Will severally underweight cause crop to malfunction?

[Mavrik]

I have a hen that I unblocked an impacted crop (rock hard), but before I caught this, she lost allot of weight, she has nearly no breast. With this amount of weight lost cause the crop to collapse so it feels like it's "full" to the hen so she won't eat?

Yes the crop is unblocked, it was empty this morning.

 

[WooingWyandotte]

She's losing weight? Could it be parasites?

 

[Miss Lydia]

Quote:
Possibly the rock hard crop was keeping her from eating and thats why she lost weight. Now to get her back to her ideal weight, feed her lots of good quality protein with some added olive oil or coconut oil to her diet. good high quality canned cat food added to her feed. good for you in treating her crop problem, please add how you went about treating her so others can benefit from it. Thanks.

 

[Mavrik]

No one knows?

 

[chickenzoo]

Having the impacted crop, like stated above will cause her to lose weight because she couldn't eat and digest her food. often after the crop is cleaned, it still has lot a lot of it's use and being weak doesn't help her body recover. if you were starved your body would use up a lot of muscle to feed itself.... a crop is a muscle. She needs some apple cider vinegar, yogurt, soft foods such as scrambled egg, mushy wet chick starter, canned dog food(cheap ground kind) etc... anything to help build muscle and is easy to process. i use a baby parrot feeding formula from the pet store. Keep her warm as she can not regulate body temp, keep her hydrated with electrolytes and vitamins in her water ( baby pedialite). It takes a long time to recover if her crop does go back to functioning normal again.

 

[seminolewind]

Chickenzoo is right. Impacted crop will lead to starvation. Feed slurpy food, better with some oil in it , I used some small bread pieces soaked in oil. Massage her crop several times a day. Like kneading the crop to make the blockage softer. When it works, you will actually see the crop matter be pooped out, it might take a week.

 

[chickenzoo]

You can also add blue food color to her food, when you see it passing in her poo you know something is moving through.

 

[Mavrik]

I'm having a real hard time getting her to eat anything, however she will eat millet till the cows come home, this blocked her back up already once. I've done some of your suggestions, eggs, yogurt and other soft foods, electrolytes with avian vits mix in molasses (give her some calories).

"It takes a long time to recover if her crop does go back to functioning normal again."
Are you saying there is a slim chance of recovery?

***

Her crop has been unblocked for days now, her poops look ok and the crop is empty in the morning.

 

[chickenzoo]

It may take some time for the crop to start to function right again. their is a chance it will not. It is a muscle, and like muscles it can atrophy. I posted on your other thread how to tube feed. I like to use baby Exact brand parrot feeding formula. If she will not eat the scrambled egg try to drop a piece in her mouth, and then pet the back of her head if she refuses to swallow. She is very weak, so it may take some time to recover. I must say however when they get so thin that their keel bone is like a razor, it is hard getting them back.

 

[seminolewind]

You can start with some really wet chick mashe make from her food, some water and a bit of oil.