Not another one.

[nakstk]

I have one pullet that has been having impacted crop issues since the 19th of Dec, She has been inside. I have been massaging her crop and giving her plain applesauce with flax seed and plain Greek style yogurt. I know that it's getting through her system because she is pooping. It's runny but she is pooping. But her crop is still full in the morning. Yesterday I went out to give my other girls some scratch and noticed another one with a rather full crop standing off by her self doing the head bob. I don't have another dog kennel to keep another chicken in and my hubby is already getting tired of having one in the house. I checked on the one outside and her crop was full this morning too. She is still standing off by her self acting all tired. I only have 5 chickens so each one is special and important to me. They have fresh water, grit, oyster shell and food available to them at all times. I took out all the hay and alfalfa after the first one got impacted crop. There are leaves in there run but I have never seen them eat the leaves. I wish I could figure out why they are getting impacted crops. Do some breeds get impacted crop more often then others?

 

[JerseyGiantfolk]

Impacted Crops usually happen when chickens eat long strands of grass, or very long grass clippings. Make sure they aren't eating anything that's over 2 inches long

If they are the same breed same breeder/hatchery it could be genetic.

 

[nakstk]

That's why I took out the straw/alfalfa I had in there. They were eating it. I thought that the rest of them would be okay after I took it out. They don't have access to anything that long anymore that's why I am puzzled by the second one getting it. It must just be because they are all from the same breeder/hatchery. Because I had a different one with crop issues when they were only 14 weeks old. In most of the stuff I have read up on it they say impacted crop is fairly rare. I guess not with my chickens I only have 5 and 3 of them have had issues. I feel like a bad chicken parent.

 

[JerseyGiantfolk]

Don't feel bad stuff like this happens to chicken people at least once in their experience with poultry. To keep my penned chickens getting greens I've sometimes went to Walmart and got the alfalfa, I pick out the long pieces (and give those to my rabbits) and give the clovers to the chickens.

 

[theoldchick]

Keep massaging the crop and make sure your hospitalized chicken is warm. If she is in a cage put a heating pad under one part of the cage (Not inside cage) and turn the pad on the low setting. You say her crop feels full but she is pooping. Does her crop feel soft and mushy? Or does it feel hard and bumpy?

If her crop is soft and mushy you might be dealing with a sour crop. If this is the case stop all yogurt/milk products and feed her nothing for 4 hours. At this time feel her crop again. If it is smaller things are starting to work again. I'm not a fan of yogurt/milk products to treat a chicken with crop issues. I like to feed handfeeding formula designed for parrots as an emergency diet for chickens with crop issues. I use a product called Benebac to reinoculate a crop with the proper bacteria. You can also give her 1/4 tagamet crushed in a tiny amount of water and force fed to help ease the acidity of the crop contents.

A chicken with chronic crop issues can have either a physical flaw, parasites, or a dietary problems. The last two can be treated but a bird with a poorly conformed crop is usually culled. Since this gal is your pet there a few things you can do to help her. Schedule her for regular crop massages, put a crop bra on her, and keep her away from dry foods-keep her on a pelleted diet-moistened is even better-you want her to have plenty of water. Remember, now she's had crop problems, her crop may never function in a normal manner again. If her crop abnormal due to genetics she will be a special needs chicken, and each episode of crop problems may worsen her condition.

 

[JerseyGiantfolk]

Oh goodness, sour crop. One of my Jersey's got that and all she did was drink water for hours and hours, I don't think she ate. But she died 3 days later.

 

[nakstk]

It's not sour crop, her crop is not squishy well not anymore she did have sour crop. I gave her ACV and fresh garlic the next day it was normal feeling again. Her crop just feels like there is still a small ball of grass in it it is breaking up though. I have gotten her to puke a a couple of pieces of straw that were over a foot long. So I know stuff is moving around more now.

 

[JerseyGiantfolk]

About a foot long! I'm surprised the other hens didn't peck at it to help it come back out.

 

[nakstk]

I got it out of her 17 days after she first started acting funny, by funny I mean not pooping, or runny poop, staying by her self and large crop in the morning. Her crop was bigger then a baseball and that was first thing in the morning. It never really felt hard, it felt like a a bag of beans it was easily manipulated. She has been on a soft food diet since the 19th of Dec and she has been in the house. Her crop still has stuff near the bottom of it like grit. At least I think it is grit. I can move the little pieces around. When I feed her at night I feed her applesauce mixed with flax seed. In the morning her crop still has some in it, maybe about the size of a golf ball. It's not bloated and squishy at all its just there. She seems to be healthy other wise she walks around and clucks she even tries flying. She has lost a lot of weight though. I just wish she would get better.

 

[JerseyGiantfolk]

Well I know this will sound odd, but you can wrap her in a towel to keep her secure and so she won't fly away and cut open the area where her crop is, the chickens don't see to feel this, and then pull out any long strands of grass, it doesn't need to be sewed up, but for the next 24 hours give her soft food like you have been giving her with some vitamins (like Poly-vi-sol with NO iron) Hope this helped

<---- a chicken procedure on Impacted Crop, it was done 10 months ago so its pretty recent.