swollen crop?

[kayri]

Help please, my 6 month old Australop (Tips) has what I think is a swollen crop. I tried to read about it as much as I could on the web site. I just want to make sure I'm doing the right thing.

I don't have hay or straw in the coop area. She and her 4 friends are outside within an 80 ft electric fence all day and I let them free range on our 3/4 acre property on weekends or when I am around. I feed layer pellets and treats (leftover noodles, cereal or whatever including a small amount of catfood (2 or three tablespoons maybe once a week, when the cats have decided they don't like that flavor anymore). They, all 5 of them got into some styrofoam over the past 3 days, would that do it? They ate about a 3 inch by 1 inch by 2 ft piece

Three days ago I noticed the lump on one side of her neck and thought it was just a full crop, but today I noticed it hadn't gone away. After reading I massaged the crop for a while. I couldn't feel anything stingy in there. it seemd kind of soft and I think it was smaller after I massaged it.

I'll give her some vinegar water tomorrow. I'll continue to massage it. Do I have to separate her? Unfortunatley I need to leave on a work trip on Sun. for a week.

 

[dlhunicorn]

yes keep massaging it...
I would separate her if you see the lump in the crop is not going down (it probably is the styrofoam...you have to be careful not to have any of that near them as they will ingest it)...
Separating her will ensure that you can monitor her progress and also give you control over what she eats...dont give any grains.

 

[kayri]

Thanks, I checked it today. It is smaller, but as I didn't separate her last night, it is full of pellets, Still larger than the other chickens.

I hope it's just the stryofoam. Why do they eat that anyway?

I'll separate her today and give her only bread soaked in olive oil and vinegar water. Poor chickie, She is going to be upset.

 

[kayri]

Thanks again, and just an update.

Tips is doing much better. I isolated her in a coop within the chicken fence with just vinegar water and bread soaked in olive oil (She didn't touch the bread.

I thought she was going to be upset and the other chickens would roost in the tree as the normally do and ignore her, but when I came back from work this afternoon, they were all hanging out with her, lying next to the coop and sitting on top of it. Good chickens.

Anyway after massage her crop has really gone down. It is still larger than the other chickens' but it is soft, and not full of anything.

She really likes styrofoam. I finished insulating the coop today and was covering it with Tyvek and had to put her outside the chicken fence 3 times. She kept trying to leap up and grab pieces of it. . .

Thanks for your advice and thanks to all others who have posted about this topic on this website!

 

[Kitsune]

The reason chickens like styrofoam is that they are more stimulated by the texture of food than they are by the taste - styrofoam has a texture that chickens like, much the same as mortar and other unappitizing things that chickens tend to get into.

If it has a nice texture and doesnt' have an unappitizing taste - it's likely chickens will try it and like it - this goes for things like string too which can be a real danger for chickens.

 

[kayri]

Eating styrofoam seems like they are vying for the Darwin award.

Do different breeds of chickens have different size crops? It seems like the crops of my australop and black sex link are always big and bulgy and worrisome. The crops of the other chickens always seem smaller and less worrisome.