Pendulous Crop? Surgery??

[reondo63]

My girl had what I think was and impacted crop. I massaged it and fed her yogurt and coke and olive oil and everything suggested on the forums. Unfortunately I could never get anything of substance to come up. Now her crop is huge and swings as she gets around. She is totally healthy otherwise. She eats and drinks normally and runs all around like the other kids. I'm about to try the surgery I've read about on here. Any last advice or possible solutions before I cut into her?

 

[HaulnFetch]

I don't know exactly what is wrong with your girl exactly, but we just went through this with one of our. Thelma was running around and eating also until one morning, we noticed that she was lethargic and not running everywhere like she normally does. We feared an impacted crop also and did exactly what you are doing. She did regurgitate large amounts of water (she was drinking a lot), but not much of anything else. Her crop was also huge. It was not hard but, actually felt "squishy".

I finally gave in and took her to a vet who did an x-ray. Other than a small amount of grit in the crop, there did not appear to be anything else of substance in there. What the vet saw was gas bubbles. Really big gas bubbles !! The diagnosis was candida. She gave her an injection, mostly for pain and inflammation and started her on an anti-fungal drug called Sporanax (Itraconzaole) and also Reglan Oil (Metoclopramide) which a helps prevent reflux and improves bowel motility.

Thelma improved within a day and within 3 days was back to normal, or what passes for normal for this one crazy hen. Her crop remains normal after about 10 days now. The drugs were not real expensive, $22.00 for the Sporanax (the vet gave us extra) and $14.00 for the oil (extra doses there too).

I don't know if this will help you. Your girl may indeed have an impacted crop. Merck's Veterinary Manual gives this as a treatment:

"Improving sanitation and minimizing antibiotic use in poultry help reduce the incidence of candidiasis. Affected birds can be treated with copper sulfate at 0.5 mg/L of drinking water, or 0.5 mg copper sulfate per kg of feed. Vinegar is used as a treatment for candidiasis at 15 mL/L of drinking water. Chlorhexidine is used for prevention or treatment at 2.5 mL/L of drinking water. Chlorine bleach at 0.1 mL/L of drinking water may help control the infection. All of these treatments lack FDA approval."

Good luck ! I hope she gets better.

 

[ruth]

I've performed two crop surgeries and info and pics are posted on BYC but I only perform them when absolutely necessary.

I once had a bird with a pendulous crop and she was fine and healthy and did not need surgery. She would start each morning flat chested and by the end of the day when she would come running from an entire day of freeranging the woods, she looked like Pamela Anderson from Baywatch - her crop was huge and hung to the ground and swayed back and forth. We named her Pammy.

The birds that had impacted crops had obvious problems. They had become skin and bones and were not pooping and/or eating. The best way to tell if it's impacted is to isolate the bird for a couple of days in a kennel. Provide no food or water at night and check the crop in the morning. If it is still big and you can feel "stuff" in there, it's more than likely impacted and surgery may indeed be needed. There are other methods to try first if the bird is well enough but if they are really bad off, no sense loosing time - I would do the surgery. I sew mine up with regular needle and thread - first the crop and then the outer tissue - I've not given antibiotics and both birds healed immediately and are still alive and well. Keep them in the kennel for a few days with nothing but soft food - wet crumbles and scrambled egg.

Best of luck.

Monique "Ruth"

 

[chickletranch]

I have a rooster with an impacted crop who is not really responding to treatment. He has an appetite, but I cannot let him eat (just giving him vitamins in water, very watered down formula and an occasional squirt of olive oil). We noticed it because he was having trouble balancing while standing because his crop was so distended! We've been trying to flush his crop for 5 days and it's still partly full and he isn't pooping normally. My vet is not hopeful about his prognosis and said that opening the crop surgically will not necessarily solve the problem. He's on twice daily doses of Nystatin and a shot of Naxcel each day. Crop does not smell sour anymore but he's getting weaker.

I would isolate your hen immediately and only offer her water. After a day, you will know whether her crop is impacted (it will not reduce in size). If it's impacted, try injecting water into her crop and purge it by turning her upside down while pressing on the crop and holding her head down (you will need someone to help you with this - it's very risky and could kill her!). So sorry you are dealing with this and hope she recovers.

Lynn

 

[ruth]

I can tell you from experience that if it is truly impacted you will NOT get it out by flushing or holding the bird upside down or any other measure other than operating. In both cases that I operated on, the problem was hay.

Here's a link to the first surgery I did:

https://www.backyardchickens.com/forum/viewtopic.php?id=229796

And here's what I got out of a hen's crop last month.

She had become broody and wouldn't leave the nest so I guess she was eating the nest.

I did not give anitbiotics in either case and both hens healed just fine.

 

[chickletranch]

In my case, the rooster did not have access to straw or hay. His crop is no longer hard, but it won't empty completely.
It feels gritty, no big stones or gravel...just scratch-sized particles. I suspect there might be a problem elsewhere in his
digestive system. Vet says the only way to know is to x-ray.

Lynn

 

[reondo63]

Thanks for all the help. I will try and isolate her again and withhold her food. I will try and get vitamins and antibiotics and see what happens. Her crop is easily the size of a softball and a 1/2 and getting bigger. I will keep you posted as to her outcome. I'm hoping for the best.