safest way to clear impacted crop?

[Wyorp Rock]

Hey! Sorry for the long lapse. I just wanted to thank everyone for your help! Followed the advice given on here (used mineral oil instead of coconut) and I'm glad to say that after a few days, Blanche was back to her normal self and is doing great! It turns out that it was a really big mass of thick, tangled, blades of grass. So. much. grass. Anyways, just wanted to follow up in case this post is helpful to anyone else in the future!

Wonderful to hear that Blanche is doing great!
Thank you so much for updating the thread

 

[Eggcessive]

Very food news. Mineral oil is very good to use to clear out a blockage.

 

[Rkhan]

Wonderful to hear that Blanche is doing great!
Thank you so much for updating the thread

Hi all
This post gives me hope. My poor red sex link who’s a gentle soul is suffering. I have her coconut oil and she did some small amount of poop. I have her one ml of nutirdrench with a syringe. I’ll add it to her water. And I might try mineral oil though i don’t know how I’ll Get that into her. Also, how many times can I give her coconut oil and how many days can she go without food? It’s been 24 hours already and she seems weak already. She loves to eat:
Should I put grit in her dog cage or is that a no no at this stage?

 

[Kristen0729]

Hi there! And thanks in advance! I feel like I'm having every new chicken mama problem and I'm so thankful for this community.

My 8mo EE, Blanche, appears to have an impacted crop. I first noticed that her crop seemed rather full+firm yesterday morning, but I figured that maybe she had gorged herself in the coop (we had heavy rain and sleet yesterday so I didn't let the girls out until after 9am and had left a hanging feeder in the crop overnight knowing this would be a possibility). Otherwise she seemed fine, maybe a little more reserved than normal, but still staying with the flock and eating+drinking, so I tried massaging the crop and decided to monitor her.

Today the crop seems even harder and more full. It's really firm, and I can almost feel some scratch grains etc in there. It does not feel liquidy or have a foul odor.

I am trying the no food/olive oil massage method for now, but I need some advice on when to move onto more advanced solutions. Can I try this for another day or so as long as she doesn't get weak or lethargic? Would mineral oil or any other liquid work better?

I've had a really difficult time finding a vet within a two hour radius to help me with my birds, so I'll likely have to manage this on my own.

Is there any safe (or safer) way to manually empty the crop through the regurgitation method or otherwise? I'm so afraid of aspiration. I probably have the skillset for the surgical method but I'm not comfortable attempting it because of the risks of complication and the fact that I'm sure it's very painful :S

Thoughts?

We had to euthanize one of my girls on Sunday for what I suspect was a Vit B deficiency related issue and this am when I went out to feed, Blanche my 7 month old BCM was not running to me- out of character. I observed her walk to the feed with her sisters and look uninterested. Scooped her up and her crop is still very full. I brought her in and dosed with coconut oil, massaged her crop and gave her water with nutridrench. I separated her and will go back out in a bit to continue massage. This chicken mama life is not for the faint of heart. I feel like I do everything I know how to do and when this stuff comes up I feel like I’ve failed them. Thanks for posting. Needed the encouragement that I was doing the right things.