Partially impacted crop

[HeatherKellyB]

Hi! Let me start by saying thank you for your time and any advice you can share. I know how rare it is for someone to have plenty of time to burn so I sincerely appreciate you sharing your time with me.
I have a 15 month old Crested Cream Legbar hen, Luna Petunia, that's molting. About a week ago I noticed she wasn't participating in the nightly mealworm toss so I picked her up and found that she was very thin. The next morning I checked her crop and found it to be full and firm. I fixed her a kennel inside my shop so I could watch her. She has watery diarrhea with some food/solids as well as sometimes just being water. I did a molasses flush which didn't really produce much more than what I'd been seeing. After that, I think she was pooping more actual solids, but still diarrhea. Her crop still won't empty overnight. She will eat some but only small pieces. I can't keep her out of her poop but that seems to be a favorite place for her to find what she wants to eat No matter what, she digs and eats the little bits out. I can't seem to keep it removed fast enough or with enough repetition as she poops. I did administer Valblazen on November 1st and with so much going on, I completely forgot to administer again in 10 days. (I administered Valblazen after finding a round worm in the run. No idea who it came from, but my Polish has been doing much better since. Of course that could be a coincidence) I know I'll need to start the process over. So my concerns are her crop not emptying, diarrhea and her being a pile of bones. I'm not sure if it's from being malnourished or if she's craving something in particular that she's finding in her poop. She likes to eat bits of sand outside and I've noticed her eating pine shavings multiple times. I started keeping her in the kennel about a week ago, I believe, and this is still going on. What would you suggest I do for this hen? I was going to do the massages with coconut oil, but to be honest I'm not sure what treatment to go with this. She enjoys joining her flock and chasing them around and even still picks fights with my Bantams now that she's in their area. She really needs to absorb some nutrients, use the food she eats and get some of her weight back on.
Thank you again for your time and any and all input you can provide. I sincerely appreciate it

 

[HeatherKellyB]

I'm going to leave some boiled rice and raw egg for her overnight. My Dad is still in the hospital so I'm staying at his house overnight and back home in the morning. I'll do some coconut oil and massage before I leave to go to his house tonight

 

[casportpony]

Is her crop filled with food or grass?

 

[Banana01]

I have a hen in a similar predicament for the past few weeks. She has an object or growth embedded in her chest area, i dont know if it is related to her crop not emptying. In the morning sometimes her crop is like a pasty mushy mixture of corn or grass and feels doughy, but its not sour crop. It feels like old food that is just not emptying.

At night or in the morning I have resorted to manually giving her extra water to make the crop liquidy, and then loosening whatever mushy ball of food there is. It seems to work as she is filling her crop every day, and i check it in the mornings and fill with water and mix as needed.

She was also dewormed and has been injured latelty, but its unrelated to the crop not emptying, she has continued to have this problem, although her health is ok and she has been gaining weight since i started mixing her crop with water to loosen it. Sorry for the long post but dont be scared to fill the crop with water, i do it for several adults in my flock, some can drink up to 40 ml at night before bed to mix their food.

You may want to deworm again, i dewormed mine just to eliminate the possibility and she passed a bunch of worms, but her crop still doesnt empty, but the problem is improving if that makes sense.

 

[Wyorp Rock]

You can give the coconut oil anytime no worries. I would give her 1tsp twice a day.
Treat for Sour Crop and deworm. Is the crop pendulous at all?
https://www.backyardchickens.com/ar...w-to-know-which-one-youre-dealing-with.73607/

Personally, I leave birds with the flock while I'm treating them. I get that you are wanting to monitor her poop, etc. but being caged it sounds like she may actually make her issue worse if she's eating pine shavings. With the flock exploring, then she may not do that.

How much does she actually weigh?

 

[HeatherKellyB]

I have wondered about her having a pendulous crop. It does hang a bit but I have other birds with similar or worse hanging crops that don't have problems. Then again, if it's more of a muscle issue, then a comparison isn't helpful or applicable. If she'll tolerate it, I should probably fashion up a crop bra to try. I'm not sure how much she weighs but she is wasting away. She is so thin that my stomach turns and my heart breaks whenever I have to pick her up. I'm guessing the diarrhea isn't helping but I'll go ahead and worm her now. I'll get a weight on her as well.

 

[azygous]

I would try what @Banana01 suggested with the water. Then massage the lump until it breaks up. I had a hen with such a problem. I massaged her whenever I visited the coop or run. This kept food moving through her system.

I am concerned with the weight loss. That sometimes indicates cancer. Tumors can act as obstructions, too. Just something that might explain this.

Have you tried special feedings with boiled rice and keifer or raw egg? This might appeal to Luna Petunia more than gleaning poop.

 

[HeatherKellyB]

So incredibly strange. I'm out here with frozen coconut oil chips and she scarfed them down quickly. Then she noticed the Flock Raiser pellets and tried to jump off the stool. I got a handful and held it up to her and she gobbled them up like a crazy bird. I also wormed her

 

[Wyorp Rock]

I wouldn't treat for Coccidiosis at the moment.

 

[Banana01]

That is good and fine that she has an appetite, just help her by supplementing water with a dropper so she is going to bed with a more liquidy crop rather than solid. For some reason she is processing solid food slower, but if you make it soupy in her crop at bedtime, check it again in the morning and if there is food still left, give her water first thing in the morning again. My hen is somewhat picky and won't let me give her more than 20 ml, whereas other ones take 40 ml of water.

For some reason your hens ability to process food and water is hindered, but hopefully it is something that will pass and not going to be terminal. I think my hen has cancer or something wrong in her heart region, its like a solid growth, and she is older so my case may be terminal.

She may need you to supplement water twice a day for a while, until you are satisfied her weight is improving and she is eating and drinking consistently, and also her droppings should be solid again or normal like your flocks.