Oh NO! Another problem in our tiny flock... impacted crop now?

[redwa]

SeaChick - as I mentioned earlier, my girl was in the same boat - acting fine but something obviously going on. Her crop was "balloon like", squishy, watery, etc. Also, I could not feel any mass or particles, but when they operated on her there was a soft mass of feathers, hay and grass. It was not possible for that much to pass through to her gizzard. She eventually started to have blood in her poop which told us she was really starting to be compromised by the situation so we acted (surgery). I hope good things for you and your girl but honestly I have not heard of a crop situation to this degree resoving itself without serious intervention. Do you have any doctor/nurse/surgical assistant friends? (See previous surgery posting - pics included). This is always an option... Good luck

 

[Omeletta]

We just had a silkie that had impacted crop for over 2 weeks. It has been resolved. I am sure this will not be so in every case, but here's what we did....We removed her from the flock, fed her soft food mixed with olive oil and some apple cider vinegar. We massaged her crop several times a day. We actually gave up and put her back into the main group, but soon found that her "lump" was slowly going down each day. You could definitely feel the part of her crop that wwas "glued together" . I am so glad she is doing much better, and hope you have success, as well.

 

[SeaChick]

Hi everyone,

I wrote a long detailed email to the State Veterinarian. (I had gone to the State University Co-op Extention site and he was listed as who to contact for poultry health questions).

He called me back within minutes of my sending the email! He has chickens himself.

Anyway he said it sounds like she had an impacted crop (maybe chronic since she has this dandruff thing -which, I just checked, the other hen does not have) and that it sounds like we cleared it, and that this gassy new crop is a result of the radically different diet she's been given the last day. He thinks it will go down on its own, advised we feed soaked (soft) pellets, and watch her. So: yay!! I feel much better now.

I know we're not out of the woods yet, but it is noce to hear a real vet say that he's not too overly concerned!

Thanks for ALL of your support and kind words. WE'll hope for the best in the AM.

Stacey

 

[SpottedCrow]

I'll keep my fingers crossed for Penelope.

 

[SeaChick]

By the way, does everyone know about Co-op Extensions?? I think they are connected with State universities, at least ours is. I went to the web site and it said, "Contact us today with your livestock questions" and then a "who to call" link that gave different people for each animal, general questions or health questions. The man I emailed is a vet, our State Vet, I am sure he is super busy but he called me immediately.

How COOL is that????!!!!

For any Mainers, here's the link in case you ever need it:
http://www.umaine.edu/livestock/Contactpeople.htm

Have a good night,
Stacey

 

[SandraChick]

I just read your whole thread....and to me it's VERY interesting....

I don't think I would feed her real food until her crop is completely empty- but that's my own opinion. Additionally, foamy poop is often a sign of worms--but may also be due to sour crop...so if it continues to be foamy---then I'd worry about worms...if it "fixes" itself- then it was the sour crop.


So here's my story- with an interesting twist that pertains to your comment about dandruff...

I just recently found my chicken almost dead (a relatively recent rescue who had lots of problems when I got her and I thought she's gotten healthy)- with the exact same bulgy crop description you gave. A huge crop that felt mushy and eventually felt more like clay. She also had some other injuries--so I DID give terramyacin....My case was complicated by seizures and she's now fine, but just now really walking.

I alternated giving her terramycin and a strong ACV solution every 2 hours. I used a syringe, but I did NOT just flush it in her beak- I allowed a drop or two at the tip of the beak and she would swallow it.

I also gave her mineral oil- Now I was in crisis stage, so I gave her a lot- probably 2+ TBSP worth in 12 hours. Mineral oil is preferred over olive oil as it does cause diarrhea and therfore causes a sort of "flushing of the whole system". Had I not had mineral oil on hand...I would have started with olive oil.

I massaged her crop after every ACV/Terramycin/mineral oil treatment.

After her first time having her crop get smaller, I gave her yogurt---only 1tsp at a time spread throughout the day.

I noticed that she wasn't pooping right....but she couldn't get up either--so I massaged her belly--between her legs. She eventuallyl pooped out massive amounts of poop (probably 5-6 poops worth). It was a total stench and very dark green---a lot like cow poop...(probably from some hay or grass?-- I only use hay in the nest boxes-cuz they liked the hay filled nest boxes better than shaving filled ones)

Anyway- once that massive poop went through- her crop emptied all the way and she began to poop normally (but only when I helped her stand).(++something to think about...anyone else have a chicken that couldn't stand and still be able to poop??)

