Pullet with crop problem, need advice

[WAChickenMama]

I have a 7 month old EE who has been having crop problems since last Sunday (11/13). Her crop is not emptying at night. Her crop is large and squishy. When I massage it, I can feel something like sand in the bottom of it other than that it is squishy. On Monday I noticed her breath smelled kind of sour so I began treating with generic Monistat 7. Droppings are loose, sometimes including fecal material and other times just runny urates and liquid. A little while ago I noticed her regurgitating sour smelling liquid. She didn't seem distressed by it. Her crop is smaller than earlier today, but the sand stuff is till in there lumped at the bottom of her crop. I have been withholding food today and gave stool softener in case the inderlying problem is impaction. We use pine shavings in the co-op and run. We feed Purina Flock Raiser crumbles as we have a mixed flock. Oyster shell and grit are available at all times. They do free range occasionally and we fed a couple whole pumpkins for two weeks after Halloween.

I would appreciate any advice or feedback. We are first time chicken tenders and I'm so scared for my girl.

 

[kjorgey]

I just went through this myself this week. Same symptoms on Saturday. I noticed her crop was enlarged and felt like a water balloon with sand in the area by her gizzard. She had eaten some red beat leaves earlier. When I picked her up, the pressure of my hand caused her to vomit and up came partially digested leaves and a small piece of jute string to my horror. I stayed away from the Monistat per my vet's advice. He told me not to put anything in my hen's mouth that isn't considered oral for humans. I took away my hen's food for 24 hours and gave her nothing but electrolyte, vitamin water. I isolated her in my garage. I literally gently massaged her crop in downward motions like every 1-2 hours while awake. She was pooping mostly liquid and occasional leafy material. Within 24 hours her crop was empty in the morning. Yay! So, I introduced some of her crumbles, in a mashed form. She started pooping what looked like her mash with occasional cecal droppings. By 72 hours, she pooped some stones and leafy material and I could no longer feel that sandy, gritty feel. So, because the crop was empty by morning, I could rule out crop impaction told by my vet. By the time she passed the stones, it was clear her gizzard was not impacted, as my vet instructed. He told me to give her some mashed pumpkin for fiber and 1 teaspoon of apple cider vinegar in 16 ounces of water. I could also offer plain, greek yogurt for probiotics. So, here we are day #5 and we are pretty much back to normal. Normal poops this morning, but runny during day (likely due to stress of confinement).

If her crop is emptying by morning, I think you can rule out an impaction. Wait and see if the gizzard empty's its contents. You will know. Somehow, my hen knows to drink lots of water, which she was doing in the first 72 hours which obviously helped her passed the issue on her own. I would also suggest with the next stool sample you get, take it to your local vet for a fecal float test. My vest suggested that a worm infestation or parasites could cause digestive upset. I did just that, and today it came back negative. So good peace of mind for me. Bottom line, I think the foreign object (string), caught early enough helped, but not early enough to upset her digestive system. Good luck!

 

[kjorgey]

I forgot to ask....Do you feel anything hard like a golf ball or large grape? That could indicate gizzard impaction. My girl never had that, but I could definitely feel the sandy bits. Hopefully whatever upset her digestive tract will pass through soon. It may be your hen indulged a bit too much on the treats like my girl did and just need a bit of time to pass it through. Try the gently massage, but please....don't try to make her vomit. My vet scolded me for doing that

 

[kjorgey]

Forgot this too... to properly assess her crop in the morning for normal physiological function you must take up both her food and water at night. I took mine away by dusk when she would normally head to the coop to roost. That will give you a proper assessment in the morning.