Large pendulous crop on hen, otherwise fine

[Smileybans]

So she isn’t getting any better. I’ve had my vet look at her and the vet didn’t have any new suggestions either. Massaging her isn’t really working anymore. We flushed her out yesterday and now she doesn’t want to eat or drink. She’s been on food restrictions for a week. She isn’t emptying very much, if at all, when massaging. It all wants to come back up into her mouth. I’m at a total loss as to what to do.

This is her now. She’s not eating or drinking at night but still blowing up like a balloon. To the point where her bra doesn’t even sit right. Her crop feels full of water, even though I have her water restricted too, and she is starting to have sour burps when massaged.

 

[azygous]

Two months ago, I had a hen like this. No improvement, so I euthanized her figuring she had an underlying condition that was preventing treatment from being effective. Sometimes, you can do all you can and nothing works.

 

[Smileybans]

Two months ago, I had a hen like this. No improvement, so I euthanized her figuring she had an underlying condition that was preventing treatment from being effective. Sometimes, you can do all you can and nothing works.

Would the molasses flush help? Or crop surgery? I’m going to treat the suspected sour crop but I’m still hopeful we can do something for her. I think she isn’t emptying because she might be blocked farther down. I am basing this only off of something I had read and the fact that she isn’t emptying out by massaging anymore.

 

[azygous]

If she has a systemic blockage, what I would suggest is the magnesium sulfate three-day flush. It's rigorous, mostly for you, but it would work better at flushing yeast out of the system.

This is Epsom salts. You will need to tube it into her crop as it's too much for her to drink on her own and too much to try to syringe. One teaspoon of Epsom salts mixed into half a cup of warm water. Tube it into her, half cup salts solution twice a day for three days. Skip the yeast cream during this treatment, and you may only need to use the cream as a followup for a day or two if her crop doesn't move freely after the salts flush.

This seems like a lot, but my patients that have had it respond very well to it with no obvious discomfort. In fact, they seem more energized after each flush.

 

[Smileybans]

If she has a systemic blockage, what I would suggest is the magnesium sulfate three-day flush. It's rigorous, mostly for you, but it would work better at flushing yeast out of the system.

This is Epsom salts. You will need to tube it into her crop as it's too much for her to drink on her own and too much to try to syringe. One teaspoon of Epsom salts mixed into half a cup of warm water. Tube it into her, half cup salts solution twice a day for three days. Skip the yeast cream during this treatment, and you may only need to use the cream as a followup for a day or two if her crop doesn't move freely after the salts flush.

This seems like a lot, but my patients that have had it respond very well to it with no obvious discomfort. In fact, they seem more energized after each flush.

We have done one day of the salts flush so far. You were right about it being rigorous for us. She tolerates the tube much better than the syringe tho. She has brown diarrhea. Only a brown water- like poo is coming out. I am still food restricting her and she seems a bit more interested in it now. Should her poo be solid? Or because of the flush it won’t be?

 

[azygous]

If you allow her to eat normally, I believe, unlike many others I admit, that the food can actually help push the obstruction through and out. Chickens with crop disorders already self regulate their food intake, so I lean toward letting them decide when they can handle food and how much.

With the flush, the poop should change to solids eventually as the obstruction gets pushed through. The flush is safe. Chickens tolerate it very well. Don't hesitate to keep going with it. The objective is to wash the digestive tract of material, much like a human does when doing the prep for a colonoscopy with a similar type solution. (Think of drinking a gallon of what you are tubing into your chicken. Yuk.)

 

[Smileybans]

If you allow her to eat normally, I believe, unlike many others I admit, that the food can actually help push the obstruction through and out. Chickens with crop disorders already self regulate their food intake, so I lean toward letting them decide when they can handle food and how much.

With the flush, the poop should change to solids eventually as the obstruction gets pushed through. The flush is safe. Chickens tolerate it very well. Don't hesitate to keep going with it. The objective is to wash the digestive tract of material, much like a human does when doing the prep for a colonoscopy with a similar type solution. (Think of drinking a gallon of what you are tubing into your chicken. Yuk.)

The flush helped immensely but now she has a doughy crop. I think we got her unblocked farther down but she still has sour crop. I think. She does still smell a little but not as bad as before. And she isn’t as gassy. Many of her symptoms went away with the flush and she did perk up as you said. Should I treat her with the yeast medicine or just do massages and oil?

 

[Smileybans]

Her comb started to turn blue and she passed. I probably should have continued with the flushes. Or maybe nothing could save her. I don’t know.