Impacted Crop Symptoms??

[bambamsdad]

Just caught the fact shes only 7wks 2tblspoons was for my 20wk old pullet sorry bout that!!

 

[GardenYogi]

Thank you all BYC Family! *smile* I feel very supported here. Sorry to reply so late, my phone typically let's me know I have replies, but didn't for the past three!

Little Carrie Bradshaw (yes, the other three are Samantha, Miranda & Charlotte) seems to be better. I massage her each night and right afterwards she poos. She doesn't seem to drink enough water though. I'm considering using the eyedropper, but she's soooo squirrley, it's hard to get her to chill out and accept any kind of 'assistance'.

Thank you for letting me know that Leghorns are slight, and yes--she totally resembles a bird bird and looks less like a chicken, especially since the other three are filing out so nicely.

I've watched her free range habits and she goes straight to the longest, toughest grass/plants in the yard and I guess my BF caught her trying to eat a hair tie yesterday! (previous home owners left bits of rubbish all over yard, so it's not too hard for us to imagine her finding all sorts of indigestible items *bleh*)

She only jerks on occasion--it's happened the three or four times I've mentioned and has been aleiveated by massage. She appears healthy on all accounts, save her crop feeling like a hackey sac-- not all solid, but not all liquid- midday and niggt. At it's largest, it's about the size of a hackey sac too, but she's only about four inches tall and five inches long-beak to tail.

They share their nightly roost, sice their coop is not finished and I've been waiting for their feathers to come in. So I have been giving all of them yogurt mixed with chick starter. Is it ok to put them all on a diet to help with potential bacteria if they don't exhibit symptoms?

All in all, it seems like she's healthy. She's bright eyed, alert and probably my most active. As long as she's not supposed to be as big as the others. They'll be 8 weeks old tomorrow. She's still got downy feathers on her little head, but just today I can finally feel the adult feathers growing on her back. I would just feel terrible if there was something wrong and I didn't treat it right away.

My BF still thinks we should give her water via the dropper, but after reading so many warnings about getting fluid in their lungs/esoupagus I'm nervous. I probably sound so paranoid, but I'm a visual learner, so just reading how to do something to a creature w/ a spirit rather than a car or something, is not sufice. If anyone knows of a video on how to "flush a crop" (for future reference) or "give them mineral oil" that would be awesome.

Thank you all again!

 

[ChickensRDinos]

The leghorn is definitely a much thinner bird than a lot of chickens. They also do not get that full looking skirt in the back. They look more like bird bird and fly pretty well.

This isn't the greatest picture in the world, but this is by 2 year old white leghorn. You can see that she has a thin, narrow body and not a round full body like the two birds the background who are a Delware and a Maran.

It sounds like she is doing well. Don't worry about her filling out like the others if they are a different breed. I would only worry she seems like she is losing weight based on her own normal.

 

[GardenYogi]

Wow! She is thinner! The photo wasn't coming through on my phone or ipad, but now on my computer I can see!

Thank you, sincerely! She finally (!!!!!) a 9 weeks, has lost all of her downy feathers and the adult ones are coming in. Compared to my RIR and my Golden Comet, she is tiny. (We lost little Charlotte my Black Star last week to a raccoon attack *sad face*, but she, although fuller, was about her height) BECAUSE she is so small, she's really getting, not so much picked on as "stepped one" by the other two. They are just bigger. My leghorn's head is the height of my Comet's back! They look like Goldilocks three chickens or Russian nesting dolls, side by side! *laugh*

Ironically, I once thought she was a bit of a bully (previous post), because she was so much larger than the others and would peck at the littlest (the one who eventually became her best bud--also the one that just died). They walked around the yard in two-somes, but now with Char gone, LCB is kind of odd one out. Separating her for a few days from her serious head wound didn't help either. Although, I kept her in the same pen while inside so the others wouldn't peck at her owie.

She doesn't seem to be loosing weigh, but it feels like weeks since she's put any on. Is there a chart anywhere here or an online resource about how much chickens should weigh, from chick, pullet to hen?? All the info I see is for adult hens, so I don't know (you can tell I've been around young children/moms . . ) what percentile she is. Ack. I cannot believe I just asked that, but now I know why new moms are so concerned with those darn percentiles. ;-)

 

[Noobchick]

You said she jerks at night- is it a little like a yawn? Dips her head down a little, then stretches up with her mouth wide open? If so, that's just her moving her food from her crop onward into the rest of her digestive system. It sounds like you have a completely normal, functioning chicken. No worries.

