Impacted crop. UPDATE **Reintroductuion to flock**

[purpletree23]

My BO has an impacted crop. I am feeding small amounts of olive oil and massaging her crop in a downward motion. Has anyone had success doing this or an I headed for crop surgery?

Thanks everyone in advance.

 

[LynneP]

Check here, incidents 02 and 03.

https://www.backyardchickens.com/web/viewblog.php?id=7693-sick-hen

What do thing she has in there- fibre or grit? Does it feel like putty? Any bad smells? ( if bad smells avoid yogurt)

When massaging, try lifting the crop up, you may hear a gurgle, which is nutrition and juices getting to the gut.
How does she respond when you massage? Is she cooing or fussing?

Most fibre (putty) impactions respond to diced tomato and other acidic foods along with breads soaked in oil

They are usually fixable- and how old is the hen?

 

[purpletree23]

Lynn to my rescue. I can always count on you being on BYC and giving great information.

She is 11 months old
When I massage her she seems content
It is fibre...she likes to kick the hay out of the nesting boxes and eat it. So do the others.
They have chicken gravel grit 24/7
No funny/sour smell. Thank goodness
I did give her oil and massaged 2x's today. On my way out right now to do it again.

I've read to massage down. I'm afraid to massage up. I don't want her to aspirate.
Should I bring her in the house? It's 20's outside and 65 inside. I don't want to shock her system and I don't want to put her back outside if it is too cold to shock her again?

This time I'll bring oil and chopped tomato. I wonder if she wants a little oregano with that?

Just kidding. I don't want to lose her.

 

[purpletree23]

I've given her oil and peeled 'smashed' tomatoes but she is still not pooping.

I've massaged up and down and still nothing. I'm going to try 3cc's of red wine. Some BYCers have had luck with that.

Can anyone offer more information? I've tried everything I know of.

 

[ChickenWisperer]

What does the crop feel like, exactly?

Is it hard, or is it gassy and liquid-y?

Are there any bad smells?

How long has this been going on?


I suggest feeding her this - go buy some KAYTEE handfeeding mix for handfeeding baby exotic birds. Petsmart carries it in a 18 oz can - get that. It comes with it's own scoop. Put one scoop of the formula in a bowel, then 3 and 1/2 scoops of water, then just enough layer food so that it is still liquid.

You also may want to force some plain oil down her throat with a dropper - the soaked bread might not be helping enough.

 

[sarjaysar]

Segregate her aswell and massage the crop regularly quite firmly. The live maggots worked once with one of my hens before but unfortunately didn't do the trick for my Silkie this week. We had to resort to surgery!

 

[purpletree23]

Thanks everyone. I gave her .3cc of red wine about 2 hours ago and have massaged her twice since. I have been massaging her a little firmer than before. Her crop was not sour yesterday but today it is. I'm going to massage every hour and if nothing starts to pass surgery is scheduled for the morning.

Crop feels like golf ball is in there and some grit at the bottom. I've given oil and this is my third day of massage.

There was no odor until today. She did drink a little water on her own this morning. She did poop once today but it was mostly urine.

 

[purpletree23]

My DH and I did the crop surgery this morning. She is a bit out of it but she did poop a bit. Just gave her a dropper full of water. She swallowed it without any problems and when she had enough she turned her head away. Tomorrow I will give more water and very soft foods. Hopefully she will start to drink by herself and walk around a bit.

I put neosporin on her stitches. What would everyone suggest I do to keep the wound clean? I'm going to use a diluted betadine solution in the morning and reapply the neo. Anyone else have any ideas??

 

[sarjaysar]

If you can take her in the house with you or put her in a pen segregated from the others and place her on newspaper then the wound will be fine like that. They tend to want to stand up most of the time for the first day or two post op and then eventually they sit down.

Just keep an eye on the area and if it starts to go red and hot then you know you have an infection going on.

You have done the best thing for your chicken as it would surely have starved to death over the next week.

 

[eastbaychicks]

Hey... I just did this tonight to my BO as well. These two should NOT hang out together. Let me know what you do for the wound care, and also what you're feeding her. I'm going to follow in your footsteps since I'm half a day behind you or so. Thanks! And WAYYYYY to go on the surgery

It was soooo hard, but I'm hoping it will be worth it.

Yea for these forums! Thanks mods for leaving the graphic pictures up. SOOOO helpful!