinging crop

A swinging crop sounds like Pendulous Crop.
You may want to make her a crop bra to see if that helps.
@azygous shows you how at the end of her article.

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

 

[jimni]

A swinging crop sounds like Pendulous Crop.
You may want to make her a crop bra to see if that helps.
@azygous shows you how at the end of her article.

https://www.backyardchickens.com/ar...w-to-know-which-one-youre-dealing-with.73607/
[/QUOTE]
Hi,

Thanks for the link. I have one being sewn up as we speak.

This morning she’d expelled loads of water and goop. I had her on the garlic yesterday, which seems to have flushed her out.

I’ve included a picture of yesterday’s mess for any experts. Is that just stringy mucus or worms? Was pretty soft and broke up easily when pressed.

Felt her crop and the stubborn lump is still there. Still about thumb size. Will this ever break up or does the vet need to intervene? I lost my job before lockdown and the vet will be over £300. If anyone has had a similar case, I’d love to hear from them, before I spend money I don’t have.

 

[Wyorp Rock]

Looks like mucous and urates to me.

It can take a good while to resolve some crop issues. Since it does sound like the crop is pendulous, I'm hoping that once you get the bra on her you will start to see improvement.

You mention a stubborn lump - is it doughy (can you you break it down with your fingers) or is it hard?

@azygous is the crop guru, so I'm sure she will be along later on today. She may have some input/suggestions.

 

[azygous]

Operating on intuition is my underlying MO. That poop strikes me as coming from a chicken that isn't drinking enough water. It does appear pendulous crop might be an issue with this hen, but why don't you try fermenting her feed or at least giving her moistened feed for a while and see if that might help.

 

[jimni]

Looks like mucous and urates to me.

It can take a good while to resolve some crop issues. Since it does sound like the crop is pendulous, I'm hoping that once you get the bra on her you will start to see improvement.

You mention a stubborn lump - is it doughy (can you you break it down with your fingers) or is it hard?

@azygous is the crop guru, so I'm sure she will be along later on today. She may have some input/suggestions.

UPDATE...

She wore her crop bra all night. Took it off to check the crop today. Still something in there. Think I can feel grit amongst it.

Before the bra went on last night, the lump was really pliable, like plasticine. It held its shape as I manipulated it.

I didn’t have the heart to keep her in a cage all day, so I let her have a supervised walk around the garden and peck at my short lawn. She needed the exercise, sunlight, normality and some greens. This mornings poo was marble sized, digested grass.

If I only allow her access to water, that’s what I get out the back.

Garlic and olive oil, results in some very garlic smelling poo.

Everything appears to be working, except this stubborn lump! Is there an easy way to extract it, that doesn’t involve a huge expense or tipping her upside down and risking drowning?

My fear is that the lump may not be posing a huge issue now, but will get worse over time.

Check the photos. She looks normal. I’m puzzled!

I want to put her back with her flock.

 

[jimni]

Operating on intuition is my underlying MO. That poop strikes me as coming from a chicken that isn't drinking enough water. It does appear pendulous crop might be an issue with this hen, but why don't you try fermenting her feed or at least giving her moistened feed for a while and see if that might help.

I gave her flubenvet layers, mashed in boiled water. She passed it as if no blockage.

Sometimes she drinks heaps and the floor of the cage is covered in it when it gets through her. Other times, she drinks very little. There is ACV in her water.

Out of interest, what is the idea of fermenting food? Is it to allow yeast to feed on the blockage? Is that not a huge risk of sour crop?

 

[azygous]

We ferment our feed to get natural probiotics, (good yeasts, not Candida of sour crop), and fermenting also releases more nutrients from the feed. Coincidentally, I've found that when a hen is suffering from a yeast infection, she shuns fermented feed during the infection, and wants only dry feed. But the FF doesn't contribute to the yeast infection.

 

[jimni]

Fermented feed. Interesting.
I’ve got loads of brewing supplies. Would that do it? I’ve actually got the spent yeast from a beer I made. It’ll still be active and is in the form of a slurry. Chook would probably gobble that up!

I checked up on her tonight and her crop seems to have cleared. Fingers crossed!

Gave her a last dose of ACV, garlic and olive oil. Will hope that empties out by morning. If it does, she’s on to wet mashed layers in the morning.

Any suggestions?

 

[Three Little Bunnies]

I ferment feed by 1) Finding a pint or quart sized jar, 2) Filling it 1/3 of the way with the feed you want to ferment, 3) filling it with water until the jar is 2/3 full, 4) Putting the lid on and putting it in a dark place for 4 days, stirring it once a day, 5) Draining liquid from a spoonful after day 4 and 6) putting it in a bowl on the ground. Add another handful of feed, a bit more water, and put it back in the dark space, stirring every day. You can give it to the chicken every two days after the first four days.