Olive oil - bad for chickens? UPDATE: oh dear, I think it's e-coli :(

[caralouise1974]

I only ask because I had a bit of an impacted crop scare with my BO today, and rather than having to force the olive oil (mixed with a drop of ACV) down her throat, as I'd feared, she positively lapped it up, sucking it off the back of my hand and pecking the syringe for more!

I gave her loads before giving her crop a good massage, but I wonder if 'loads' is too much?

It was probably 5ml in total, and although the golf-ball-sized hard lump doesn't seem to have got smaller, it does appear to move a bit now and is more squishy, and she's acting completely normal. The neck-bobbing and general weird head movements (which I assume she was doing in an effort to try to get the stuff to move down through her crop) have also stopped, and there were some interesting squelching/digestive-type noises coming from the crop/throat after I finished! She even seemed to enjoy the massage and fell asleep on my lap afterwards (she's never done that before!).

I suspect I may have acted too soon, and perhaps it was simply a load of grain which she wolfed down too fast and it got a bit stuck, rather than a truly impacted crop. She seemed to really love the attention anyway, the faker!

I wonder if all that oil might have some ill-effects now though... does anyone know?

 

[CoopCrazy]

I would'nt think so.. I have given Olive Oil to my dogs a few times.. One for a rock I watched it eat.. and one because it was backed up... I gave pretty good doses.. So I would say it should be fine

 

[LynneP]

A lot of chicken owners use olive oil to assist with digestive problems. It takes a while to work, and lucky you- she took it on ther own? If she wants a little more a few hours later, I'd give it...has caloric value too. You'll notice when it reaches her droppings!

 

[caralouise1974]

Thanks LynneP. I've just given her a little more and done another massage, but she does seem to just be filling up.

It now feels kinda like a very hard tight bag of gravel, about the size of a baseball, and the olive oil and massages don't feel like they're shifting anything anyway.

Oh well, will have to hope it clears itself overnight...

 

[beak]

It's also great to use on them for the rottiserie. Olive oil and some seasoning, delicious.

 

[Glenda L Heywood]

does your chickens have ample amounts of granite grit
didn't you post for baking soda flush?
do these chickens have access to grass?
could be what is bound up in the birds crop

 

[caralouise1974]

I think the granite grit may actually have caused the problem, now I remember... the day before yesterday I took a load of granite grit out to fill their hopper and she, being the greedy guts she is, thought is was food and stuffed her beak into it. I think she may have had a few beakfuls before realising what it was. The stuff in her crop does feel suspiciously like a load of gravel...

I'm not sure about the baking soda flush - lots of stuff I've read has advised against trying to get hens to regurgitate impacted crop contents - there seems to be a real risk of them choking or aspirating it and can easily kill them if done inexpertly. I can't have that on my conscience - I would rather take her to a vet for surgery, if it gets to that stage.

Yes, the chickens do have access to grass, some if it in their run (pretty short and sparse) and some of it on our lawn (mown last weekend and clippings removed) when they free range. It's still possible that she got a few long pieces tangled up in there I suppose.

I'm hoping that the olive oil and massages have helped enough for her to shift things along herself overnight - and I will be watching for poops in her coop in the morning, as I suppose if she had pooped overnight them it shows that something is getting through...

 

[caralouise1974]

Okay, so Henrietta recovered from her crop impaction at the weekend, but I am noticing a bit of poop weirdness going on now.

Her poops are more often of the smelly dark caecal variety, and look very black and oily. They are also noticably smaller than usual. Funnily enough, the nighttime poops she does are fine, if a bit small, but the daytime poops are quite often caecal ones.

She is otherwise totally fine, happy and active, laying daily.

Do we think that the olive oil could be responsible? Or might she have some problems further downstream from her crop (ie gizzard, bowel?) with all that extra grit I think she swallowed? It is also pretty lovely weather here in the UK (23 degrees celcius - which is amazing for us in April!) so she's very hot and drinking lots of extra water. Might that be doing it?

Anyone think I should simply stop worrying over nothing?

 

[soctippy]

the darkness of her poops probably has something to do with how long that food from her gizzard took to procede through her digestive tract. maybe beacuse it was processed for so long what came out was all the stuff she couldn't absorb for nutrition.
Also givving a chicken olive oil also will provide them with some omegas and will improve the nutrition of her eggs as well.

 

[DiVon80]

Quote:
Yeah DELICIOUS also a lil lemon juice.