Impacted Crop Prevention?

[princess araucana]

Hello,
I've read all impacted crop posts, pictures, surgery how to. I have a bird (turned out to be a roo, but I still call her a "she"!) who's crop has been full and pendulous for over 4 months, still eats and poops and acts ok but is thin. I feel/ massage her crop often. Recently feels like there are some hard bits like sticks and stones.
In the past I have used a tube to suck out long grasses which were stuck in there. The tube does not work for sucking out stones. I'm sure she has no crop muscle tone anymore but does a whole body wiggle which seems to get food down.
I have already spent over $300 at three different vets who accomplished nothing, I am out of work and really have no money now.
I am considering surgery myself, but biggest question is:
How to prevent this from happening again? There is no way I can remove all grass and sticks from their outdoor run?
Friends with lots of chickens say cull, but I am like most of you, I love her too much!

 

[HennysMom]

you can do the surgery to remove the impaction (if it is indeed impacted) ....or...

I give mine olive oil, apple cider vinegar, and yogurt (as recommended by the WONDERFUL people on here) as preventatives for sour crop or impacted crop. I feed mine a mix of the 3 above in oatmeal as they dont like it any other way (directly in water or on bread)... they gimme this awful look.

How did you manage to get a tube down the crop and release what was in it that way? I'd be terrified that I'd kill my bird

 

[princess araucana]

Thanks, I'll try that oil, vin, yogurt combo, do you give it everyday?

to suck out the grass bits, I put a piece of clear tubing about 3/8" diameter on the end of an irrigation syringe. If there are no fluids in the crop it helps to flush with water/ oil I'm sure any of the mixes people recommend. If you put the tube way against the back of the throat it is easy to clear wind pipe. Then you can insert tube all the way down and actually feel where it is through the skin and suck out contents, moving end of tube to a big clump and keep the suction on as you pull the whole tube out the clump will be stuck on the end like a clogged vacuum cleaner hose. I would repeat this several times to get out the grass.
It helps to have one person hold the bird with its head up and she would stay calm.
I felt this way was much better than holding them upside down where they could choke and the big clumps would not pass.
I did this on several occasions but felt like it was stressing her out and a lost battle because the chicken would just eat more rocks and grass which got stuck!