food stuck in throat

[hrhta812]

My EE pullet has some chick feed stuck in her throat - we can see it when we look in her throat. We got a few dribbles of water in her mouth, and I massaged her throat very gently for several minutes, then she shook her head and some came out. I kept up the massage for a few more minutes but didn't seem to make any more progress.

Will she get the rest out herself? I took the feeder out of the chicks' night time crate so she can't eat more. She kept trying to eat with the others when I refilled the feeder and that's when I noticed something was wrong.

 

[awesomechicken]

do you think it is close so that you could get it out your self?

 

[awesomechicken]

like with tweezers

 

[DTchickens]

The massaging technique works if you want to try and get it out; watch her and see.. If she still moves/breathes okay normally the birds will get it out themselves. This is an issue though, I would try to feed more regularly or even check her for worms. Usually a bird only does this in the case of starvation, unless they are just piggish (which does happen sometimes). If chicks: Leave feed 24/7, or feed at least two times a day. Adult birds can handle once a day, but of course you have to check and see how much they will eat and feed them appropriately.

If feeding routines are fine, check and see if she is underweight. If so, something is wrong. I would then guess upon her being wormy, excessive walking (this can be caused by various reasons), improper feed, and maybe even mites.. Fix the problem and things should return to normal.

God bless,
Daniel.

P.S. If the crop is not full, and it is just stuck in her throat. It may be easier to push the feed down into the crop than push it up out of the mouth; done it before with one of my birds.

ETA: Since I believe you mention they are chicks, depending upon size I would feed only chick crumbles or small grain at least as long as she is eating so much. Big grain/pellets will only make the issue worse, possibly resulting in death.

 

[Malibu99]

Mine did this once. I stroked her neck downwards and dipped her beak in water and it cleared up. Be careful using tweezers as you could poke her.

ETA- X2 on Daniel's post.

 

[hrhta812]

Thank you for the replies! I would be afraid to try tweezers, I think, but I will if it gets desperate. I've gotten pretty attached to my birds and I'll try just about anything to help them.

They are on medicated chick feed crumbles. They were born very early in July, so they're still youngsters. I already nursed this one through a bout of cocci [we'd run out of medicated feed and were just feeding regular chick starter; one of her sisters died but I saved her], so I'm even more attached to her.

I found some comments on another site about using olive oil to help the obstruction slide down - has anyone ever used that method? I also saw some people mention honey for the same purpose. I am leery of honey, though, so I'd go with olive oil, I think.

 

[awesomechicken]

happy to help and i am not surpised that you do not want to do tweezers but it was just a idea.

 

[GoDSpeeD]

I have a easter egger with. Impacted crop and some stuff in her throat. Inused olice oil and massaged the crop and throat. Gave her nothing but apple cider vinagar with water for 24 hours and it seems its fixed. If i was you i would try olive oil and massaging. Hopefully the combination will break it up.