Impacted crop or gizzard??

[msrockwood]

New chicken owner here. My poor Dottie has been struggling for a spell. I have tried so many things and none of them have helped her. I checked her crop and it seemed to be emptying but with more inspection and feeling the other hens crops of what is normal, I have discovered that hers feels like there are tiny pebbles in there. It doesn’t feel like the other girls crops. There are not any chicken vets around here and I am scared to death!! Any wisdom is appreciated.

 

[SmiYa0126]

@Wyorp Rock @azygous @Eggcessive

I used a molasses flush on a hen that had eaten too much grass that was stuck in her gizzard. Has she been eating and drinking?

What have you tried?

 

[Eggcessive]

How old is Dottie? Does she lay eggs? Can you of her crop early tomorrow morning before she eats or drinks, after being without any overnight for 8-10 hours? It may be common to feel pellets or scratch grains in the crop as it fills up during the day, or she might have taken too much grit or crushed oyster shell. What do her poops look like and has she had any?

 

[msrockwood]

How old is Dottie? Does she lay eggs? Can you of her crop early tomorrow morning before she eats or drinks, after being without any overnight for 8-10 hours? It may be common to feel pellets or scratch grains in the crop as it fills up during the day, or she might have taken too much grit or crushed oyster shell. What do her poops look like and has she had any?

Dottie will be a year old late March. She drinks a lot more than eats. She does poop but it’s always watery with undigested food. she lays daily. Her crop this morning felt gravelly at the bottom, the size of grit. It was there the other morning too but I assumed that it was grit in her crop and thought it was normal. I thought that she had respiratory issues and treated her for that and she still breathes heavily occasionally. I have checked for lice and mites. Not the case. Could this be pressing on her windpipe? She seems to do it when she is digesting or laying an egg. The other girls don’t have the gravel issue in the morning. I was looking for enlarged and at night it is and it does empty but this gravel thing I thought was normal but somethings not right. I feel like I’m going to lose her soon if I don’t figure this out and I love her so much. I really think this could be the root cause of her troubles…..

 

[msrockwood]

@Wyorp Rock @azygous @Eggcessive

I used a molasses flush on a hen that had eaten too much grass that was stuck in her gizzard. Has she been eating and drinking?

What have you tried?

What is the molasses flush? Does it just force everything out? I assume it’s messy but I am so willing to try it. How long does it take to work?

 

[Wyorp Rock]

She has heavy breathing when laying an egg or digesting. Explain digesting.

Feel of her abdomen below the vent between her legs, is there any bloat or feeling of fluid?

 

[SmiYa0126]

What is the molasses flush? Does it just force everything out? I assume it’s messy but I am so willing to try it. How long does it take to work?

Hi! It's molasses mixed into water, I can't remember the ratio. I'll look it up and update this post I only gave mine half a dose and she improved wonderfully!

She also drank more than she ate. I will never use straw anywhere near them. They all eat it, but she ate it the most.

P.S. can't find the ratio. All I'm getting are molasses flavored chicken recipes . I used a children's medicine dispenser to slowly squeeze a small amount into her beak and then watched her swallow. I gave up when she started fighting me.

 

[msrockwood]

Hi! It's molasses mixed into water, I can't remember the ratio. I'll look it up and update this post I only gave mine half a dose and she improved wonderfully!

She also drank more than she ate. I will never use straw anywhere near them. They all eat it, but she ate it the most.

P.S. can't find the ratio. All I'm getting are molasses flavored chicken recipes . I used a children's medicine dispenser to slowly squeeze a small amount into her beak and then watched her swallow. I gave up when she started fighting me.

i bet you that’s what it is! I used to use straw when I didn’t know any better… Yes please for the ratio however it can also relate with the chicken recipes

 

[msrockwood]

She has heavy breathing when laying an egg or digesting. Explain digesting.

Feel of her abdomen below the vent between her legs, is there any bloat or feeling of fluid?

After she eats heavily she kind of does that. At first I didn’t see a correlation, now I am pinpointing as to when she does it. She doesn’t have any mucus, I’ve treated her for worms. The only clue is that I feel a lot of gravelly stuff that’s not going down. I have felt there where you are talking about and it was a little swollen from the vent gleet from the antibiotics that I gave her but now that she is done with that her belly has gone down considerably. Ascites would just get bigger am I correct? Again I am so new to this and I love and spoil them all and it breaks my heart that although I have such good intentions, I am failing her. I can’t find a decent chicken vet around here to save my life. All they care about here is cattle and horses. It’s so sad they don’t treat all livestock, not just the ones that bring the money but that’s me.

 

[SmiYa0126]

https://bitchinchickens.com/2021/07/22/internal-flushes-for-chickens/

I found it! Scroll down to molasses flush