Not Emergency - repeated crop adjusting behavior (video)

[AceSierra]

mine does that a lot too and I've taken her to the vet thinkin maybe she has an ear infection, gapeworms, or a respiratory infection but no she was all fine and was just adjusting her crop I think.

 

[AceSierra]

mine does that a lot too and I've taken her to the vet thinkin maybe she has an ear infection, gapeworms, or a respiratory infection but no she was all fine and was just adjusting her crop I think.

mine also shakes her head alot too but bet said nothing was wrong so maybe it's just a chicken thing

 

[tcorso]

You know what, I think she’s fine. Had a little panic attack since I’ve not seen any of my girls do that repeatedly before. Here she is just a couple minutes later.

We should become friends. I’m constantly paranoid/worried about my babies.

 

[Edonthehill]

Hi everyone,
The girls will go to bed in about half an hour and have had the opportunity to free range (supervised) a large part of the weekend. My sweet Bridgette (aka Bridgey aka Bridgely aka Bridge) just started doing this. She’s probably done it ten times in the last couple minutes, but is acting perfectly normal otherwise. Her crop feels normal now, but I did not check her this morning. On the weekends, they do tend to forage more than they eat their feed, which is a 22% grower crumble (corn free soy free... they like it). Access to grit and oyster shell (separately) free choice at all times. Same with clean water. Is there anything to do besides check her crop first thing in the morning? Is there any harm in a little coconut oil and crop massage before she sleeps tonight?

Hi there. I just saw your post. I hope you get notification on this. My girl is doing the same thing yours did. Periodically stretching and opening her mouth. Then minutes/hours of being normal. Did yours resolve itself. My other two girls aren’t doing the neck stretch thing. Otherwise they are all normal. I hope mine will be ok.

 

[Edonthehill]

Hi everyone,
The girls will go to bed in about half an hour and have had the opportunity to free range (supervised) a large part of the weekend. My sweet Bridgette (aka Bridgey aka Bridgely aka Bridge) just started doing this. She’s probably done it ten times in the last couple minutes, but is acting perfectly normal otherwise. Her crop feels normal now, but I did not check her this morning. On the weekends, they do tend to forage more than they eat their feed, which is a 22% grower crumble (corn free soy free... they like it). Access to grit and oyster shell (separately) free choice at all times. Same with clean water. Is there anything to do besides check her crop first thing in the morning? Is there any harm in a little coconut oil and crop massage before she sleeps tonight?

My girl is doing the same thing. There are parts of the day she doesn’t do it at all. Was your issue resolved? I panic sometimes since I’m only 2 yrs into chicken keeping. I thought it was gape worm but she so healthy…. and normal most of the t time.

 

[Eggcessive]

My girl is doing the same thing. There are parts of the day she doesn’t do it at all. Was your issue resolved? I panic sometimes since I’m only 2 yrs into chicken keeping. I thought it was gape worm but she so healthy…. and normal most of the t time.

More than likely she is just adjusting her crop. It can be normal occasionally, but if a chicken does it over and over or often, it can be a sign of a impacted crop. Gapeworm is a very rare type of worm. Chickens with gapeworm will gasp and crane their necks to breathe, and cannot eat or drink due to labored breathing. A normal wormer, SafeGuard liquid goat wormer or horse paste, used 1/4 ml per pound of weight, for 5 consecutive days, will treat gapeworms, capillary, cecal, and roundworms.

 

[micstrachan]

Hi there. I just saw your post. I hope you get notification on this. My girl is doing the same thing yours did. Periodically stretching and opening her mouth. Then minutes/hours of being normal. Did yours resolve itself. My other two girls aren’t doing the neck stretch thing. Otherwise they are all normal. I hope mine will be ok.

Yep, it totally self resolved. I know now that she was just adjusting her crop.