swollen impacted crop

[Fowl Visions]

I have had three birds with impacted crops this year...all of them cockerels. What causes a chicken to get an impacted crop? Is there anything I can do to keep this from happening to my chickens.

Just so you know, two of them died already and the third is on his last legs. It is very discouraging, as these are all purebreds and they do not seem to have the same ability to fight off infections as my barnyard chickens.

 

[ruth]

Impacted crops are often filled with hay, straw or long grass clippings which don't break down well. Did you open up any of the birds that died to see what was impacted in their crop? Do they have access to lots of grit?

It may not be too late to save the one left alive. I did a crop surgery to save a dying bird and she is alive and well and very healthy today. She was about two years old when I bought her this summer and it seems as if she had been eating hay - or at least that's what I pulled out of her crop.

Here's a link to my crop surgery thread with pictures:

https://www.backyardchickens.com/forum/viewtopic.php?id=229796

Best of luck treating the sick one and hopefully you can prevent future occurences.

 

[Fowl Visions]

Thanks Ruth for the response. The other bird died today but in the meantime I have learned alot about impacted crops so if something of this nature happens again I will hopefully be better prepared.

 

[loujen]

i would like to know what is the best thing to feed chickens when they are cooped up all the time, in order to prevent this problem of empacted craw? I have a few game birds and the hens seem to all have this issue and eventually die from it.is there some preventative measure that can be taken or are they doomed because they are cooped up all the time?

 

[Kittymomma]

Quote:
What are you feeding them now and what are you using for bedding? Also, you say that they are cooped up all the time. Do you mean caged or just confined to a building?

 

[loujen]

they are caged and i am feeding them corn and maze sometimes starter pellets when i can, no bedding i use cardboard boxes, so i can just trash them because they get so messy.

 

[Kittymomma]

Quote:
That's not really a very good diet for them and could be the source of your problems. They should be on age appropriate pellets/crumbles and especially since they are confined they need grit to proccess their food. Actually now that I think about it the corn/maize and no grit probably would cause a lot of crop problems.

 

[LynneP]

Maize/corn does seem to be a problem for chickens and they can gorge on other things too like hay or grit. Younger birds are more likely to try these things in excess. I have had 2 experiences with impaction and both resolved with a lot of work-

https://www.backyardchickens.com/web/viewblog.php?id=7693-sick-hen