My bantam Cochin hen Buffy (5-6 yrs old, or so) had an impacted crop. Oblong and firm. I discovered this a few weeks ago ago, but in hindsight, it was longer ago than that because I saw her a couple of times doing what I call a "slithering snake" move with her neck while eating, but she always stopped very soon after doing it. Then one day I realized I needed to bring her into the house to look her over.
*NOTE: Buffy has a history of going broody all.the.time. I wonder if she's developed this crop problem because in her life she has habitually fasted for days and days on end, on the two occasions I let her hatch eggs, and on the other myriad occasions I brought her inside to break her of her broodiness.*
At the house, I put her in the chicken infirmary/dog cage. She ended up inside for a few weeks total. She was always stooling through this (& at an excellent appetite- and energy level), so she was never completely blocked; her stools were good/normal as well. I fasted her, did massages... Did this for a number of days (and her crop did go down after a few days, but never anywhere near as flat as the other chickens' empty crops - I could feel the tiny grit/rocks through her skin while massaging though) until I was able to get in touch with a long-distance vet I trusted who, on the phone, walked me through gavaging/flushing her crop.
He said in the pic I sent him she looked distended, and I agreed, so we figured she could have a pendulous crop, so the next day I put her in diy crop bra. I had to experiment with different types over the next number of days because some ended up fitting too loose/big for her (she's tiny), until I ended up with a good model with vet wrap that held her in place well, except that she did spill out at the bottom a little bit. (She still hated all of them, and dislikes her current one - she would stand still, or walk funny, and spend Lots of energy trying to get them off.) She did well with her moistened feed and then did ok with her dry feed (she ate the dry food fine, but it *seemed* to cause her to wriggle more than when she had the moist... I think, anyway). She still made the neck adjustments and her crop sometimes made gurgling sounds, but she was again full of energy. I kept her in the house (garage) for another week or so (work schedule) while carefully reintroducing her to the chicken yard (in an area with mostly dirt for bathing) and to the rest of the flock safely.
Since last week she's been back with the flock. However, her crop has still never gone nearly as low as the other chickens' first thing (or even after they've eaten some) in the a.m. I finally just found her a crop bra that she cannot get her foot caught in while trying to take it off (it's one that goes on over the head, like a halter top, and velcro's at the back, from Etsy; the vet recommended that one). But her crop is getting bigger again. *I have also been massaging her crop for about 1 minute at the end of the day.*
It has NEVER been squishy, and it has Never smelled of anything but whatever food she just immediately ate (and it usually hardly smelled even like that).
As I said, her crop is getting bigger again. But in reality, maybe it got large again right away?? I never wanted to remove her crop bra to find out for sure - I massaged her through it - because she hated having it put back on her again. And she seems to have less energy.... Or maybe a broken spirit? Yesterday she looked lost outside. Just eating a bit, but not much. She's still NOT a fan of the crop bra, because with this new one she does a high step and walks tentatively, just not nearly as badly as with the other ones. It probably doesn't help that she's the rooster's favorite, so once I got her back with the flock, she had to have the hen saddle put back on (which she has never had a problem with - I just wonder if both things are a pain...).
*Should I leave the crop bra off during the day with a pendulous crop? And only put it on at night? (I supposed I could try that to see if her energy and vigor returns.)
*Out of desperation, I gavaged her again this a.m. after fasting her last evening and overnight. My theory was that maybe because of all the fanagling with the crop bras she might have become larger than she should have since she kept pulling at them and managing to twist them around, reducing the pressure on her actual right side (2 days ago, before the new one came in the mail, she'd actually pulled the crop bra all the way down so that it was on her underside!). And so I thought we might be able to start over again, gavaging her 2 times today with massages, and then putting on what *seems* to be the best crop bra so far - that halter one.
The vet I worked with is long-distance, and is away on special assignments. I made contact with a vet I found here who works with chickens, and I plan to ask him whether he thinks she might need crop surgery, but I'm not sure about him yet. He gave me some advice about something else that people in other places told me is not safe (concerning Ivermectin). Plus his clinic was not open today (not open weekends) and he's got limited weekly hours.
