Rooster with slow/impacted crop

[DonyaQuick]

I have a roughly 1.5yr old barred rock rooster. I think his crop is moving things through since he's pooping, but it seems much slower than it should be since it wasn't emptied all the way last night - which is the only reason I know there's something up with his crop vs other stress issues. He is currently lethargic but drinking a lot and will readily eat anything sugary or protein-rich, like sugar water, berries, and bug treats. He will also chug his regular feed if I offer it by hand. His poop is often watery because he's drinking a lot, but otherwise he definitely has solid, normal-looking material in it. I've seen some normal cecal and regular poops although they're smaller than normal. His comb and wattles look fine. I think the progression of events that led to this was an instance of my hens attacking him (I think they thought he was attacking me at the time; he wasn't), after which he was reluctant to eat out of feeders if they were nearby and then I suspect he binged on a bunch of dandelions that he got access to. I don't see any obvious sign of injury from the hens aside from a few bent feathers and it doesn't seem like sour crop (yet) - crop is firm, breath is ok. I got him to eat some unrefined coconut oil this morning. I've done periodic crop massages. I have him in the house right now so the hens don't badger him and he pretty much just wants to just stand in place and occasionally drink. I can't tell how much of the lethargic behavior I'm seeing is stress from the social upheaval vs malnutrition from the crop issue. I'm also not sure if I should continue keeping him isolated vs. keep him with the ladies - I don't know which is the less stressful thing to do for him in this situation.

Although I don't think it's directly related, I lost a hen earlier this year to a combination of sour crop and what was probably cancer, although her condition was much worse much faster and it was probably a tumor that caused her crop issues. I don't see anything like that in my rooster and his poop looks a lot more normal than hers did. Still, seeing crop issues again in a different bird is freaking me out a bit.

EDIT: I forgot to add my rooster is also molting and has been molting for a while. It's a soft molt that started well before the incident with the hens.

Edit #2: this is his most recent poop if it helps determine anything else that could be wrong.

 

[DonyaQuick]

He is more interested in sitting with me than with hens so I'm going to keep him in the house for now. He is ravenously hungry, but I can feel a fibrous ball in his crop that isn't going down so I haven't fed him anything since early morning. He's had some more coconut oil just a bit ago. Is there anything I can safely feed him for energy that won't risk making the impaction worse? Mashed up berries maybe?

 

[DonyaQuick]

My rooster started to get too lethargic for me to be comfortable with fasting him for the rest of the day like many instructions on dealing with impacted crop say to do. I gave him mashed peeled grapes and he perked up a bit. Then he got some more coconut oil and I tried being bit tougher with the crop massage while trying to keep him more upright. A few times there was some extensive gurgling from around there and currently I no longer feel a fibrous mass in the crop. It still has "stuff" in it but it just feels like mush and is a lot softer and smaller. He's so hungry I decided to let him have some wet mash. I know food can add to impaction issues but I am more worried about his energy levels right now and how desperately hungry he seems.

 

[DonyaQuick]

I can't entirely tell if I'm making progress or just heading into sour crop...but I hope it's progress. His crop empties noticeably now although it needs frequent massage to do so. Currently feels like a very thick-walled but not very full bag. Like it should be tightening up more but isn't. Doesn't seem saggy enough to be the pendulous case though. Just lingering inflammation maybe? He's still lethargic. Breath is ok. Diet now is electrolyte water and periodic very wet mash.

 

[DonyaQuick]

Yesterday he passed the impaction material I think. Plant and feather bits over the course of the day. Crop is emptying but his lethargy is worse and he's slowly losing interest in food now. No smell from his breath still. I don't know what else to do or what could be wrong...I feel like I'm going to lose him no matter what I try at this point.

 

[DonyaQuick]

I realize this has just become me talking to myself but I figure I may as well document it...

My rooster won't eat feed mash anymore. However, he will readily eat: blueberries, raspberries, very soft well-cooked corn, very mushy oatmeal, and a small bit of banana. Since he was going downhill fast with an empty crop I put everything out for him I had on hand that he could eat without grit (which he has access to, but he doesn't want it). Now he's standing up and eating again, he's still pooping bits of plant stem and feather. Sort of wondering if I should have just done crop surgery and taken it all out rather than try to have it pass through him...

