Urgent Crop Problems

[posey]

Day Three Update
Well we made it through the night without incident, Yeah!!!

Her crop was the size of a ping pong ball, I think that is just slightly smaller in diameter than a golf ball. Anyways it is significantly smaller than the past two days. There was a large bowl movement (runny of course) that smells gross but glad she is still eliminating.

She was hungery and ate the mash all on her own. She didn't eat a lot of it but she ate without stopping for a few minutes. She is drinking on her own as well. And still singing the happy chick song once in a while. Don't ya just love that sound?

Shaggys Girl: How snug should the crop bra be? I don't want to make it too tight around her neck but it seems like it could be snugger around her crop. Suggestions?

I will check back in with an update later this afternoon.

 

[ShaggysGirl]

Glad she is doing better. It has to be a little snug the vet wrap will stretch out a bit. Try to keep it so you can slip a little finger under the top and the bottom. you want it to just support the crop and hold it in a little bit.

 

[posey]

Third Day Evening Update
Well she is eating mash and drinking on her own off and on all day today. She is eliminating well, diarrhea of course but perhaps 8 times today. Her crop still fills up to maybe the size of slightly larger than a golf ball. She is alert and knows when I am in the room and talks to me. What a sweet girl she is. She isn't walking very well yet but flaps her wings and tries to get around.

I just hope that the stuff in the bottom of her crop will break up and pass through her system soon.

Any idea how many days this usually takes?

 

[LynneP]

You seem to be out of the woods. Nicely done. A crop situation can last about 5 days with urgent attention given but it will probably be about 10 days before the inflammation caused by the disturbance is gone...

 

[MissPrissy]

I suggest withholding all food except lots of water with ACV (4 tbsp to a quart of water) to let the crop try and empty - the ACV is anti fungal, antibiotic and anti yeast agent and will help kill any organism causing the issues - no sugar, sugar (molasses) feeds the organisms. Sugar is used to flush the intestines and create diarreah to flush the body.

After 6 - 8 hours feed her some olive oil soak bread every couple hours and continue with lots of water with ACV. Gently massage the crop without pushing upward (you could choke her). The oil makes things slippery and anything stuck can begin to move out. Make sure she is on bedding that cannot be ingested. They will eat anything trying to get relief for themselves.

After 24 hours check her crop and gently without pushing up massage the crop to help things. Massive gross poops are good. If the crop is still sour and smelly and gassy you can give her 1/4 tsp mylanta plain unflavored to help settle the acids.

Once the crop has emptied don't be too quick to start feeding her again. Start off with the oil soaked bread, chicken pellets that have been wet and are mushy, a little yogurt and very finely mashed boiled egg.

You have to give the crop a chance to heal and begin to function before you let her have a free diet. After 3 - 5 days slowly begin to introduce her regular food and a little grit to help it along.

Let me know how it goes.

 

[posey]

Miss Prissy:
Thank you so much, she is my dear little survivor from a small flock which I suffered through a 25% mortality rate.

Her crop was the size of a walnut this morning. She was so dirty and foul smelling from getting in the runny poo overnight (for 3 days) that I couldn't take it anymore and gave her a bath (she's not all white yet but at least she smells nice

). She was such a sweetie allowing me to wash her and clean her. Then she just sat there and made her little tweedle tweedle sounds while I dried her with the hair dryer. Now she looks like Coco, again.

I changed out her water and only added ACV we only use Braggs. I shredded some whole wheat bread we have and mixed it with some extra virgin olive oil. She's not too keen on eating this. This afternoon I stirred some grower crumbles into the oil and she nibble at those for a bit. I know that she hasn't eaten much today. Her crop swelled up to the size of a golf ball but I know that it is slowly emptying. Two days ago, I could feel about 15 to 20 pieces of cracked corn in the crop. Today I can feel only a few pieces, no more than 4 or 5. That's big progress to me.

She is still eliminating today some actually had mounded poo in runny liquid and I could finally see a bit of white urates.