Any thoughts on this? Thank you for reading my long description. It's hard to start at the beginning and try to be selective without omitting important parts.
*NOTE: Buffy has a history of going broody all.the.time. I wonder if she's developed this crop problem because in her life she has habitually fasted for days and days on end, on the two occasions I let her hatch eggs, and on the other myriad occasions I brought her inside to break her of her broodiness.*
At the house, I put her in the chicken infirmary/dog cage. She ended up inside for a few weeks total. She was always stooling through this (& at an excellent appetite- and energy level), so she was never completely blocked; her stools were good/normal as well. I fasted her, did massages... Did this for a number of days (and her crop did go down after a few days, but never anywhere near as flat as the other chickens' empty crops - I could feel the tiny grit/rocks through her skin while massaging though) until I was able to get in touch with a long-distance vet I trusted who, on the phone, walked me through gavaging/flushing her crop.
He said in the pic I sent him she looked distended, and I agreed, so we figured she could have a pendulous crop, so the next day I put her in diy crop bra. I had to experiment with different types over the next number of days because some ended up fitting too loose/big for her (she's tiny), until I ended up with a good model with vet wrap that held her in place well, except that she did spill out at the bottom a little bit. (She still hated all of them, and dislikes her current one - she would stand still, or walk funny, and spend Lots of energy trying to get them off.) She did well with her moistened feed and then did ok with her dry feed (she ate the dry food fine, but it *seemed* to cause her to wriggle more than when she had the moist... I think, anyway). She still made the neck adjustments and her crop sometimes made gurgling sounds, but she was again full of energy. I kept her in the house (garage) for another week or so (work schedule) while carefully reintroducing her to the chicken yard (in an area with mostly dirt for bathing) and to the rest of the flock safely.
Since last week she's been back with the flock. However, her crop has still never gone nearly as low as the other chickens' first thing (or even after they've eaten some) in the a.m. I finally just found her a crop bra that she cannot get her foot caught in while trying to take it off (it's one that goes on over the head, like a halter top, and velcro's at the back, from Etsy; the vet recommended that one). But her crop is getting bigger again. *I have also been massaging her crop for about 1 minute at the end of the day.*
It has NEVER been squishy, and it has Never smelled of anything but whatever food she just immediately ate (and it usually hardly smelled even like that).
As I said, her crop is getting bigger again. But in reality, maybe it got large again right away?? I never wanted to remove her crop bra to find out for sure - I massaged her through it - because she hated having it put back on her again. And she seems to have less energy.... Or maybe a broken spirit? Yesterday she looked lost outside. Just eating a bit, but not much. She's still NOT a fan of the crop bra, because with this new one she does a high step and walks tentatively, just not nearly as badly as with the other ones. It probably doesn't help that she's the rooster's favorite, so once I got her back with the flock, she had to have the hen saddle put back on (which she has never had a problem with - I just wonder if both things are a pain...).
*Should I leave the crop bra off during the day with a pendulous crop? And only put it on at night? (I supposed I could try that to see if her energy and vigor returns.)
*Out of desperation, I gavaged her again this a.m. after fasting her last evening and overnight. My theory was that maybe because of all the fanagling with the crop bras she might have become larger than she should have since she kept pulling at them and managing to twist them around, reducing the pressure on her actual right side (2 days ago, before the new one came in the mail, she'd actually pulled the crop bra all the way down so that it was on her underside!). And so I thought we might be able to start over again, gavaging her 2 times today with massages, and then putting on what *seems* to be the best crop bra so far - that halter one.
The vet I worked with is long-distance, and is away on special assignments. I made contact with a vet I found here who works with chickens, and I plan to ask him whether he thinks she might need crop surgery, but I'm not sure about him yet. He gave me some advice about something else that people in other places told me is not safe (concerning Ivermectin). Plus his clinic was not open today (not open weekends) and he's got limited weekly hours.
Any thoughts on this? Thank you for reading my long description. It's hard to start at the beginning and try to be selective without omitting important parts.
