Swollen (doughy?) crop not getting better with treatment

[GretchenM]

We noted the enlarged crop on "Croppie," my new name for this chick, 4 days ago. She is almost 3-1/2 months old. Of course, I did a bunch of research about how to diagnose and treat this, including Two Crows great article. Until today, I thought she had a doughy crop b/c (1) it wasn't really hard, or if it was, quickly softened when massaged and (2) there were no other symptoms of sour crop, like scent.

On Day 1, we isolated Croppie with water and fed her only one serving of sugar-free, organic, plain yogurt (with a little grit). I've been massaging her about 4 times a day, which, until this morning, she seemed to love (she falls asleep). Same on Day 2, except she got a scrambled egg (with shell) instead of yogurt. Both days, when I massaged, it seemed to loosen the crop, make it softer. It would be a little smaller in the morning but still really big. Oh, we also are keeping grit in her infirmary.

I went back to Two Crows' article yesterday when we seemed to not be making much progress and decided to try laxative. So she got laxative in an egg yesterday morning (Day 3) and in baby food in the evening, but she only ate half the baby food. Again, several massages. We think she's drinking her water but gave her 10cc with a syringe twice yesterday just in case. She had a few watery poops in the afternoon, but not a lot.

This morning, her crop seems as big as ever, but different. First, I can feel two "balls," or kind of two mounds in one big ball. It feels harder than it has been, but it could be that it would soften with massage, but: Second, I could tell it was hurting her; when I pressed, she'd shake her head, but she didn't do it if I wasn't pressing. So I stopped.

I've given her laxative again this morning, in an egg (this will be the third dose, only I don't think she got all of the second dose), and we'll "inject" water in a little bit. I'll try massaging again and see if it still hurts her.

I have two questions:
1. Should I try something different and/or more?
2. Should I massage her even if it hurts her?

THANK YOU THANK YOU!!

 

[DobieLover]

I think you need to stop giving her food and especially stop giving her grit. Grit isn't going to do any good if the crop isn't moving to pass it on into the gizzard.
I would tube or carefully syringe LOTS of fluids into her every 2-3 hours with a gentle massage after. Try to get 30 to 40 mls per tubing or syringing.
The second harder lump could be the grit.
Don't give her any feed until the crop goes down significantly.
Then when you do feed her, make it only a very wet mash made out of starter or Flock Raiser or something like that along with 1/4 ml of Poultry Nutridrench or similar vitamin supplement. When her crop is reliably moving again, I'd wait at least 2 days before releasing her back out with the flock to eat normally.
You may need to continue to give her stimulant free laxative twice daily to break up anything that may be blocking the crop.