I noticed yesterday that Nadine my 1 1/2 year old EE hen had a bulging crop when I let her out first thing in the morning. In picking her up I also noticed that she was significantly lighter - you can clearly feel her breastbone - big indentation. I checked her EE sister for comparison and indeed Nadine is much lighter and her breastbone much more pronounced. My girls are in a large run - no straw or hay, though I did let them go in the garden about a week or so ago and finish off some weeds, which they really enjoyed and gave them some turkey chili and a handful of bowtie pasta, but otherwise nothing out of the ordinary. The other girls went right for the food in the morning and she did not. She was otherwise acting fine. I massaged her crop twice that day (it was mushy and not hard) and checked at bedtime and her crop was larger than the morning. Today when I let her out her crop was still enlarged and is still soft. Palpitated it a bit and I don't feel anything grassy, just squishy. I gave her more massage and tried to entice her into tasting some olive oil mixed into yogurt with active cultures, but she only took a couple of bites and was not very interested. The fact that she is not emptying at night makes me think she is at least partially impacted.
I've read over many posts about impacted crop and am seeing quite a bit of conflicting advice. Some suggest forcing an eyedropper of olive or mineral oil followed by massage, others olive oil followed with water and baking soda then turning them upside down and trying to force it out, which other's say is dangerous. We do have an avian vet in town, but I'm not willing to go that way - the surgical route has run others in the hundreds. I'm open to anything including surgery, but given that it's mushy I don't think that's called for at this point. Ideas anyone?
Thank you for any help you can give!
Alisa
Portland, OR
I've read over many posts about impacted crop and am seeing quite a bit of conflicting advice. Some suggest forcing an eyedropper of olive or mineral oil followed by massage, others olive oil followed with water and baking soda then turning them upside down and trying to force it out, which other's say is dangerous. We do have an avian vet in town, but I'm not willing to go that way - the surgical route has run others in the hundreds. I'm open to anything including surgery, but given that it's mushy I don't think that's called for at this point. Ideas anyone?
Thank you for any help you can give!
Alisa
Portland, OR