I added cooked oatmeal mixed with yogurt to her diet...again--only 1-2 tsp at a time throughout the day. I eventually added a little bit of feed crumbles into the mix- as I didn't want to overwork her crop right away and while thinking about how to proceed it dawned on me--as she was eating, that she hadn't been outside now for quite some time, and her crop had been completely emptied several times---she needed GRIT!!! Once I added grit back into her diet- she seemed to stabilize and her poops were more consistantly good. I continued to slowly get her back to a "normal" diet by lowering the oatmeal content and increasing the feed crumbles. I added vitamin water..when I had quit the terramycin after 9days--as her wounds were looking great and I feared that if it was the thrush type of crop sourness that started this whole thing, that antibiotics could make it worse. I also wanted to add the vitamin water as she obviously hadn't been getting any nutrients for some time now.

SO TO MY MOST INTERESTING PART COMPARED TO YOUR STORY....
When I first brought her in, her head was full of little scabs, and once those healed and she seemed to have the WORST dandruf. I thought it might be due to dehydration- but by this time she was drinking on her own....then I noticed the dandruf on the head was more than just skin peeling--it seemed thicker and almost crumbly (hard to explain)...so I bathed her and cleaned it really good. It returned and I bathed her again...and again it returned in 2days...so I decided it was probably fungal and began to put anti fungal cream on her head, wattles, and wherever I saw skin peeling. It's been three days of the antifungal cream, and no more crumbly peeling on her head. I'll do this daily for at least a week....don't want to quit too early.

This makes me wonder if she had a fungal crop problem (thrush). If that is the case...it's the ACV treatment that changes the PH of her crop that probably did the trick (along with the mineral oil for the initial emptying of her whole digestive tract).

Mind you all- I usually wouldn't do so many treatments at once- but my chicken was knocking at "the coop door in the sky" when I found her-- I had to treat both her wounds and her crop. Her neurolgical problems--I think were due to her falling off one of her favorite roosting spots --as I found her under that spot on the ground--it's 3feet off the ground and I think she injured her back and possibly got a concussion as well...but that's a whole other story--and she's still recovering from that.

The good news is she's now in her own mini coop outside and walking (albeit with a limp). She's getting better every day! I really thought I had lost her, and it was worth every minute of time to treat her (although DH and all his co-workers seem think I lost a few marbles!---I think I'll withhold fresh eggs from them for a while as pentence for such negative thoughts about chickens indoors during a critical time!)

Anyway- Keep up the good work!
Sandra

 

[SeaChick]

Good news!!

Penny's crop is MUCH MUCH smaller today! Just a small (maybe a tablespoon or so) bit of squishiness ... maybe she had drank some water? The crop is VERY loose, though, not tight like a normal chicken's empty crop. I suspect that will take some time to recover and we may have to watch her closely for recurrence. I am hopeful, though, that she's over the worst of it!

She's also acting perkier... bok-ing at me to let her out of the crate, which she didn't do yesterday or Monday. I am continuing to feed the vet's recommended soaked pellets, along with some mashed hard boiled egg for protein. We'll keep her inside for another day or two and monitor her.

I think I will have to remove all the straw from our run, at least for a while. I may put some dry leaves in there instead, as it's covered and doesn't get wet. Maybe after a while I can reintroduce the straw and see if she eats any. Maybe she was doing it out of stress?

Stacey

 

[redwa]

Congratulations - sounds like all your efforts paid off! It's good to hear a success story like that. I would suggest though to not use hay at all, ever. Can you use pine shavings? They seem to be the most absorbent and clean.

 

[SeaChick]

Hi-
We do use pine shavings in the henhouse part. But our run is smallish and covered, and because its so dry in there the dirt there just turned to dust without anything on top of it, so I put a bale of straw in. Before Penelope arrived, it was fine, the girls loved scratching through it and it kept them busy when they were confined (which is most of the day). No one ate any and all was well.
I don't think pine shavings would work well in the run, as it does get wet around the edges when it rains. That's why I'm thinking of the bags of fall leaves I have raked up in the garage. Those might provide something interesting for them to scratch through, and I never saw Penelope eat any of those.
I just went and raked some up and I don't know HOW I will be able to get every last bit of straw out of there!
Thanks
Stacey

 

[arlee453]

I'd switch to the leaves, since it's an outdoor run. They will not get moldy as quickly as straw anyway and will give the hens something to scratch through. And, if any of them eat the leaves, they will break apart very readily in their systems.

My covered run area (a fenced off 20 x 80 foot section of my yard) has one end that has leaves and mulch and that's their favorite place in the run to scratch around!