Plugged Crop

[CovertChicken]

I have a chicken who I believe has wood chips in her crop. I believe she is able to eat and she is having bowel movements. Should I be concerned?

Thanks,

Brian

 

[Abirdbrain]

Yes! Some chickens dont do well with wood fines, they dont digest well. I use deep litter and have lost a few birds to this. If she has a packed crop, give some olive oil and gently massage the lump apart. I feed rolled oatmeal and yogurt to power the cluck while the condition clears. Usually two days or so. If the lump reoccurs, gently message it apart again. You will know by experience if it is soft and pliable or like a hard ball, that may need attention. It takes time for the gizzard to grind up the wood, same as dry grass hay can be a problem.

Remember, chickens have a very short and primitive digestive tract, they must eat constantly, most everything they eat, bugs, sand, pebbles, and real food, pass out in about 12 hours. So problems improve or worsen in those time frames.

 

[CovertChicken]

Thanks for the advise!

 

[Sozoed]

Great advice. I feed mine olive oil about 1 a month, soaked in bread pieces. So far I haven't had any impacted crop issues, BUT just had a concern today.
I had a tarp over the coop to protect from a cold recent rain storm, and pieces of tarp were fraying. Just saw a pullet today eating one of the strands. I gently pulled it out of her beak and it was about 12 " long! Yikes! Now I have to really watch all of them for the next few days to make sure their crops arent' impacted by blue plastic strands. Argh! (ps. I threw the tarp away. Not worth getting the chickens sick over)

 

[CovertChicken]

I fed my chickens some cabbage a couple of days ago and I think that this one probably gorged herself on more than she needed. I took her to my vet today and she did not seem concerned about her. She gave me some motility drugs abd said to massage her crop and it would probably pass. I think she is already statring to crap it out, so she should be fine. She never acted sick, I was just being cautious after loosing a bird earlier this year from eating wood chips.

 

[Abirdbrain]

ya, I dunno. I am using the fine horse bedding, and the flakes are 1/2 in fine, to dust. I have a freind that uses course hommade mulch, from his property and it looks awful, like sticks and torn/dried leaves. Smells too, but the birds love to root around and scare up bugs and spiders in it. He claims no problems, and has wood branches for roosts. I dont have many roosts and the birds stand on the floor mostly, or crowd the nest boxes for warmth.