impacted crop

[lisameeks]

My 1 1/2 year old comet is lethargic, not eating or drinking. Yesterday her poop was mucus-y and at one point she deficated what looked like the gristle you find in cooked chicken. Really weird. I separated her last night with water but no feed. Today she's not pooping much of anything. Checked her vent and didn't find an egg. Checked her crop and it felt like a squishy water balloon. Yesterday tried bread soaked in olive oil and massaging her crop. Today used an eye dropper to get olive oil in her, held her upside down, and after some time. worked some vomit out, but crop still the same size and squishy. This evening, more olive oil and upside down again--nothing. I tried to give her plain yogurt and she wouldn't take it. I mashed the yolk of an egg in the yogurt and she's still not interested. She just stands or sits in her hospital cage. Has anyone dealt with this before? There are posts that some people resorted to cutting open the crop and removing the impaction. But does an impacted crop feel squishy? I don't feel any lumps or masses in it.

 

[princess araucana]

if it is soft and squishy it could be a sour crop. Does it smell if you massage any gas out her beak?
You can do a search on here for sour crop.
A good dose of apple cider vinegar can help to clear it but you should figure out what you are dealing with first.
Oil is used to help pass a solid mass in the crop. If you do not feel anything hard in her crop I would not give anymore oil.
Also be very careful giving droppers of anything by beak to make sure you do not get liquid in their lungs.

 

[8hipchicks]

How is your chicken doing? Have any of these remedies helped?

 

[Duck Keeper]

She may have something stuck in her crop father in.

One of my chickens, the idiots that they are, ate a bunch of foam insulation board and got it stuck in her crop. She didn't eat for a few days and she was really skinny, but she finally got through it and is now putting on weight.

I don't know if it helped or not, but I made her throw up a couple times a day so the food she had in her crop didn't go bad.



Poor girl, her crop was squishy too, so I;m thinking she might have something caught in her throat.
Hopefully it's not a nail or a screw or something. When they swallow something like that, it's called 'hardware disease.'

 

[lisameeks]

This morning she was still alive, at least. There was a puddle of poo under where she was standing that looked like she deficated the olive oil I shoved in her yesterday. Is that a good sign that something is passing through her? Anyway, this morning her crop still felt like a large water balloon. You could pat/squish her chest and here the water sloshing around. I turned her upside down and pressed on the crop and a bunch of liquid came out but nothing like a wad of grass or foreign material. The crop felt smaller but still had a little fluid in it. I gave her water with apple cider vinegar and plain yogurt through an eyedropper. A friend is going to check on her midday and go through the same routine again. Any other ideas?

 

[8hipchicks]

I wish I had more to offer.
I'm taking ours to the vet tomorrow am. I suspect they will open her.

I'm going to really grill the vet and I will pass along what I learn.

I hope your chicken hangs in there.

 

[princess araucana]

you can try and massage her crop down, not to make her throw up but to help it digest. Try that a few times a day and see if it goes down at all?

Also be careful turning them upside down to "throw up" because they can aspirate and choke.

 

[princess araucana]

Quote:
sometimes they can take an x ray to see where a blockage is...