Impacted/ Sour Crop

[emilierafnson]

Hey,
I'm new to Backyard Chickens and my Easter Egger hen has been having crop issues for close to a week now. It started when I noticed that her crop wasn't emptying overnight like our other hens. She always had a walnut sized hard lump in it. I did some research on this forum and found that it was likely a crop impaction (I suspect she had been eating the hay that we use for bedding in our coop. I brought her inside and had her in a liquid diet, with grits available to help her digest, for a day to see if she would clear the impaction on her own -no luck. Next, based on more advice, I fed her a scrambled egg, soaked with oil to try and 'grease the pipes' and make passing the impaction easier, I fed her small amounts of yogurt also. All of this with regular crop massages. Her poops have been a combination of watery, clear ones, and semi-firm ones with grits in them. As of last night her crop was large and squishy and she was 'vomiting up' bad smelling clear fluids. I'm thinking that her crop has now soured, and I am looking for any advice from more experienced chicken owners on how to treat this. My little hen is still laying every day and, other than the large and bad smelling crop, is not behaving any differently than normal, but I am still worried. She is one of our original hens that we hatched ourselves almost a year ago, our hens are a part of our family and I really want her to be okay. Any advice and knowledge is much appreciated, THANK YOU.

 

[Eggcessive]

Welcome to BYC. As I always do, I will first recommend a vet familiar with poultry to see your chicken if there is a crop problem, the earlier, the better. . I never saw a crop problem for the first 5 years of chickens, then had 2 die within 2 weeks of symptoms being recognized. There are all sorts of articles about crop problems, although few by vets. Many have conflicting information about the use of ACV. Most people who seem to know what they are talking about recommend water to flush out the crop, followed by crop massage several times daily. Feeding only water and probiotics for a day, then soft foods (mushy feed, raw egg, yogurt) if the crop is emptying, but stay away from whole grains until it is better. Crop surgery is good to do if there is a bunch of long grass inside the crop that won't move, but best done by a vet. Continue to let us know how she does. Here are some links that I recommend:
https://www.backyardchickens.com/a/impacted-slow-and-sour-crops-prevention-and-treatments
http://www.the-chicken-chick.com/2012/04/answers-from-chicken-vet-on-impacted.html
http://www.chickenvet.co.uk/health-and-common-diseases/digestive-problems/index.aspx
http://www.tillysnest.com/2012/01/crop-issues-html/