My hen didn’t lay today and seemed off. I felt her crop and it is full of GLASS

[Cj1510]

Two days ago when I let me hens out, one came right up to me and pooped out a handful of glass shards. I poked around and they were still slightly sharp but had been somewhat polished as they went through her digestive system.

Today we had one less egg than usual and I noticed the hen who had eaten glass had her tail down. I checked her over and when I felt her crop it was enlarged and immediately I could tell it was full of glass.

She is still eating, drinking and pooping. She is usually personality plus but was slightly more reserved this afternoon although still pretty bright.
I’m only new to chicken ownership so my practical knowledge is slim to none- do I treat this as an impacted crop?

I have taken her food out of the coop for the night and will check to see if the crop has emptied over night. If it doesn’t I was planning on giving her some coconut oil and a massage to see if that helps.

If it is relevant she is an isa brown, roughly 8 months old.

Any advice would very welcome, thank you in advance!!!

 

[LindsayDarling]

Idk if massaging the crop filled with glass would be a good idea? It may cause more damage. Poor thing, im so sorry.

 

[Eggcessive]

Have you looked everywhere to find out where the chicken is finding the glass? If not I would get out and look, and keep the chickens restricted to the coop and run. Do not massage the crop. I would give her moistened chicken feed and egg to eat. I would isolate her to observe droppings? I have found glass that have pushed up through the ground in freezing winter weather, so I always check for that early in the winter mornings. Could someone have thrown the glass out for the chickens on purpose to harm them?

 

[SnackMeat]

I would do canned pumpkin for a bunch of wet fiber to hopefully help push it through and maybe protect where possible.

Geez that's crazy.

 

[Cj1510]

Have you looked everywhere to find out where the chicken is finding the glass? If not I would get out and look, and keep the chickens restricted to the coop and run. Do not massage the crop. I would give her moistened chicken feed and egg to eat. I would isolate her to observe droppings? I have found glass that have pushed up through the ground in freezing winter weather, so I always check for that early in the winter mornings. Could someone have thrown the glass out for the chickens on purpose to harm them?

Yes, more than a year ago we had floods and the neighbours’ outdoor table ended up in our backyard shattered. This was before we had chickens so we burried it under about 6 inches of dirt and grass had grown over the top. So, thankfully nobody is throwing it to them to try and harm them but finding every piece is going to be extremely difficult.

 

[Cj1510]

Update: the majority of her crop has emptied overnight so I don’t think it is impacted!! She is bright this morning, has laid an egg and I’ve found multiple glass poops in the coop. I will re do the bedding in the coop today to avoid her eating any glass that she has already pooped out as she obviously likes it.

I’ve attached a photo of the initial glass poop she showed me three days ago now, for anyone interested.

 

[Bawkbok]

Oh my goodness. I had no idea a chicken could survive broken glass passing through their system without shredding them internally. I'm happy to hear she is better.

We had a tempered glass patio table that did a Mary Poppins flip over the deck into the yard below during tornadic weather. It shattered into a bazillion pieces. We used the shop vac to vacuum it up as best we could. You'll suck up a lot of dirt with it but it might be an option to get the small pieces.