Nine month old Bielefelder with distended crop that won't empty

[BartokRae]

My 2 Bielefelder hens also developed static crop/pendulous crop at 9 months. They were survivors of a mountain lion attack when they were 8 weeks old and we suspect the trauma may have thrown things off for them (as a possible factor).

Anyhow, as new chicken keepers, it took a while to grasp that what we were witnessing needed some serious attention. We managed to empty their crops, but recurrences have happened, though less and less frequently. Both crops are chronically overstretched and sag a little even when empty. They are now 18 months old, and continuing to live good, active lives.

Many things helped to empty their crops at various times. Epsom salt water for speedy emptying, yogurt, garlic, probiotics, acidified copper sulfate, raw eggs, restricted diet, crop buster pills, massages, aloe juice, herbal tinctures, crop bra.

The 2 things that really seem to have made the most long-lasting positive effects are regular garlic and our switching food brands. Someone suggested they might be sensitive to something in our current brand (thus the recurrence) so we switched and recurrence notably diminished. We had been using Scratch and Peck but switched to Kalmbach. Scratch and Peck is a very good brand - my flock otherwise thrived on it. On most days - but especially while they are having an acute episode - they get raw garlic-stuffed blueberries (2 per hen). We’ve never done the crop bra for more than a day or two - so that might help long term as well if used for a longer period of time.

Also the flock loves to eat chia seeds. This helps make things slippery in the gut and keeps the chickens engaged for a long time to boot.

We have wondered if Bielefelders are prone to crop issues. We got a Bielefelder rooster (almost a year younger than the hens) and they all had symptoms of crop issues after giving them raw broccoli piñatas one day. His crop was a little larger than usual and he was adjusting his neck/crop in the same way one of the hens had at various times during this whole process. Happily it didn’t develop into any problem for him.

Hope your girl is doing better.

 

[pickle47]

Thank you @BartokRae! This is helpful information. Now that I am very "crop aware", I have noticed that two of my other Bielefelder hens do indeed trend towards a very prominent droopy crop by the end of the afternoon, but it does seem to go down by morning and they have shown no crop-related symptoms. I have wondered if they might develop some issues down the road, fingers crossed they don't. I love the chia seed idea for lubrication and entertainment - thank you!

The lady at the feed store convinced me to get Bielefelder chicks as a first time chick buyer though I knew nothing about them. They are such beautiful, big docile birds, but they do seem to have had more of their share of problems than my Buckeyes and Dominiques. It's endearing, though, they always choose to walk away from any confrontation, and never start trouble.

As an update, my Buckeye girl with the probable hay accumulation in her crop continues to do well with daily crop massages, and though it's still enlarged in the mornings, maybe it's gone down a bit, so I am just keeping a close eye on her. She seems happy with life, unless I'm catching her to massage her crop.

 

[BartokRae]

Thank you @BartokRae! This is helpful information. Now that I am very "crop aware", I have noticed that two of my other Bielefelder hens do indeed trend towards a very prominent droopy crop by the end of the afternoon, but it does seem to go down by morning and they have shown no crop-related symptoms. I have wondered if they might develop some issues down the road, fingers crossed they don't. I love the chia seed idea for lubrication and entertainment - thank you!

The lady at the feed store convinced me to get Bielefelder chicks as a first time chick buyer though I knew nothing about them. They are such beautiful, big docile birds, but they do seem to have had more of their share of problems than my Buckeyes and Dominiques. It's endearing, though, they always choose to walk away from any confrontation, and never start trouble.

As an update, my Buckeye girl with the probable hay accumulation in her crop continues to do well with daily crop massages, and though it's still enlarged in the mornings, maybe it's gone down a bit, so I am just keeping a close eye on her. She seems happy with life, unless I'm catching her to massage her crop.

So glad to hear your Buckeye girl is doing better. Yeah...I've had to apologize many times for massaging a crop, though there have been *some* times they'll settle in on my lap and let me spend some time doing it.

Thought I'd share that since my last post (a few weeks ago now) we've been using a crop bra on one of the Bielefelders. She loves it. It allows her to move with much greater comfort and confidence, and she preens the straps along with her feathers. It helped her that night to empty when she was enlarged recently. We are keeping it off for a few days now to see how she'll do without it. Today (day 2) is the 2nd day she has emptied by the morning and doesn't enlarge excessively by roost time. Her main problem tends to be the overstretched tissue that keeps her pendulous (if not infected), which still seems to (understandably) bother her.

Anyhow, the crop bra we use is from Crazy K Farms. It has nice wide, soft bandaging material for straps. All purchases fund their animal sanctuary to boot.

 

[Lilybird27]

If your father is a surgeon, then you would understand that surgery performed before the patient has declined into starvation and subsequent weakness is almost always a better option than waiting when you know that the patient requires the surgery as the only option between recovery and death.

But the bottom line is you know your chicken better than we strangers, and are in a better position to make these judgement calls.

As for the sedative/ pain killer, we do not use those for chicken surgery as they are toxic to poultry. It's not necessary anyway. While chickens definitely do feel pain, they respond stoically to it. You will need an assistant to hold the chicken steady, but not because a chicken experiencing pain will react with flopping and panic as a human would. On the contrary, you can expect your patient to lie quietly on her back, reacting not at all to the procedure.

Here is my protocol for crop surgery.

Supplies to assemble:

A helper
Vetericyn wound spray
Betadine or alcohol
Saline wound flush
Sharp, sterilized cutting tool such as a one-sided razor blade or Xacto knife.
Sterile gauze
Tube of super glue
Latex gloves
Bath towel
Scissors to cut away feathers from incision site

Surgery:
-Wrap hen securely in a bath towel confining wings and feet, but leaving the crop exposed. No anesthesia is required. No pain meds.
-Have your helper hold the hen on her back on a hard surface or table.
-Locate the spot where the lump is most concentrated.
-Trim her feathers away so just skin is exposed.
-Prep the site with Betadine or alcohol to remove external bacteria.

Make a one inch incision in the skin. Do not cut any deeper than the outer layer. This will expose the crop sack.

Next, cut a one-inch opening into the crop sack, slightly offset to the outer cut. This is very important. You should be able to see the obstruction, grass or maybe something else that shouldn't be in there.

Putting slight pressure on the crop, push the obstruction toward the opening and pull it out. Continue until you can't get anything else out of it.

Irrigate the inside of the crop with a generous amount of saline until the saline comes out clean.

Dry the incisions by patting with sterile gauze. First apply super glue to the edges of the inner incision. Hold the tissue together until it bonds, about one minute. If it doesn't hold, apply more glue and continue to hold it until it bonds.

Glue the outer incision as you just did the inner one. Spray the incision liberally with Vetericyn. This promotes the tissue to grow together and heal. Do this twice a day for the next two days.

Feed only soft food such as yogurt, soft boiled egg, apple sauce, or gruel made from mixing water into her feed until it's soupy for the week following surgery. Give her a dose of Nutri-drench each day for five days.

That is awful and not true, chickens are ABSOLUTELY given medicine for pain (I have had several vets prescribe medicines for pain and give my chickens medicine for pain!) and the only reason they respond 'stoically' to pain is not because they don't feel it keenly it is because they are prey animals and they hide it! Can you imagine being cut into with no pain medicine?!

 

[Lilybird27]

That is awful and not true, chickens are ABSOLUTELY given medicine for pain (I have had several vets prescribe medicines for pain and give my chickens medicine for pain!) and the only reason they respond 'stoically' to pain is not because they don't feel it keenly it is because they are prey animals and they hide it! Can you imagine being cut into with no pain medicine?!