UPDATE Don't Use Hay/Grass Bales for your Chickens (Possible Tumor?)

[katbriar]

Thank you for updating and the warning againsy hay.  I was going to get a bale of alfalfa--I had no idea this was dangerous.  Thanks.!

This isn't an issue all the time. We feed our girls a flake of alfalfa hay regularly (several times a week). They go nuts scratching it apart and seem to eat the fragile leaves and leave the stems behind.

We have not had any problems (knock on wood) and the alfalfa makes their yolks beautiful orange.

 

[riversanctuary]

This isn't an issue all the time. We feed our girls a flake of alfalfa hay regularly (several times a week). They go nuts scratching it apart and seem to eat the fragile leaves and leave the stems behind.

We have not had any problems (knock on wood) and the alfalfa makes their yolks beautiful orange.

I am not going to take any chances I don't want to go through this again! The other girls seem fine, but I'm watchful. Apparently not every chicken has this issue with long strands of grass bale or even grass, but I'm not going to take the chance.

My vet recommended I feed her small amounts of crumble with a small amount of grit until her crop heals from the incision. I am following his recommendations even though I am reading different things like scrambled eggs, etc, I think I am better off following everything he suggest. She is doing so well eating, not too much and drinking. She is also still on her antibiotics which she loves drinking from the dropper. I take her out into the kitchen so she can walk around. I'm waiting for the vet to call today letting me know if I can put her out in my spare coop so she can see the girls and scratch around. I cleaned that coop out completely removing every shred of any hay. There is still some outside the coop because it had spread it out for them to sit on. Mistake because it's impossible to remove every trace from their outside area. I am just praying the Penny won't want to try to eat any of it!

 

[hammytammy]

well, that does seem like a terrible thing to happen. i wonder how common it really is?

was the hay quality poor and very rough? do they have access to high quality crop grinding material?

i let my chickens free range (free range to me= no fences in the day, then they come home to roost in their safe coop at night.)
I always have hay around. (i use a lot of it to develop organic matter and roots for a base to place security fabric, etc.)
isnt this something that could happen with just about anything? seed shells, flower stems etc?
for me, there are too many dangerous "what ifs" to address. this sounds like it might be added to the list.
i dont want to compromise their lifestyle.

 

[ChickyChickens]

I have kept chickens over 10 years now with bales and they work just fine for me! I have never had a chicken die of an impacted crop!

 

[JJSS89]

I am glad that your hen is okay. There are probably some threads on here about how to do a DIY crop surgery in case it happens again. I helped a friend with a crop surgery. His hen had never lived on anything but wood and dirt for years and one day it got out and ate a ton of grass. That is what usually causes impaction - birds that aren't exposed to grasses often enough.

Just so everyone knows: hay/straw/alfalfa are not inherently dangerous to your birds. I think when birds aren't exposed to these things from a younger age, they can go bonkers and eat too much of tough grasses and straw. However, I have never had a single crop impacted in 15 years of keeping chickens in and around barns full of hay, straw, and alfalfa.

On average you run a much higher risk of coccidiosis killing all your chickens than overeating of non-soluble grasses.

 

[Mah1Mah1]

One of my girls had an impacted crop, she got it from eating long stand of grass. Luckily it wasn't too big so we managed to get it to pass by spoon-feeding her water and massaging the crop. Glad to hear your hen is better!!!