Swollen Crop??

[Chick1043]

Hi! My hens crop is very gooshy and you kinda kinda feel what she ate...So is that normal? All my other chickens crops are usually a little harden. Oh! And she is the only chicken who's poop is watery...Is that normal also?

 

[Judy]

Sounds like it may be sour crop -- do a search in emergencies, or check out the links on sour crop on the FAQ page.

 

[jasonm11]

we have one hen that is like that, we call her lowrider because her crop hangs low. I thought something was wrong with her at first but she has been this way for months with no ill effects.

 

[duluthmom]

If her tail feathers are droopy and she is not eating or moving around normally, she may have sour crop. You can hold her, head down, and gently massage the crop to empty all the fermented gunk. Plain yogurt with active yeast cultures will help get the balance back in her crop. Don't let her get dehydrated! We used a turkey baster to dribble yogurt/water mix into her (carefully!) and then she started eating the mix on her own. Good luck.

 

[cobrien]

Quote:
I am no expert but I personally would not do this for sour crop. The chicken could aspirate the stuff and die. I have been told to massage downward and do not tilt the head down.

That said I am not convinced this is sour crop, it could just be normal. can you say more about the behavior/appetite/other symptoms and maybe post pics.

 

[Chick1043]

She seems just fine! When I smell inside her mouth/beak it doesn't stink at all.

 

[animallover1654]

I have a hen who also had a swollen low hanging crop. We took her to the vet, but what he told us to do did not help at all. Other than the swollen crop there are no other symptoms. How long has your chicken had it?

 

[Pullet Surprise]

How does she look and feel first thing in the morning before she's had a chance to eat anything?
(which means getting up early and making sure she can't get to food before you have a chance to
obsurve her)

 

[animallover1654]

She is normal. the crop still hangs down low, though. It tends to stay the same size before and after she eats. Although, on good days i will let them out and her crop is close to normal, but then it goes right back to swollen.

 

[Pullet Surprise]

I have one like that, she scared the crap out of me the first couple of days with it. She is my best layer, happy, active, smart and the alpha hen.
So it appears that she is "miss piggy" being alpha, she tends to get as much feed as she wants. But after removing all feed after they went into the
coop for the night, I got up early and got her before I put the food back in and low and behold she was nice and flat. No poop problems or anything.
She is a short, stocky girl which also makes it seem more pronounced. I have been keeping an eye on her and it seems that in late afternoon, early evening
she pigs out. Been making sure she has plenty of grit on the off chance, but all seems well and it's been weeks now. I've tried to curtail the heavy one time eating and
strech it out in smaller bits over the day....either way she's fine.