Impacted crop with cabbage

[PO in MO]

I have read a bunch of posts on this subject but am considering putting this chicken down. My wife threw a bunch of chopped up cabbage in their pen the other day. On Monday noticed this chicken keeping to herself and throwing her head around. I had been keeping an eye on her and brought her in the shop on Wednesday nite. Her crop is oblong shaped and bigger than a tennis ball. It is pretty hard. I immediately gave her some olive oil and water with an eye dropper. Did that again on Thursday three different times. I also massaged the crop from the bottom up. She thru up once and it is definitely cabbage. She thru up again later but not much. She has not eaten any feed and has drank very little water on her own, maybe 4 tablespoons since she has been in the shop. I fixed her the scrambled eggs with olive oil this morning and she immediately wanted to eat some but not much, maybe a tablespoon. I forced some more water on her with an eye dropper and massaged her crop some more but it still feels as hard as the first time I felt it. Surgery or vet is out of the question. Is this chicken suffering. She just stands around and takes spells of throwing her head around. What is the ultimate cause of death with this, starvation. She has not pooped since I brought her in. How much water should I be forcing on her. I have to do it by myself and have a hard time getting her beak open and just squirt it thru the crack on the side, but she swallows some every time. I saw one post where someone said they made the chicken throw up, how do you do this.

ANY HELP APPRECIATED, WILL BE WATCHING THIS POST FOR ADVICE!

Also if I do decide to put this chicken down is there any reason I can't go ahead and eat it?

 

[Sarevan]

Was the cabbage shredded in long strands? I throw in the outer leaves or hang a head for them to peck at, if it is cut up I make sure it is fine shreds or only about an inch long.

Keep giving her water you may have to tube water into the crop and then massage the crop for awhile off and on up to an hour. You may want to add electrolytes to the water too if she hasn't been getting enough. Some very strange noises can come from the massage, air popping, gurgles etc. Tube feeding with an aquarium tube that is heated and rounded off with a large syringe, or a lamb feeding kit from feed store.
https://www.backyardchickens.com/t/805728/go-team-tube-feeding
https://www.backyardchickens.com/t/850403/what-amount-to-gavage-tube-feed

If she keeps passing up water, the throwing up of a chicken isnt recommended as they can aspirate. Tilt her upside down to drain, for a few seconds then upright. Video on youtube showing how if you want to try that. If you think there is no hope of clearing the crop, go ahead and cull she will be fine to eat. Rest the meat for up to 48hrs in fridge then prepare however you want.

To open mouth people pull down on wattles, I hold my chickens head in left hand using index finger on opposite side of head and put finger at the back of beak to hold it open for tube feeding, meds, make sure place behind the hole behind tongue so she doesn't aspirate liquids.

Hope everything turns out ok either way and I was a bit of help.

 

[PO in MO]

A great help, thank you very much for taking the time to respond.

 

[pwand]

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[PO in MO]

I watched the You Tubes and put about 60 cc of gatorade down into her crop with a syringe and tube. Once at noon and again at 4 PM. It immediately made her crop soften up. By the time I did it the second time it had hardened back up. Maybe not quite as hard as before but pretty firm. I really massaged it the second time, it feels like it is really hard at the bottom. She had a small bowel movement between noon and 4 but not much. She had also puked up some of the oiled scrambled egg I fed her this morning. Am going to do it again before I go to bed. It's 7:30 PM now and I just checked on her. She is just standing but not throwing her head around like she was earlier. Thanks again Sarevan for the info. Hope I can save her.

 

[Eggcessive]

Sorry that you are having to deal with this. You might want to watch this video of crop surgery posted earlier today. If you have any friends who might have experience with sutures such as an EMT or Nurse, this may be a possiblity: https://www.backyardchickens.com/t/858803/impacted-crop-surgery-with-video
http://www.the-chicken-chick.com/2012/04/answers-from-chicken-vet-on-impacted.html

 

[PO in MO]

I have read all about crop surgery, and I am not afraid to do it, but I was going to try to replace my chickens this spring or early summer if I can get a few other things accomplished so I can build a separate brooder shed or tractor to raise them in. She would probably be in the freezer by the end of the summer anyway. So I can't see putting her thru that under the circumstances. I would like to save her but also don't like to watch any animal suffer and if she gets to the point that she looks like she is suffering I will butcher her at that time. Thanks for the info though, I appreciate anyone who takes the time to help someone else out in a pinch.

 

[PO in MO]

Just want to post the outcome of all this for others who view this thread in the future. I read some more posts last nite and read on several different sites to mix 1/2 cup of baking soda and 1 pint of warm water and put a syringe full down her throat. Massage the crop and then tip her forward on a 60 degree angle and squeeze the crop from the bottom up and force her to puke. Then repeat if necessary. When I went out this morning, it was the same as always, since I hadn't forced any fluids down her since last nite the crop was pretty hard again. I put about 60 cc of the mix down her and massaged around for about 10 minutes before trying to get her to vomit. All I got was liquid with just a little brownish soup and a few pieces of scratch. I let her rest and tried a couple more times to make her throw up but got about the same thing. At this point I decided this chicken didn't need any more of this and nothing I was doing was helping, she hadn't pooped since last nite. I went ahead and butchered her right then. When I cut the crop open it wasn't cabbage like I thought, it was a big wad of grass all tangled up with a little scratch and oyster shell mixed in. There was no way she could pass this tangled mass back up her throat. It was still pretty much grass and although it stunk like it was rotting, at the rate it was rotting she would have starved to death before this ever would have moved on through (my opinion). I believe surgery would have been the only thing that would have done any good, and as I said above that wasn't an option in this situation.

I have a 6 x 10 chicken tractor with a 1000 sq. ft. moveable pen that I try to move every 2 weeks so they have always had access to grass. I also use timothy hay I salvage from my rabbit shed (anything that falls out of the feeders and hits the dirt) to use on the floor of my coop and am adding more all the time as I shovel out the nastier spots in the winter. So really nothing different than since I put them in the coop 2 years ago. They always have free choice crumbles, water, grit and oyster shell. I also give them a small about of scratch when I let them out in the morning. So sometimes things just go wrong. I least I will have some good chicken stew for a few days. Thanks to all who tried to help. PO