Sour crop? Impacted crop?

[Meandmyhens3]

I have a hen who I’m a bit worried about, she’s three years old and her crop just kind of looks unusually large. She’s a brown leghorn and their naturally more skinny then say, a buff Orpington, but I still think it looks a bit unusual and it feels very round and seems to protrude more then the other hens. She has no symptoms other then what I can visually see.

 

[Grace8269]

Hey! I would tilt her, almost at a 90-degree angle, and massage her crop. She will eventually vomit, and relieve herself. Since chickens can't feel nausea, they can't vomit, so you have to help them. If you smell her crop, and it is foul, that means that it is probably a sour crop rather than an impacted crop. Be sure to provide extra grit for her. Hope this helps and good luck!

 

[Meandmyhens3]

Hey! I would tilt her, almost at a 90-degree angle, and massage her crop. She will eventually vomit, and relieve herself. Since chickens can't feel nausea, they can't vomit, so you have to help them. If you smell her crop, and it is foul, that means that it is probably a sour crop rather than an impacted crop. Be sure to provide extra grit for her. Hope this helps and good luck!

Thank you! I was already thinking of buying grit so I definitely will, and I’ll look into treatment for sour crop if that is the case.

 

[Carson213]

you didn't have grit?

 

[Shezadandy]

I have a hen who I’m a bit worried about, she’s three years old and her crop just kind of looks unusually large. She’s a brown leghorn and their naturally more skinny then say, a buff Orpington, but I still think it looks a bit unusual and it feels very round and seems to protrude more then the other hens. She has no symptoms other then what I can visually see.

I would hold off vomiting her - it can be a dangerous process that ends with a dead bird if the crop contents end up down her windpipe.

I've done it successfully but before you jump right to that... check on her first, first, first thing in the morning, before she's had a chance to eat or drink anything. If you can put her in a crate overnight without causing her undue stress to make sure you get to her before she's out and about, putting NO FOOD and NO WATER in the crate overnight, that's ideal.

Overnight she should have emptied everything she's eaten and had to drink that day, so it should be a much different size and shape and be empty.

If she doesn't empty with no food/water available overnight, then do some more investigating of her crop in the morning. Does it feel hard, like there's a big wad of something? Or is it soft and squishy?

If it's hard, nothing good will come of trying to vomit her because it is likely a tangled mess of long stranded stuff all woven together. If it's soft and squishy but very full, there are other things to try first. Here's an excellent guide - it all starts with the overnight test, no matter what!

https://www.backyardchickens.com/ar...d-sour-crops-prevention-and-treatments.67194/

 

[Meandmyhens3]

you didn't have grit?

Well they’re run is pretty big and outside so there are still plenty of Little Rock’s in there, but I still want more.

 

[Meandmyhens3]

I would hold off vomiting her - it can be a dangerous process that ends with a dead bird if the crop contents end up down her windpipe.

I've done it successfully but before you jump right to that... check on her first, first, first thing in the morning, before she's had a chance to eat or drink anything. If you can put her in a crate overnight without causing her undue stress to make sure you get to her before she's out and about, putting NO FOOD and NO WATER in the crate overnight, that's ideal.

Overnight she should have emptied everything she's eaten and had to drink that day, so it should be a much different size and shape and be empty.

If she doesn't empty with no food/water available overnight, then do some more investigating of her crop in the morning. Does it feel hard, like there's a big wad of something? Or is it soft and squishy?

If it's hard, nothing good will come of trying to vomit her because it is likely a tangled mess of long stranded stuff all woven together. If it's soft and squishy but very full, there are other things to try first. Here's an excellent guide - it all starts with the overnight test, no matter what!

https://www.backyardchickens.com/ar...d-sour-crops-prevention-and-treatments.67194/

Thank you, I know vomiting them can be very dangerous I’ve read a bunch of articles so I was already stand off-ish.

I took their food out of the coop so that they wouldn’t eat until I was up to unlock them in the morning and her crop felt pretty normal, still a little more apparent then the others but smaller then it did during the day. It wasn’t hard but it’s was firm-ish, but I’m still new to feeling crops so I tried to compare to the other girls but honestly I couldn’t even feel their crops.

She isn’t acting unusual though, she’s a pretty skittish bird and she still runs away from me, she still has an appetite and She’s laying eggs. There’s also not much in the run for them to eat to cause and impaction or anything. they aren’t free range but have a big run with no grass, they have a big bush with leaves they like to eat, and as far as I know they do not eat they’re bedding.

 

[Shezadandy]

Thank you, I know vomiting them can be very dangerous I’ve read a bunch of articles so I was already stand off-ish.

I took their food out of the coop so that they wouldn’t eat until I was up to unlock them in the morning and her crop felt pretty normal, still a little more apparent then the others but smaller then it did during the day. It wasn’t hard but it’s was firm-ish, but I’m still new to feeling crops so I tried to compare to the other girls but honestly I couldn’t even feel their crops.

She isn’t acting unusual though, she’s a pretty skittish bird and she still runs away from me, she still has an appetite and She’s laying eggs. There’s also not much in the run for them to eat to cause and impaction or anything. they aren’t free range but have a big run with no grass, they have a big bush with leaves they like to eat, and as far as I know they do not eat they’re bedding.

I'm glad it wasn't as big as the night before. It still should be emptying - the document I linked to last night as a bunch of non-dramatic things to try if it seems like she's still got a glut of things hanging out in there - I'm glad it's not hard stuff- you'd be able to feel it if it was there- because that's much more difficult to deal with. It could just be a yeast or bacteria type issue. I hear you on the skittish bird part, even my friendly birds know I have no way to catch them out in their big run and they give me their best "nanahahaha you can't catch me" faces, so unless it's a bleeding emergency or some other drastic thing, I too wait until they're on the roost at night, easier for everybody.

 

[Meandmyhens3]

I'm glad it wasn't as big as the night before. It still should be emptying - the document I linked to last night as a bunch of non-dramatic things to try if it seems like she's still got a glut of things hanging out in there - I'm glad it's not hard stuff- you'd be able to feel it if it was there- because that's much more difficult to deal with. It could just be a yeast or bacteria type issue. I hear you on the skittish bird part, even my friendly birds know I have no way to catch them out in their big run and they give me their best "nanahahaha you can't catch me" faces, so unless it's a bleeding emergency or some other drastic thing, I too wait until they're on the roost at night, easier for everybody.

I’ll definitely try some of the things in the article, I put apple cider vinegar in their water and I gave them some plain yogurt for gut health. I figured I’d try soaking some bread in oil since there’s no harm in that. And I’m going out to buy grit today because I finally have the time. I regret not socializing with them more, all but two of my birds run from me lol.

 

[Shezadandy]

I’ll definitely try some of the things in the article, I put apple cider vinegar in their water and I gave them some plain yogurt for gut health. I figured I’d try soaking some bread in oil since there’s no harm in that. And I’m going out to buy grit today because I finally have the time. I regret not socializing with them more, all but two of my birds run from me lol.

Even my very socialized birds run from me - except for in the coop. They know they're faster! Just keep an eye on her and monitor her breath for any tale-tell sighs of yeast and that sort of thing.