Impacted Crop - Size of a baseball

[havingagreatflockingtime]

Hi,

One of our hens, about 8 months old, was very lethargic on Friday morning. She's been separated from the flock and is staying inside with us since then. I noticed that her crop was hard, and the size of a baseball. She was acting normal as of Wednesday. The crop feels hard, but I can feel around and it almost feels like sand as I can feel all of what she ate (grit, pellets, etc).

We've been giving her vegetable oil via a syringe, and she has access to water. We gave her some plain yogurt. She hasn't really eaten any of it. We massage the crop a few times a day since yesterday, and so far, the crop has remained the same size and texture. She also hasn't been moving around much. She either lies down or stands. On occasion she will clean herself, and scratch at the ground, but it's very infrequent.

She doesn't poop much, but when she does it's very pungent and very very liquidy. I figured that because she is still pooping, this means that she may be digesting some food, but I am not so sure. Any info on this would be greatly appreciated.

We called a dozen vet offices, all of which could not see her today, so we have to wait until Monday afternoon. Is there anything else that we should be doing to help her digest her food?

Thanks for the help!

 

[casportpony]

Sorry your hen is sick. Does it feel like a grass impaction or grain/crumble/pellets? If she were mine, I would tube some fluids to her to see if that helped. Are you interested in learning how to tube?

 

[havingagreatflockingtime]

Sorry your hen is sick. Does it feel like a grass impaction or grain/crumble/pellets? If she were mine, I would tube some fluids to her to see if that helped. Are you interested in learning how to tube?

Hi -

Thanks for responding! It feels like pellets and grit from our sand run. I can literally feel the texture when I massage around. She has been drinking water on her own and will also take some with a syringe.

Given that it has been 48 hours and the crop is still the same size, is surgery likely needed? I don't mind going that route, but I have to make sure she can stay alive until Monday afternoon.

 

[casportpony]

Hi -

Thanks for responding! It feels like pellets and grit from our sand run. I can literally feel the texture when I massage around. She has been drinking water on her own and will also take some with a syringe.

Given that it has been 48 hours and the crop is still the same size, is surgery likely needed? I don't mind going that route, but I have to make sure she can stay alive until Monday afternoon.

If she were mine I would try to get a bunch of fluid in her. Like enough to make the crop sloshy.

 

[havingagreatflockingtime]

If she were mine I would try to get a bunch of fluid in her. Like enough to make the crop sloshy.

How do I got about tubing?

 

[havingagreatflockingtime]

I am updating this thread for educational purposes for those who may experience something similar like this in the future.

After several days of all home remedies (e.g., withheld food for 24hrs, apple cider vinegar, soft foods after the first 24 hours, gave her lots of water including syringing it into her mouth, coconut oil, etc.) her crop remained the size of a softball and never went down. I was convinced what I was feeling was sand. We decided to give her pellet food again, which is typically not advised for something like this, to see if that would help move the sand out. As soon as she started eating, she began pooping out lots of sand, however she wasn't eating enough to move the amount of sand that was accumulated in her crop. Unfortunately, the crop still remained the same size.

Given that her crop was stretching, we didn't want to run the risk of her developing pendulous crop. So we brought her to a vet, and decided for surgical removal. She got the surgery the day we brought her in, and that night, she immediately began eating and drinking regularly.

By day three she wanted to be back outside with the flock. Since then, she made a complete recovery.

She is an anxious chicken and for whatever reason, she stopped eating pellet food in the coop and began eating the sand / grit that we have in the run. Every night we give her medication to help prevent an infection post-surgery and we feel her crop to make sure she is eating food and not just sand. We also placed food dispensers all around the run so she has access to several food options.