Massive crop

[Becca]

Hi everyone,

Over the last few days one of my chickens crop has become very large. i noticed a few days ago, and it was quite hard, so after looking it up on here i massaged it gently and it seemed to go down a bit, but today it was bigger than ever, but it seemed quite soft.

i'm not really sure what i should do? does anyone have any ideas?

i dont let the chicken out in the morning, (my dad does) and i dont tend to see them til around 11am, so im not sure if it is gone in the morning and then comes back, or if it hasnt gone down at all. i will try to be around tomorrow morning to investigate, but any ideas would be greatly recieved.

I'm not sure if i'm worrying over nothing, but it does seem exceptionally large.

Thanks in advance.

 

[Churkenduse]

Please read this it is important,,,,,,,,,,,,

POSTING GUIDELINES for Emergencies / Diseases and Cures.

Please help us to help you.
When you need to post in the "Emergencies / Diseases and Cures" section please make the title of your thread concise and specific. For example, to title a thread "HELP" or "URGENT" or "EMERGENCY", etc., is not helpful for us or for you. Nor is telling us "my hen is sick, what should I do?" A good example of a new thread subject: "Chicken got into the pool-barely breathing! Help!"

Off topic posts will be moved, with an explanation, to an area better suited to that post.

Give us the following information. The more you tell us, the better we will be able to help you.

1) What type of bird , age and weight.
2) What is the behavior, exactly.
3) Is there any bleeding, injury, broken bones or other sign of trauma.
4) What happened, if anything that you know of, that may have caused the situation.
5) What has the bird been eating and drinking, if at all.
6) How does the poop look? Normal? Bloody? Runny? etc.
7) What has been the treatment you have administered so far?
8 ) What is your intent as far as treatment? For example, do you want to treat completely yourself, or do you need help in stabilizing the bird til you can get to a vet?
9) If you have a picture of the wound or condition, please post it. It may help.

Remember that we are not veterinarians. We help based on our own research and experiences.
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The BYC Staff

I just found this you might want to follow these instructions, this condition might be serious, treated that way and hyou
will get an answer, OK?

.​

 

[MissPrissy]

If the crop is packed full, take away all sources of food. Offer only a little bit of bread soaked in olive oil. Not alot. The idea is to get some oil in there and see if you can get things moving. Give her plenty of fresh clean water. Massage the crop and keep a check on things. A good 24 hours without letting her eat and pack more in should give you a chance to see if the crop is emptying. Separate her and what her behavior.

Is she pooping?

Sometimes they will eat until their crop is gorged. If she has straw and hay and she has been eating it may be having a hard time digesting and has formed a ball.

There are some very good posts on impacted crops.

You would serve yourself and your hen well to do a search in the emergencies board and read everything there.

 

[Becca]

Ok, i'm really sorry, i didnt know about answering those questions.

1) she is a bluebelle, and a few months old. She has just started to lay over the last few days.
2) her crop became quite full and slightly hard a couple of days ago, which i was keeping an eye on, but yesterday became extremely large but seems soft and full of air. i have separated her from hte other 2 chickens this morning, outting her in a box without food or water, (i read in one of the other posts about this sort of thing that water was as bad as food, but advice would be appreciated).
3) there are no signs of any other trauma to her,but her fathers are looking a little shabby. i guess thats just cos she is unwell.
4) i have no idea what could have caused this.
5) she has been eating and drinking normally, as far as i am aware.
6) she has done 2 poops while i have been watching her this morning. one enormous but normal looking one, and then one runny yelloy colored one.
7) i have taken her away from food and water, and have gently massaged her crop again this morning, but she then began to vomit, so i have not done any more of this. however when she was sick some gas seemed to come up, and the crop size has gone down a little.
8 ) if possible, i want to deal with this myself, but if absolutely neccesary i will take her to a vet, as i wouldnt want to make her suffer if i am unable to help her.
9)unfortunately i don't have a picture, sorry.

