Gritty crop help please!

[MsLisaG]

Hoping to get a little insight here, I'm not sure what is up with my hen. I noticed there was some poopy gunk on my 1 yr old silkie hen's butt, so I took her inside to wash her off. She hasn't laid in a few days, and when washing her I felt her crop and it is VERY dry and gritty. When I'm feeling it I can hear the grit moving around in there. Her poop smells horrible, but not "yeasty" like vent gleet would be.

I gave her some olive oil this morning and again this evening, and my husband is at the store getting her some plain yogurt right now. She is walking around and scratching/pecking like normal, but I haven't seen her drink anything today. I am planning to get her out of the coop this evening and give her some water and vitamins by dropper. Her mouth doesn't smell sour so I don't think it's sour crop, I think it's just impacted but not sure why it is so dry. Any suggestions would be greatly appreciated!

 

[Michael Apple]

Don't give any food for 24 hours and see if the crop reduces in size. Do not give oil. Contrary to popular belief, oil mixed with water and the obstruction makes a glob in the crop that is harder to pass. Make water available at all times. Gently massage the crop for about 10 seconds a few times during the day. I doubt you have any crop bound capsules, so it may not hurt to put 1/4 tsp copper sulfate per gallon of water for the bird. I can't say how many times I wished people kept crop bound capsules in their med cabinets. Keep us informed.

 

[MsLisaG]

Thanks. I will keep her in our infirmary coop by herself and see what happens.

 

[MsLisaG]

It's been over 24 hours since I first discovered her crop and it hasn't gone down. It is still bone dry in there, no liquid at all that I can tell. I can actually hear whatever gritty substance is in there grinding together when I feel her crop. Does anyone have any suggestions? I don't think the usual ways of clearing an impacted crop are going to work here since there is no liquid at all in the crop.

 

[Michael Apple]

It's been over 24 hours since I first discovered her crop and it hasn't gone down. It is still bone dry in there, no liquid at all that I can tell. I can actually hear whatever gritty substance is in there grinding together when I feel her crop. Does anyone have any suggestions? I don't think the usual ways of clearing an impacted crop are going to work here since there is no liquid at all in the crop.

The main thing now is to get some water in that crop. Sometimes it is an intestinal problem that backs up the crop. Get some Colace capsules (crop bound capsules) from the drug store. Give two capsules and squirt 10cc of water down the bird's throat. I use a soft piece of aquarium hose attached to a syringe. That way I don't get water in the lungs since I put the hose a 1/2 inch down the bird's throat. Then massage the crop gently every so often. If it doesn't go down overnight, you will need to fill that crop with water, turn with the head facing down, tail to the sky and gently force the crop empty. I had success with this when I had a bird get crop bound by eating a bunch of oyster shell once.