Mysterious loose, squishy crop

[guest226]

My EE is 4 years old and she is a regular layer. She acts completely normally and her poops are fine and solid.

I massaged her crop gently ONCE and it became very loose and squishy since then, seeming to lose its elasticity. It does not hang low but it does more so than my other hens. At the end of the day her crop isn’t hard, it is squishy and I can’t feel the food in it, it feels like I can only feel air or liquid or something.

She does not have sour breath and she seems completely fine. In the morning her crop does go down but stays the same texture wise- like a slightly deflated ballon!

 

[Wyorp Rock]

Sounds o.k. if it's emptying overnight.

The crop is like a sac of tissue, as a hen gets older, it can lose some elasticity and feel like loose skin or a deflated balloon.

She's acting perfectly normal, eating/drinking, etc. I wouldn't worry about it.

While it's o.k. to feel the crop, it's not necessary to massage the crop unless there's a known crop problem.

My EE is 4 years old and she is a regular layer. She acts completely normally and her poops are fine and solid.

I massaged her crop gently ONCE and it became very loose and squishy since then, seeming to lose its elasticity. It does not hang low but it does more so than my other hens. At the end of the day her crop isn’t hard, it is squishy and I can’t feel the food in it, it feels like I can only feel air or liquid or something.

She does not have sour breath and she seems completely fine. In the morning her crop does go down but stays the same texture wise- like a slightly deflated ballon!