Impacted crop*picture*

[Bella D]

Hello
So I started this thread this morning after finding my hen gasping for air having liquid coming out of her mouth and hardly moving. I tried to give her a couple drops of olive oil and within a minute she died.
I went to my local feed store and a longtime chicken keeper told me I should cut open the hard part on her crop and see what was going on.
My rooster had liquid come out of his mouth this morning but he seems better so I'm hoping somebody will have some insight and how to save him since it's probably the same issue.
What I found when I opened her up was big chunks of shavings undigested food and a little bit of hay scrap. This was very difficult but I did it to see what they had eaten, I thought they got into the dry cat food and that is what was stuck in there.
I switched from large shaving to small shavings a couple months ago and I'm wondering if that was a bad idea. Also I took away the grit thinking the babies would choke on it I think this was also a big problem. I bought some lmf 911 to put on their food and small and large grit hoping that no one else is going to have a problem.
I gave my rooster about a half a piece of bread with some lmf 911 soaked in water and he ate it. It's probably a losing battle at this point but I'm just hoping that he gets better.
thank you in advance for your help I really appreciate any advice anybody has

 

[DobieLover]

I've never done it but you can actually perform crop surgery on a live chicken.
You may want to look up some YouTube videos to see what the procedure is and decide if that is something you think you can do. Or you could take the rooster in to have the surgery done for you if you have a vet that will see chickens.
You couldn't possibly have foreseen that the chickens would eat their smaller shavings.
I would certainly get rid of them and switch back to the larger shavings.
Good luck with your rooster and kudos to you for having done the post-mortem opening of the crop to know what happened with your girl.

 

[Bella D]

Thank you I really had to talk myself into doing it. if my rooster wasn't sick it never would have happened. although now I'm that glad I did it because I probably saved a couple of my other chickens from having the same issue, I never would have thought that it was the shavings
My rooster is doing much better and ate a little bit and I don't see where his crop is bulging it all now so hopefully he will be fine.

 

[AmyJane725]

Yeah, taking away the grit was definitely a mistake. They can't eat anything other than feed without it. It's hard when you're just trying to help/worried and can't decide what to do. I don't think the babies will choke on it. They'd just ignore it I'd imagine. Though, if the babies have access to anything other than feed they ought to have chick grit so they can digest the food and not wind up with impacted crops. I would also switch back to the big shavings if they seem to be eating the small ones. They're less dusty and better for the lungs anyway.

Really sorry about your girl. I hope the rooster recovers.

 

[palolo]

What is IMF 911?

 

[Bella D]

Thank you AmyJane
I went and bought two sizes of grit funny thing is the babies picked the small pieces out of the large grit anyway. So I worried and caused problems with my other chickens for no reason.
My rooster is doing much better today. He ate a little and even though he is in a cage in the coop he wanted to go roost tonight and his crop doesn't feel full.He is still having bright green poop so I know he still is having digestion issues but he looks to be doing better

 

[Bella D]

Palolo
It's called lmf digestion 911 I have seen it used for horses but you can use it for chickens too

 

[AmyJane725]

Thank you AmyJane
I went and bought two sizes of grit funny thing is the babies picked the small pieces out of the large grit anyway. So I worried and caused problems with my other chickens for no reason.
My rooster is doing much better today. He ate a little and even though he is in a cage in the coop he wanted to go roost tonight and his crop doesn't feel full.He is still having bright green poop so I know he still is having digestion issues but he looks to be doing better

You're welcome. Glad if anything I said was useful. I was really hoping I didn't come off as condescending or mean.

I'm constantly worrying that I'm "helping" too much and in reality just making things worse. It's a curse. lol. I try to control myself, but it's hard.

So glad to hear he's on the mend. Maybe bribe him with some high protein treats to get him back on track. Scrambled egg or yogurt maybe. And some grit of course

 

[palolo]

Palolo
It's called lmf digestion 911 I have seen it used for horses but you can use it for chickens too

How do you use it?

 

[Bella D]

you just sprinkle it on their food. but my disclaimer here I have never personally used it before now. It was suggested to me by someone who has had chickens for a lot of years and has seen good results with it.
I opted to use it as a last-ditch effort my other option was to tube the chicken but after what happened with my hen I don't think I will be doing anything like that again in the future.