I have been massaging her off and on all day. We have her in a storage tub that we use for a small brooder box or hospital there is no bedding in it just paper towels to help absorb the watery stuff. I change those out every time she eliminates during the day.

I know that she will eat crumbles mixed with applesauce and yogurt in a runny sort of mash. Could we try that now or do we need to wait until all of the corn is through the crop?

Thank you again
Posey

Email Response from Miss Prissy to above questions:

I suggest withholding all food except lots of water with ACV (4 tbsp to a quart of water) to let the crop try and empty - the acv is antifungal, antibiotic and anti yeast agent and will help kill any organism causing the issues - no sugar, sugar (molasses) feeds the organisms. After 6 - 8 hours feed her some olive soak bread every couple hours and continue with lots of water with acv. Gently massage the crop without pushing upward (you could choke her). The oil makes things slippery and anything stuck can begin to move out. Make sure she is on bedding that cannot be ingested. They will eat anything trying to get relief for themselves. After 24 hours check her crop and gently without pushing up massage the crop to help things. Massive gross poops are good. If the crop is still sour and smelly and gassy you can give her 1/4 tsp mylanta plain flavored to help settle the acids.

Once the crop has empties don't be too quick to start feeding her again. Start off with the oil soaked bread, chicken pellets that have been wet and are mushy, a little yogurt and very finsly mashed boiled egg.

You have to give the crop a chance to heal and begin to function before you let her have a free diet. After 3 - 5 days slow begin to introduce her regular food and a little grit to help it along.

Let me know how it goes.

 

[posey]

Miss Prissy:

She mainly eats grower crumbles. Each day I throw a cup of cracked oats into the run for them to peck around at.

We took a friend's rooster and he is accustomed to eating scratch and free ranging. They gave us some scratch they had left over.
I have been throwing a handful of that into the run about once a week. It is wheat and cracked corn but I can tell you that the corn is not cracked very well.

I will not be using it again for any of the chickens. I didn't realize that it was so bad for them. I try really hard to feed all of my animals high quality feed that is full of good nutrition and treats have always been limited. Did this with our children too. This has been horrible and I don't want to repeat it if it can be avoided, so no more corn, cracked or otherwise.

Her crop is back down to walnut size now. Poops are runny but she really isn't eating anything that would help to form them.

I got ya on the food, I shall resist. Tomorrow will be 24 hrs so I will offer her some of the things you have listed.

I so appreciate all of your help.

Bless you
Posey

 

[MissPrissy]

Save the cracked corn as a treat. Also with winter coming corn in the evening takes a lot of work to digest and helps keep body temps up - much the same way we eat a carb loaded heavy meal for supper on winter eveninsg to keep ourselves warm and toasty. Don't withhold it completely. It can be a good thing in moderation.

Remember easy soft foods for the next 3 - 5 days to give the crop a chance to heal and recover from this episode.

I hope she continues a good recovery.

 

[posey]

Week Two Update

Just wanted to update ya'll on my silkie's progress. This chick which we thought was a hen is looking very roo like, so we are guessing it is a he. He is doing 100% better than he was 10 days ago. His crop is emptying several times a day. I have been making him a wet mash of chick crumbles and yogurt with water and he gobbles it up. Still doing the ACV water but only 1 tsp per quart now.

This afternoon, we gave him the dry crumbles and he ate them up too. He seems to be a poo machine, OMG! We are cleaning up after him about every hour (he is still in our large storage tub. We are getting formed poos now sometimes with the white urates and sometimes not. The paper towel gets damp from his eliminations, sometimes down right wet.

I would like to put him back out in the coop tomorrow since he is doing so well. But I am going to with hold the cracked grains from them all for several more days to give him time to get acclimated to the regular dry feed and pecking around the run. Unless, you Miss Prissy think I should hold him back a little longer. Are his poos normal enough to do this? Is it normal for the paper towel to get wet?

Thanks all for your help and it's so nice to be able to tell you that he made it through this ordeal. He is such a lovey little guy.
Posey