Molting and impacted crop connected?

[LJoWilly]

Interesting thread. I, too, searched it out. Recently, my SS was having a hard molt and nearly starved herself to death, along with a slow crop. After some TLC, she seems to be on the mend. However, just today, I noticed my BR, who has been molting for awhile and just started another wave of dropping feathers, seems like she doesn’t feel well and her crop is slowing down, too. I do wonder if molt can bring on crop issues. Last year a hen had crop issues during molt, but she was eating feathers.

The hen who does not feel well today is my special hen who was in my very first batch of chicks and was mine to hold each night (we had for chicks and four humans, so we each had one to hold every night when we were hand raising them.) If her crop is not empty in the morning, she’ll be caged with water only. Timing is terrible, because daylight savings just ended and I won’t get home from work until after they’ve gone to roost.

I am thinking, with Remington her crop issues and her molting are related. It's been about 4 weeks post op and her crop is still large and firm. No change in her mood, still eating and acting normal. She's just now coming out of her molt, so hopefully her system will get to moving.

 

[MotherOfChickens]

My two SS are still molting but both of their blocked crop issues have resolved completely.

I will note that I did notice an issue with them both after changing from crumble to pellet. So I am wondering if they are eating their blood feather casings and that mixed with the pellets was just too much to go through the crop. I went back to crumble and gave the stool softeners and that seemed to resolve the issue for my ladies.

 

[micstrachan]

Thankfully my BR’s crop was empty this morning. Slow crop was my imagination (I’ve become paranoid!) She just felt lousy from the new wave of feather loss. Poor thing!

 

[Mewzikl]

I have a dozen hens raised from day-olds that are now 18 months old. About a month ago one of my EEs started a heavy molt and as her new feathers came in she became very lethargic. I found a large hard tennis ball sized lump in her crop that didn't go away overnight. I treated her by isolating her and giving her water and massage treatments with Monostat as it smelled like sour crop. Two days later the lump broke up and passed and since then she and her new feathers have been fine. Yesterday one of my Sussex who's been in a heavy molt for about a week and has lots of new pin feathers developed a giant baseball sized lump in her crop that I've been trying to break down with water and massage with limited success and today another Sussex who is also molting pretty heavily also started developing a lump. None of the non-molting hens have anything abnormal with their crops. I watched the latest Sussex and noted that she does a lot of preening and there is a bunch of waxy dander which might account for the crop lumps/impactions. Has anyone else had trouble with molting hens developing these hard crop lumps during molts and is there a goo way to break them up other than what I'm trying now?

Yes! This is the second time one of my girls has had it the same time she is molting.

 

[Barrettchicks]

I have a dozen hens raised from day-olds that are now 18 months old. About a month ago one of my EEs started a heavy molt and as her new feathers came in she became very lethargic. I found a large hard tennis ball sized lump in her crop that didn't go away overnight. I treated her by isolating her and giving her water and massage treatments with Monostat as it smelled like sour crop. Two days later the lump broke up and passed and since then she and her new feathers have been fine. Yesterday one of my Sussex who's been in a heavy molt for about a week and has lots of new pin feathers developed a giant baseball sized lump in her crop that I've been trying to break down with water and massage with limited success and today another Sussex who is also molting pretty heavily also started developing a lump. None of the non-molting hens have anything abnormal with their crops. I watched the latest Sussex and noted that she does a lot of preening and there is a bunch of waxy dander which might account for the crop lumps/impactions. Has anyone else had trouble with molting hens developing these hard crop lumps during molts and is there a goo way to break them up other than what I'm trying now?

I have a hen that every year when she molts she gets a large lump in her crop. I’ve tried lots of different ways to resolve it with limited success. My Avian vet prescribed Metaclopramide and Lactulose. I used that last year and it resolved the issue and using it again this year as she is molting again.

 

[spareclaire]

Hi - I found this thread after searching the same thing. I have Welsummers and every time they moult they get a doughy/impacted crop! It's only ever when they moult, so I'm interested in understanding this better - e.g. is it related to their diet (waxy casings, seeking out different foods), the digestive system slowing down, or both! I try the lemon juice/vinegar/oil type treatments and it eventually goes away, but it's unpleasant for the hens (and me!) each time. Just wanted to share this really to add to the discussion!

 

[Barrettchicks]

Hi - I found this thread after searching the same thing. I have Welsummers and every time they moult they get a doughy/impacted crop! It's only ever when they moult, so I'm interested in understanding this better - e.g. is it related to their diet (waxy casings, seeking out different foods), the digestive system slowing down, or both! I try the lemon juice/vinegar/oil type treatments and it eventually goes away, but it's unpleasant for the hens (and me!) each time. Just wanted to share this really to add to the discussion!

It seems that it’s from her preening herself. I’ve seen the waxy casings coming from her. Are your Welsummers losing weight? I can feel her keel becoming sharper. How long does the doughy crop last with your girls?

 

[Barrettchicks]

I have a dozen hens raised from day-olds that are now 18 months old. About a month ago one of my EEs started a heavy molt and as her new feathers came in she became very lethargic. I found a large hard tennis ball sized lump in her crop that didn't go away overnight. I treated her by isolating her and giving her water and massage treatments with Monostat as it smelled like sour crop. Two days later the lump broke up and passed and since then she and her new feathers have been fine. Yesterday one of my Sussex who's been in a heavy molt for about a week and has lots of new pin feathers developed a giant baseball sized lump in her crop that I've been trying to break down with water and massage with limited success and today another Sussex who is also molting pretty heavily also started developing a lump. None of the non-molting hens have anything abnormal with their crops. I watched the latest Sussex and noted that she does a lot of preening and there is a bunch of waxy dander which might account for the crop lumps/impactions. Has anyone else had trouble with molting hens developing these hard crop lumps during molts and is there a goo way to break them up other than what I'm trying now?

I have a 5 year old EE hen and every single year when she molts, her crop becomes impacted. She’s going through this again now. She’s had 2 crop surgeries because she became so thin she was becoming starved from the huge impacting. Our avian vet recommends papaya enzyme. I crush it up and mix in with some plain nonfat yogurt. It helps but she also was prescribed Metaclopramide and Lactulose. I caught her crop fullness early this year and I think she will be ok.

There definitely is a correlation between molting and slow/impacted crop. None of my other hens have ever had this issue.

 

[LJoWilly]

I have a 5 year old EE hen and every single year when she molts, her crop becomes impacted. She’s going through this again now. She’s had 2 crop surgeries because she became so thin she was becoming starved from the huge impacting. Our avian vet recommends papaya enzyme. I crush it up and mix in with some plain nonfat yogurt. It helps but she also was prescribed Metaclopramide and Lactulose. I caught her crop fullness early this year and I think she will be ok.

There definitely is a correlation between molting and slow/impacted crop. None of my other hens have ever had this issue.

"There definitely is a correlation between molting and slow/impacted crop. None of my other hens have ever had this issue."

100% agree!