Are you a new chicken owner? It's great that you're concerned with their health, but I'd caution you against doing anything extra- you could create problems when there weren't any to begin with. I was the same when I first got chickens, but I've learned to relax a bit with experience.

(But do a search of the yard for any more surprise gifts left behind by the previous people, and try to keep the grass trimmed.)

Hope that helps.

Edited to add: Whoops! Didn't realize how old this thread was. How's she been doing?

 

[chickenmommy25]

I know I'm late to this post but I just wanted to thank you all for the loads of info I just learned reading this post!

Thank you!!

 

[Lifetime chicken lover]

So, I'm not sure if the original poster still needs help, but I know there are always folks looking this up and I figured I could help. I've had chickens with both impacted and sour crop. Inevitably, if impacted crop becomes sour crop, it gets much more complicated, but if you caught it early enough that the crop hasn't gone sour, this is what you can do.

Get a medicine dropper and fill it with half olive oil, half warm water. Grab your chicken and get her to open her beak. drop the water/oil mix into her mouth and let her swallow it on her own. Then grab the crop in between your fingers and find the impaction, gently massage the mass in your fingers gently, trying to break up the mass. continue to drop 1-2 more droppers full, as tolerated. IF she makes a gurgling sound, it's too much. Massage the crop gently for 15-20 minutes. This should not be uncomfortable for the bird, if she starts squirming, you're massaging too hard. Work from her throat down toward the legs. Repeat a few hours later. I only had to massage once for the impaction to break up. I think it took about four hours for her to pass the impaction after the massage. She may be hesitant to eat after passing the impaction. Make sure she drinks enough, or provide watery foods like watermelon or yogurt. My girl was a bit lethargic the day after but got stronger every day and 3 days later seems to be a lot better.

Make sure you know the difference between impacted crop and sour crop. Sour crop has a terrible smell and the crop feels squishy and soft, and you will hear her gurgle and maybe throw up when you squeeze the crop. Impacted crop just feels like a ball or lump in the crop.
Good luck!

 

[chickenmommy25]

hi! thanks for more info! i believe my girl has a sour crop, only because it's soft and squishy. but there is no sour smell. my husband held her and we opened her beak and i stuck my face right up to her and smelled nothing. we tried "vomiting" her today with NO results. could it be something else? i am being tortured by my girl's cry for being in a cage in the house away from her sisters, it's breaking my heart! i will try your method and see what happens. i read that using mineral oil is better because it doesn't get absorbed and stays in the crop to help lubricate it.....is that wrong or right? the one thing i haven't seen is this: after the sour crop has been cured, how quickly is she allowed to join the flock again? or run free?

all help is appreciated!!

 

[TwoCrows]

Hi chickenmommy....of course any thread that deals with crops is one I am going to read thru. LOL

Check her crop tomorrow morning. If it is full of liquid, that gunk needs to come out. It is poison. Imagine if you ate food all day and it would not leave your stomach into the intestines, and you could not throw it up. It is going to get toxic really quick. So with a chicken.

Lean her forward and squeeze the crop. Just like squeezing a water balloon. Work it till something starts coming up and only hold her like this for 5 or 6 seconds. If it feels mushy in the morning, there IS something in it. If there is no smell to the breath and no white chunks come up, then it is not sour yet. Repeat the session of vomiting till nothing comes up.

Vomit her each morning or anytime during the day that liquid pours out of her beak during this treatment. Damp layer feed only. No treats, seeds or any grass. Grass is bad on slow crops.

Oil is only for impacted crops and not for slow or sour crops. If there are NO hard lumps in her crop, then skip the oil. Hard for her system to break down. All oil does is break down an impaction. If there is no impaction, then the oil is doing nothing.

When she can go about 3 or 4 days with no symptoms, then she can go out to free range with the girls again. Until then, keep her in a run or coop her up. No free ranging till the crop is back to working properly. She will probably have diarrhea for a few days as well. When the crop is moving at a normal speed, (and you will know this when the crop is empty in the morning) and the diarrhea has cleared up, then she is healed and can go about her normal business.

If you are getting grass each time you vomit her, continue to vomit her during the day till all that rotting grass comes out of there. Poisonous to her for sure. Keep us posted.

 

[chickenmommy25]

hi twocrows!!! thank you for all your information!! i am so glad that i read your post!! i was getting ready to give her some oil and to massage her. i will wait for the morning, check her and give her soft foods (i hope yogurt and a soft boiled egg will do.) of course, i will vomit her before i give her food. i hope this helps. we did that tonight and nothing came out. i'm starting to get nervous.

i will keep you updated!!


also........i read something about monistat. what is your opinion on that? at what point do you give it?