 

[DonyaQuick]

Well, he made it through another night. Crop emptied. Still seems a bit inflamed compared to what my largest hens feel like. He had a breakfast this morning of chopped grapes, blueberries, and raspberries, and some sweet corn. A few bites of scrambled egg. I'll try to get him to eat more egg as the day goes. He's ever so slightly wobbly at times but overall more alert, although he naps after eating. Not seeing anymore signs of impaction material in his poop. Hoping the wobbles are just a vitamin or other nutrient deficiency that can be cleared up by diet if he's willing to eat more egg.

 

[DonyaQuick]

The liquid component of my rooster's droppings got more abundant and also suddenly turned reddish brown yesterday afternoon. That seemed like it could be evidence of intestinal bleeding with the color possibly darkened by blueberries, which are causing most of his poop to be blue/green anyway. All I have on hand and can get easily that has to do with intestinal issues is Corid; so I just hoped I'm dealing with coccidiosis and started using it, both in the water and 0.6mL undiluted orally since he wouldn't drink the water at first (I read it's 0.1mL per 1lb of bird and he's 6lbs). His poop is still watery but the brown color is gone today. This morning he heard me messing with feed crumbles to make mash and wanted some of the dry crumbles, which is a first for him since I brought him indoors. He was strong enough to jump from my lap onto my desk as well - not a big jump but it's something. Still no bad breath so I assume no sour crop.

 

[MamaFox78]

I just saw this thread - sorry your Roo is having such a hard time!! I've had a few chickies with this issue, fortunately not many!

My go-to for impacted crop is tepid water with a bit of raw apple cider vinegar, maybe a cap-full for every 2 cups of water. I administer it in 5ml oral syringes and massage the crop after each one, until I can feel it break up. Then I add some probiotics like Thrive to their water, and withhold dry feed until it passes.

Sounds like your boy is past this stage... but the fact that he's still not 100% after clearing his crop makes me wonder if he somehow got into a plant that's toxic?? His poop will likely stay watery until he's back on solid feed, but probiotics are always great for intestinal issues. I would start with that, and if you feel like he might be malnourished try some Poultry Nutri-drench. Hopefully he'll perk up!

 

[DonyaQuick]

I can tell he's improved since a couple days ago at least; I've been taking him outside to get get fresh air for 10min or so each day. Normally he just stands and does nothing. Today the first thing he did was wobble-charge off to go kill a small snake. He was really mad that my husband took it away before he could gobble it, but I'm not having him get another impacted crop with that! He definitely is still wobbly...either still very low on energy still (quite possible; he is molting and putting energy into new feathers every day) or something else has caused lasting coordination issues.

My go-to for impacted crop is tepid water with a bit of raw apple cider vinegar, maybe a cap-full for every 2 cups of water. I administer it in 5ml oral syringes and massage the crop after each one, until I can feel it break up. Then I add some probiotics like Thrive to their water, and withhold dry feed until it passes.

I wondered about using apple cider vinegar but was nervous about giving it directly - perhaps I should have just done it. I think he inadvertently managed something similar though with his sudden affinity for grapes. The pH of grape juice is supposed to be around 3-4 and apple cider vinegar is just below that I think.

In the water I had been using hydro hen, which was the only probiotic thing I could get locally a while back. It has some probiotics and electrolytes I think. I don't think he drank much though.

Sounds like your boy is past this stage... but the fact that he's still not 100% after clearing his crop makes me wonder if he somehow got into a plant that's toxic??

With the lingering wobbles he has, I'm really wondering if he got toxins from something at this point. Plants seem unlikely because my flock hasn't free ranged in several weeks due to a family of hawks that moved in. I gave my flock clippings from a section of lawn, but that was long enough ago that I don't think it would have been something in there. Could have been some other source though, l like bad bugs or fungus popping up within reach. Recently there were a lot of strange, brightly colored caterpillars that I don't know the IDs of, and monarchs also were around until recently. I know monarchs and their caterpillars can cause problems for birds that eat them. We've also had small mushrooms popping up after rains but I never thought to check for those around the coop. Oh man...I really hope he's just week and not suffering some permanent neurological or other internal damage from eating something like that.