My Chicken has a crop problem, Please help!!

[Twilightmom11]

Last week a noticed a lump on the right side of my 21 week old Black Sex Link "Ethel" I felt it and it was kind of soft. Took her to the Vet and he did not do much but gave me some probiotics to put on her food and watch her. Next morning her crop felt hard so called the Vet again and brought her in just so he could see how hard it was. So per him, kept her in house during the day and just gave her chicken food & water so we knew what he she was eating. I gave her a little Mineral oil and massaged her crop. Put her in hen house at night so she would not get to stressed and only water available. Next morning her crop was empty! I was so happy, thought she was better. Let her back out with the other girls and she seemed fine. later I checked and the crop had stuff in it which I know there should be some but this seemed heavy and a lot. Watched her and saw that she was eating sand, which is the floor of our coop. I understand they need grit, but her crop is now full and hard again. I don't know what to do, Someone please HELP!

 

[BantamLover21]

How long have you had sand in their coop? Is it new (and thus apparently "tasty"), or have they been raised with it? Whatever the case, it sounds like Ethel is gorging herself on sand. If the sand disappears from the crop by the next morning, then I think she'll be okay. I would make sure that she is eating some regular feed, too, and isn't thinking that the sand is food--otherwise nutritional problems will result.

If the crop doesn't go down by the next morning, then she probably has impacted crop. If that is the case, isolate her again, give her some oil (olive or mineral), and massage her crop to break up the mass. Then wait a while to see if the crop gets softer.

 

[jgcalifornia]

I would be careful having a coop full of sand..
My Black Australorp, Astro had a similar issue back in March. After the vet did x-rays it appeared large amounts of sand had began pushing all of her organs down.

I don't want to scare you at all by telling you this, I just know the vet was adamant about her digesting sandy dirt or sand.
Especially if it's in her coop. If they get up earlier than I do in the morning, they get bored and will most likely eat whatever is on the floor.

Maybe you can try putting a piece of plywood on the floor for now until you get through this patch?

Massaging her crop couple times a day helps.
Also putting water in her food, making like an oatmeal consistency (if you feed her pellets).
BantamLover21 also suggested the mineral or olive oil which I agree with and can help.


Please keep us posted.

 

[Twilightmom11]

We have had the sand since they were put in the coop, about 13 or 14 weeks with no problem. Ethel has always been the big eater, she was always jumping up to get what I had as a treat. Now she only gets excited for the meal worms and not caring about any greens. I will keep trying to get the oil into her and massaging the crop. Do you think that an antibiotic would help? Also she looks and acts fine except for the sand eating. Thanks for your help.

 

[Twilightmom11]

What did you do about the sand? We thought from reading that sand was good in the coop. This is our first chickens. Thanks for your help, I will continue the oil and massage but we can't get rid of all the sand it's about 6" deep in the entire coop except where they sleep.