Any advice on what i should do would be greatly appreciated, as of course i don't want my hen to suffer.

Thanks in advace, and sorry if i wasn't clear in my first post. :|

edit: i have had a look through some of the posts, but i don't think it is impacted as such, as it is more gassy than a solid lump...? thanks.

 

[ChicknThief]

Smell her breath. If it smells rancid, she could have sour crop? There are several posts which deal with how to cure sour crop, and if you use the search button, you will be sure to find them!

Jess

 

[dlhunicorn]

Your mentioning the words "gas" and "smell" does seem to indicate some kind of bacterial or yeast involvement... I will be honest with you...someitmes you can resolve this yourself when it is simply cause d and a bit of massage can break up the material and pass it through, however with secndary complications (what you are saying is gas and smell) my advice is this:
if you have a vet that can deal with this promptly (give you the correct meds to deal with the bacterial or other complications...) then go to them. Crop problems when not resolved quickly lead to irreversible distension of the crop and the problem ends up repeated itself and often becoming worse each time.

 

[SeaChick]

I, and several others, were going through this last fall (November?) If you use the search function for "sour crop" and "impacted crop" and our name (SeaChick) you should find the threads.

My girl had an impacted crop that, when we finally got it emptied, turned into sour crop for a few days. However, we did cure her and she is just fine now... so have hope!

Good luck!
Stacey

 

[SeaChick]

Here are the threads:
https://www.backyardchickens.com/forum/viewtopic.php?id=21498

https://www.backyardchickens.com/forum/viewtopic.php?id=22357

and here's a summary of our experience:
Initial Symptoms: very full crop that did not empty at night, not rock-hard but pliable like modeling clay, could feel fibrous material. Thin bird. "Dandruff" of flakes off the feather quills.

First treatment: Isolated bird to dog crate inside, on newspaper so she wouldn't eat any more fibrous stuff and I could monitor poop. Massaged the crop for 5-10 minutes periods every few hours. Fed water with raw apple cider vinegar (a small splash in the waterer) and plain live-culture yogurt mixed with baby-bird-food from the pet store.

The next day her crop had partially emptied but still had some fibrous, clay-like solids. Fed more of above foods, plus bread loaked with A LOT of olive oil, and later with mineral oil. More massage.

New symptoms: Perhaps due to the strange diet, her crop blew up again but different: soft, squishy, gassy and balloon-like.

Treatment: Continued with massage. Stopped the yogurt and ACV in case they were responible for the gassiness of the crop. On vet's recommendation, fed her normal food (layer pellets) soaked/softened in warm water. Also fed some chopped poached egg. Continued with massage.
That seemed to do the trick.

We kept her inside and under supervision for several more days, until she was gaining a bit of weight and poop was normal. Then we brought her in at night for a few more days, offering the soaked pellets each night to be sure she was eating enough. She seems fine now!!

In retrospect, I think the massage and oil probably helped move the blockage, which had been making her unable to absorb nutrients, hence the skinnyness and dandruff.
Next time I would just go straight to oil & massage.


I believe KArri25 used gentian violet on her sour crop to good effect....

 

[Churkenduse]

Don't apologize. I just sent that to you so you could get the right help you need. All in here are trying to share their knowledge with us. I hope your lilttle one gets the help she needs. Good luck,

Rosemarie

,

 

[Becca]

Hi everyone, thanks for all of your help so far.

seachick - thanks for those links, they were very helpful to have a read through.

I went to the store and got some probiotic yoghurt, after seeking advice from the place i got my chickens from, and decided to give it to the other two as well, but now they seem to have developed the same thing.

At this point i contacted the vets, but he has advised that what i am doing is right, and to give them the yoghurt for several days, and only give them a very small amount of food tomorrow, and keep them in their house, (not in their run), with access to plenty of water.

he has said that if they get worse to speak to him again, and if there is a significant change over a short time to take them in to see him.

I will let you know how they are getting on.

Thanks for all your help and support, it has been much appreciated. I only hope they get over this. :|