Impacted crop

[BarbaraW]

Hello I need help with caring for a 4 week old chick that had an impacted crop. I found her this morning with a very large hard knot in her crop (she was fine last night as far as I can tell) so I took her and fed her small amount of coconut oil and did massages every 30 minutes and it appears to have worked. She passed 3 rather hard poops and the knot went away leaving her crop feeling loose and much better although maybe not entirely empty. I don’t know if I should continue to give her the coconut oil and massage or leave it alone since it appears to have gone down so much. I don’t want to give her diarrhea with too much oil. She has had about 1/2 teaspoon so far. I have separated her with no food or grit and given her some hydro hen in her water and we are keeping an eye on her now. My question is how do we treat moving forward? When and what can she eat? I saw that it would be ok to offer a little scrambled egg or I can grind the starter up really fine for her after 24 hours. She only had a couple of mealworms and was given grit to help digest but I am thinking she ate too much of the grit and that is what caused this. They seem to think it’s a treat or food so instead of free offering it I have started to just sprinkle some over their food and mix just a little extra in their feed now. The other chicks are fine but she is a little smaller than they are. Any advice is appreciated I don’t want that baby to get sick again I felt terrible that we had maybe caused this.

 

[Wyorp Rock]

You can give her the coconut oil for a few days.

When are you checking her crop?

I'd offer her normal feed, it can be wet or dry. See that she's drinking well.

I would offer grit free choice and not add it to the feed.

 

[BigBlueHen53]

I agree with @Wyorp Rock as to free feeding the grit. We start offering chicks baby grit as early as day three. (This is so I can start offering meal worms a couple of days later, then some other treats after that, for purposes of socialization.) We've had them appear to gorge on the grit, but assuming nature knows best we just keep an eye on them, and it seems to do them no harm. I think they need to "charge" their gizzards and very shortly they seem to get all they need and stop guzzling it. We've done this with several batches of chicks and they've all done just fine. Enjoy your flock!

 

[BarbaraW]

I am checking her crop every few hours but had to go to work today. I still have her separated but am going to add her back this evening after I feed her and keep an eye on her for a little while as long as she is doing ok. She seems back to normal now thank god! I will try to offer the grit separate again as well as see what happens. When she began pooping it was all hard and gray with a little white at one end. Very dry. Then she finally pooped normal after about 3 movements. Her rear end looked a little pink this am so didn’t want to add her back just yet I didn’t want the others to pick at her. Thank you so much for the help!

 

[BigBlueHen53]

Just check her crop at night before bed to see that she has a full one, so you know she is getting plenty to eat, then take away all food and water for the night. In the morning, before providing food or water, check the crop again to see that it is empty, this is normal and healthy. If it is not, report here what it feels like so someone can help figure out what the problem is.

 

[BarbaraW]

I came home from work and my husband had fed her. Too much and the large hard lump was back so I began the coconut oil and massages again and it has gone down a lot and now feels soft and squishy but not completely empty. I gave her some more hydro hen because I had switched to water for 12 hours but will take that up for the night and check her later and in the morning. I am so worried about her. Thank you for advice I really appreciate it and will let you know how it looks in the morning.

 

[BigBlueHen53]

Remember it's okay for her to have a full crop at night. You want it to empty overnight and be empty in the morning.

 

[Wyorp Rock]

I am checking her crop every few hours but had to go to work today. I still have her separated but am going to add her back this evening after I feed her and keep an eye on her for a little while as long as she is doing ok. She seems back to normal now thank god! I will try to offer the grit separate again as well as see what happens. When she began pooping it was all hard and gray with a little white at one end. Very dry. Then she finally pooped normal after about 3 movements. Her rear end looked a little pink this am so didn’t want to add her back just yet I didn’t want the others to pick at her. Thank you so much for the help!

I came home from work and my husband had fed her. Too much and the large hard lump was back so I began the coconut oil and massages again and it has gone down a lot and now feels soft and squishy but not completely empty. I gave her some more hydro hen because I had switched to water for 12 hours but will take that up for the night and check her later and in the morning. I am so worried about her. Thank you for advice I really appreciate it and will let you know how it looks in the morning.

The crop will get large when they eat/drink.
It can be firm as well.

To get a good gauge on function. Let her eat/drink all day as normal if that's what she wants.
At dusk (normal bed time) take out the food/water, she'll be sleeping all night in the dark and won't need food/water.
First thing in the morning before you put water/feed back, re-check the crop. It should be empty.

Think of it this way. The crop is an elastic pouch that holds food/water, as the chick eats, the pouch expands. Throughout the day, the pouch slowly empties into the proventriculus, from there to the gizzard and on through the digestive system. Chickens are constantly grazing/picking up pieces of feed, tidbits, etc. throughout the day so the crop can be at various stages of fill depending on how much food/water they have consumed - this is why if you feel a crop when they have been eating, you will feel food in there. At night they usually have a full crop so they have food to process/sustain themselves overnight. Having a full firm crop at night is totally normal. Having a full firm crop after eating through the day can be totally normal too. You will notice about an hour or so before they go to bed, they all really start to fill up with food/water, they are filling the crop for the night. Which is normal.
It's when the crop is not emptying is when there's a problem.