"Is it a disease or is it a birth defect?"
It is neither. It is an ailment caused by the bird gorging itself or if they have not had access to grit. Sometimes it happens when they have been exposed to long grass for the first time and they peck off long strands and they get ravelled up inside the crop a bit like a hair ball in cats. It gets stuck in the crop and prevents other stuff from passing..... it is individual to a chicken.... a bit like some of us
guzzle too much chocolate given half a chance even though we know it is bad for us, whilst other people are self disciplined. I had a pullet that I ended up having to do surgery on to clear it because she was emaciated and starving to death because food could not get past the blockage. That was very successful and she recovered incredibly quickly but as soon as she was put back in with the flock, the first thing she did was pick up a bit of straw and swallow it before I could grab it from her. A few months later she was back to square one with a severely impacted and pendulous crop and unfortunately the she was too weak and emaciated this time to recover from surgery. It was almost like she had a psychological need to eat straw and feel "full".... maybe more of a habit or even an addiction. Not saying yours will be like that but it can happen. Often it is just because they have never had access to grass before and suddenly do and they love it and eat too much at one go.
It is neither. It is an ailment caused by the bird gorging itself or if they have not had access to grit. Sometimes it happens when they have been exposed to long grass for the first time and they peck off long strands and they get ravelled up inside the crop a bit like a hair ball in cats. It gets stuck in the crop and prevents other stuff from passing..... it is individual to a chicken.... a bit like some of us
guzzle too much chocolate given half a chance even though we know it is bad for us, whilst other people are self disciplined. I had a pullet that I ended up having to do surgery on to clear it because she was emaciated and starving to death because food could not get past the blockage. That was very successful and she recovered incredibly quickly but as soon as she was put back in with the flock, the first thing she did was pick up a bit of straw and swallow it before I could grab it from her. A few months later she was back to square one with a severely impacted and pendulous crop and unfortunately the she was too weak and emaciated this time to recover from surgery. It was almost like she had a psychological need to eat straw and feel "full".... maybe more of a habit or even an addiction. Not saying yours will be like that but it can happen. Often it is just because they have never had access to grass before and suddenly do and they love it and eat too much at one go.
