Impacted Crop wasting away

[KaraJo5]

I have a hen who is about about 3 years old. She has had crop issues in the past. She currently has an impacted crop that will not go down. I've been doing all the things I normally do (massage, oil, ACV, isolation, grit) and working on her for about a week. She is eating and pooping but I'm noticing that she's becoming emaciated. She stand around a lot puffed up. Her wattle looks good and she will move around but she's getting slower. She stopped laying a few weeks back. It doesn't appear she is egg bound.

Do you think this is a problem beyond the crop? Maybe a digestive problem that's slowing her crop? She was treated for cocci and dewormed prior to this. Anyone see anything like this before? The emaciation and impaction that would not break up? I could perform surgery but I'm not sure it's worth it at this point. Thanks for any help.

 

[Eggcessive]

Most of the hens I have treated with crop problems were older and from related problems such as reproductive problems or ascites. Can you take her to a vet? What breed is she? Do you have granite poultry grit available for her to take as needed? What do you normally feed her including treats?

 

[micstrachan]

I have a hen who is about about 3 years old. She has had crop issues in the past. She currently has an impacted crop that will not go down. I've been doing all the things I normally do (massage, oil, ACV, isolation, grit) and working on her for about a week. She is eating and pooping but I'm noticing that she's becoming emaciated. She stand around a lot puffed up. Her wattle looks good and she will move around but she's getting slower. She stopped laying a few weeks back. It doesn't appear she is egg bound.

Do you think this is a problem beyond the crop? Maybe a digestive problem that's slowing her crop? She was treated for cocci and dewormed prior to this. Anyone see anything like this before? The emaciation and impaction that would not break up? I could perform surgery but I'm not sure it's worth it at this point. Thanks for any help.

Could she be backed up due to the worming?

 

[KaraJo5]

Most of the hens I have treated with crop problems were older and from related problems such as reproductive problems or ascites. Can you take her to a vet? What breed is she? Do you have granite poultry grit available for her to take as needed? What do you normally feed her including treats?

So is it that the reproductive problems create situations that slow down digestion? She's a cross between a White Rock & Rhode Island Red. She's probably overbred - we do not get our chickens from huge hatcheries anymore. She has grit available, but we recently moved and the grass is different and we had a hen die of an impaction pretty quickly (we got a necropsy). At the same time this hen developed this issue. She has sand in her coop and she's been eating a lot of that. She loves oats and soldier fly larvae as treats. She gets fresh veggies too.

 

[Eggcessive]

If she is eating sand, that may be causing a crop problem. Oats alone are not very good to feed. I would stick with a balanced layer or all flock feed containing different grains for most of her calories. Here is an interesting article about how feeding a lot of oats can cause problems:
https://the-chicken-chick.com/the-shocking-effect-of-oatmeal/