possible crop impaction need advice

[jeepgirl13]

Two days ago one of my hens was "leaking" fluid our of her mouth occasionally when she.bent down. I felt her crop and it was full and had a grainy feel to it. I figured she was just gorging.
Yesterday it still had that grainy feel to it so I did some reasearch and read about the olive oil and apple cider vinegar. I gave her some bread soaked in oil and massaged her crop for a while. The grainy stuff I felt was loose and moving around, so I thought she was ok. I removed the feeder from the pen last night so I could compare her to the other birds.
Well this morning her crop is hard, a little smaller than a golf ball, and was still grainy.
What could this be? What should I do about it? Any help would.be appreciated. I am new at raising chickens and don't want to treat her for something that's not afflicting her.
Has anybody else had an issue like this? What did you do? I will be on frequently and can post pics, and give you any more information you might need. Thanks in advance

 

[jeepgirl13]

Well after more olive oil and bread I gave her another massage. This time I felt a noticeable difference in the amount of the grainy substance. It went down! After about 5-6 min of massaging I could barely feel anything and felt like I was rubbing the chicken instead of the crop, if that makes any sense.

I have offered her a small bowl of layer crumble soaked in warm water and olive oil. She ate a little and drank a little. She seems more upset from being in the house than anything. I can't blame her, I'm an outdoors girl as well.

Her poops are their huge normal selves today. Yesterday they were green, really tiny and really, really solid, with liquid. I thought it was weird.

Don't know if anyone has read this, but I will keep posting progress or regression as it comes up. If only for my own future references.

 

[jeepgirl13]

I am beginning to wonder if this perhaps came about from the massive amounts of apples and watermelon the kids fed my chickens on my sons birthday a few days ago. I read somewhere the excess fruits can really mess up their ability to process their food correctly. My flock did have some watery diarrhea the next couple days afterwards. Everyone else is fine now though.

 

[jeepgirl13]

Lots of sand in her poop. I am guessing this is what I was feeling that was grainy. I'm not feeling as much in her crop either. Must be working!

 

[Agnella]

Hello! I'm dealing with impacted crop with one of my girls as well. I gave her olive oil and a massage and that really seemed to help. But she's back to having a very hard crop again. I guess I'll keep trying the olive oil treatment. They also get ACV in their water.

Good luck! Sounds like you're doing a good job

 

[jeepgirl13]

Thank you! She is doing much better. By last night I didn't feel anymore of that really grainy stuff. Would switching from crumbles to pellets cause something like this?